The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has released 2023 injury and illness data collected from more than 375,000 organizations, including those in high-hazard industries.
Preliminary analysis found that among occupational injury and illness cases reported to OSHA:
- 90 percent were injuries.
- 5 percent were skin conditions, poisonings or other illnesses.
- 4 percent were respiratory diseases.
- 1 percent were hearing loss.
A higher proportion of cases were coded as injuries in the wholesale trade (97 percent), construction (96 percent) and transportation/warehousing industries (95 percent) than in other sectors, according to Kimberly M. Darby, OSHA spokesperson.
Respiratory diseases were more common in the health care and social assistance sector (12 percent) than in other industries. Hearing loss was more common in manufacturing (4 percent) and retail trade (3 percent) than in other industry sectors.
The data was gathered under OSHA’s new Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses regulation published in July 2023. The intent, it said, is to help identify unsafe conditions and workplace hazards that may cause occupational injuries and illnesses and improve research on the occurrence, prevention and control of workplace hazards, injuries and illness types.
Work-related injuries in the U.S. claim the lives of about 15 people daily, according to an OSHA news release. In 2022, 5,486 workers had fatal injuries, an increase of 296 worker deaths from 2021, the agency noted.
The data was released ahead of Workers Memorial Day on April 28, which honors “people who didn’t come home at the end of their [work] shift,” the agency noted on its website.
It is planning multiple events April 22-25, including sessions on the OSHA inspection process, mental health after a safety incident, a general overview of workers’ compensation, and teens’ knowledge of safety in the workplace.
