For industrial workers in Indiana and Illinois, the risk of a deadly work accident can be extremely high, especially for those working in construction, steel, warehousing, manufacturing, or commercial trucking. Fatal on-the-job injuries are always unacceptable and often caused by preventable accidents. For more, read What Is the Most Dangerous Job in Indiana and Illinois?
Nonfatal workplace injuries, while defying death, can be life-altering in industrial work accidents. For instance, amputations or the loss of use of a limb result in permanent disabilities. Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) and spinal cord injuries can happen in an instant with severe consequences and handicaps.
For more on severe non-fatal work accident injuries, read:
- Catastrophic Injury Accidents: Special Legal Protections for Victims and Families in Indiana and Illinois
- The Fight Against Protecting People from Concussion and Brain Injury (TBI)
- Spinal Cord Injuries: Tragic Result of Serious Accidents
- Amputation Injuries from On-the-Job Work Accidents in Indiana or Illinois.
Accordingly, attempts to fight against industrial accidents and make worksites safer for workers must include an analysis of workplace injury cases. For many years, these studies have included the annual workplace injuries reports by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”).
Each year, the BLS releases its agency summary of occupational safety and health statistics for both (1) non-fatal and (2) fatal workplace injuries and illnesses in this country. The first is entitled the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. On December 16, 2022, the BLS will publish its corresponding Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (“CFOI”) report, delineating all reported fatal work injuries in the United States for the calendar year 2021.
On November 9, 2022, the BLS published its latest compilation of non-fatal workplace injury statistics (“BLS SOII”). This agency report provides serious warnings for all industrial workers in Indiana and Illinois as well as guidance for safety agencies and advocates of worker victims and their loved ones.
These published reports are based on employee incident reports sent to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) pursuant to employer regulatory requirements.
BLS Warnings for Industrial Workers
Only employees in private industry are included in the BLS SOII. Employers outside of the country’s private industrial sector (such as various levels of government) did not report worksite accidents for the BLS report.
1. More workers were hurt on the job in 2021.
If both injuries and illnesses are tallied together, then there was a small decrease (1.8%) in reported harm to workers in 2021. However, the BLS notes that “…[t]he decline in injury and illness cases was due to a drop in illness cases, with private industry employers reporting 365,200 nonfatal illnesses in 2021, down from 544,600 in 2020, a drop of 32.9 percent.”
If illnesses are excluded, then things change. There was an increase of 6.3% in workplace injuries suffered in 2021. More people were hurt on the job last year. See, BLS SOII Chart 1.
2. Non-fatal worksite injuries increased in most Industrial Workplaces.
Almost every industry saw an increase in workplace accident injuries. The overall rate of industrial worker injury cases rose in 2021, with private industry employers reporting 2.3 cases per 100 FTE workers as compared to 2.2 cases in the prior year.
The BLS SOII found that workers in (1) retail trade; (2) transportation and warehousing; and (3) construction faced the biggest rise in nonfatal job-site injuries in 2021 from the prior year.
- Transportation and warehousing industries increased by 23% in 2021.
- Retail trade employee harm jumped 6% in 2021.
- Private construction industry reports rose 4% in 2021.
Explains the BLS: “Health care and social assistance was the only private industry sector that had a decrease in the total number of cases in 2021, decreasing 183,200 cases to 623,000 in 2021.”
Indiana Department of Labor Analysis of 2021 BLS SOII
The Indiana Department of Labor has published its report detailing how the Hoosier State faired in the latest BLS SOII. See, 2021 Indiana Illnesses and Injuries Analysis of the 2021 BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) Results published by the Indiana Department of Labor Quality, Metrics, and Statistics Division (“Indiana Report”).
Workplace injuries rose in the State of Indiana last year, as did worker illnesses.
Indiana saw a rise of 3.2% in illness and injury for our industrial workers. A reported 75,800 Hoosiers were reported to have suffered non-fatal injury or illness on the job in 2021 by their employers. Indiana Report, page 3.
BLS Acknowledges Underreporting of Worker Injuries to OSHA
Of course, advocates for work accident victims understand that employers do not always comply with OSHA regulations. They do breach their duties of care and safety in industrial workplaces. When industrial workers suffer bodily harm on the job, their employers do not always report what has happened to the authorities.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recognizes this reality as an “underreporting” problem. From the BLS:
BLS and its research partners have conducted multiple studies which indicate that SOII fails to capture some cases but could not determine the leading cause of an undercount. The estimated magnitude of the undercount varies dramatically based on various factors, including the case matching methodologies employed by the researchers.
Nonfatal Industrial Accident Claims for Justice in Indiana and Illinois
In 2021, there were 2,607,900 nonfatal injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers to the government. No one can confirm how many industrial workers in Indiana, Illinois, or the rest of the country were hurt on the job in an accident where they suffered bodily harm but survived the accident. Underreporting by employers is a recognized reality that skews these reports.
The new BLS Report warns us all that the risk of a serious accident on our industrial job sites is unacceptably high. And, obvious from the new 2011 findings, the danger is rising for industrial workers in every industry except for health care and social assistance.
For construction workers, commercial truck drivers, warehouse employees, factory workers, steelworkers, and other industrial site employees, there is an absolute danger of a serious jobsite injury.
Things are not getting safer: instead, our worksites are becoming more dangerous.
As industrial employers continue to disrespect safety guidelines and breach duties of care and safety, workers hurt on the job are provided legal recourse not only through the state workers’ compensation plans but also through civil claims for justice based upon personal injury, defective product, premises liability, and negligence law. Claims can include coverage for medical care, rehabilitation expenses, therapy costs, lost wages, future lost earnings, and more.
For more, read:
- Premises Liability and Workplace Accidents: Third Party Injury Claims
- Workers’ Compensation and Third-Party Claims for On-the-Job Accidents
- OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program: Employers Keep Putting Profits Over Worker Safety.
Industrial accidents do not have to be deadly to result in life-altering, catastrophic harm. The danger of workplace injury for Indiana and Illinois industrial workers is rising each year, even as employer underreporting of these incidents is recognized. Please be careful out there!
