Published by Falling victim to an injury at work is often a confusing and stressful time. Besides your injuries, you also may have worries associated with your accident, and retrieving the correct and reliable information can prove difficult.
It’s also important to keep in mind that your employer protects you and informs you about health and safety risks associated with your job. Although there is no requirement that employers offer paid sick leave to their employees, they must allow staff unpaid time off for medical leave.
Here at Schmidt & Clark, LLP we have therefore decided to explore which are the workplaces that most commonly experience injuries according to sector and occupation.
The information was retrieved from the latest data taken from the 2020 U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Labor Statistics employer-reported workplace injuries and illnesses news release
The General Figures
The Bureau of Labor found that private industry employers reported 2.7 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2020, which is down from 2.8 million in 2019 and represents a decrease of 5.7%.
The decline in injury and illness cases was due to a drop in injury cases, with private industry employers reporting 2.1 million nonfatal injuries in 2020, down from 2.7 million in 2019. At the same time, the total reported illness cases more than quadrupled to 544,600 cases, up from 127,200 in 2019. This rise was driven by a nearly 4,000% increase in employer-reported respiratory illness cases in 2020 at 428,700, up from 10,800 in 2019.
There were over 1.2 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses that caused a private industry worker to miss at least one day of work in 2020, 32.4% higher than in 2019. Of these cases, 33.2% (390,020 cases) were categorized as other diseases due to viruses not elsewhere classified, which includes reported COVID-19 related illnesses.
By Sector
The total injury and illness cases decreased or remained the same in all private industry sectors, except for health care and social assistance, which increased 40.1% in 2020. The health care and social assistance sector had 806,200 private industry injury and illness cases in 2020, over half (447,890) of which resulted in at least one day away from work.
In 2019, this sector had 575,200 private industry cases, with 151,410 resulting in at least one day away from work.
By Occupation
Ten occupations accounted for 38.3% of all private industry cases involving days away from work (DAFW) in 2020. Of these, nursing assistants had the highest number of DAFW cases with 96,480, an increase of 68,890 cases (249.7%) from 2019.
In 2020, DAFW cases for registered nurses increased by 58,590 cases (290.8%) to 78,740 cases. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had 43,500 DAFW cases in 2020, a decrease of 4,490 cases (9.4%).
DAFW cases for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers were essentially unchanged in 2020.
Other occupations which ranked highly were maintenance and repair workers, stockers and order fillers, and retail salespersons.
Number, Incidence Rates, and Median Days for Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Requiring Dafw Selected Occupations, Private Industry, 2019-20:
| Occupation | 2019 | 2020 | ||||
| Number | Rate | Median DAFW | Number | Rate | Median DAFW | |
| Nursing assistants | 27,590 | 283.5 | 6 | 96,480 | 1,023.8 | 12 |
| Registered nurses | 20,150 | 102.1 | 8 | 78,740 | 390.6 | 13 |
| Laborers and freight, stock and material movers, hand | 64,160 | 275.5 | 12 | 64,930 | 289.8 | 14 |
| Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers | 47,990 | 280.0 | 19 | 43,500 | 259.7 | 23 |
| Stockers and order fillers | 27,390 | 176.3 | 10 | 31,280 | 176.2 | 13 |
| Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses | 5,350 | 109.5 | 8 | 29,230 | 608.4 | 12 |
| Retail salespersons | 24,870 | 80.2 | 8 | 28,110 | 106.6 | 11 |
| Personal care aides | 14,960 – | 6 | 27,750 – | 12 | ||
| Production workers, all other | 25,110 – | 8 | 26,850 – | 10 | ||
| Maintenance and repair workers, general | 21,490 | 204.6 | 12 | 23,400 | 241.9 | 10 |
Workplace Fatalities
Even more distressing than a workplace injury is a workplace fatality, which can come as a shock to family, friends, colleagues and the employer in question. Following such an incident, any hazardous elements considered an immediate danger to life and health should be removed.
The rest of the area must then be secured for investigation but only after receiving authorization from the authorities. This is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all other employees and to ensure no further tragic incidents occur.
Employers are advised to be sensitive to what their employees might need at the time, consider their physical and emotional wellbeing, and recognize that grief is not a linear process and affects everyone differently.
Here, we go on to explore the workplaces that most commonly experience fatalities, according to types of incident, sector, occupation, state, and age range.
The General Figures
In total, it was reported that there were 4764 workplace fatalities in the United States in 2020, which is a 10.7% decrease from 2019, in which there were 5,333 fatalities. This drop could potentially be due to people being out of work but the news release does state that the cases have been continuously dropping since 2013.
Additionally, 4349 cases were in the private sector, which makes up 91.2% of fatalities reported in 2020.
Out of the 4764 fatalities reported, 3864 of them were attributed to salaried employees (which is 81%), the remaining 900 fatalities were attributed to self-employed workers.
By Incidents
Most Fatalities Were Categorized into Six ‘Events’ with the Totals as Follows:
| Event | No. of Fatalities | Most Popular ‘Sub Event’ | No. of Fatalities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation Incidents | 1778 | Roadway Incidents involving Motorized Land Vehicle | 1038 |
| Exposure to harmful substances and environments | 805 | Exposure to other harmful substances (E.g - unintentional overdose, inhalation, and ingestion of harmful substance) | 448 |
| Contact with object and equipment | 716 | Struck by objects and equipment | 468 |
| Violence and other injuries by persons or animals | 705 | Intentional Injury By Person (This includes homicides and suicides) | 651 |
| Falls, Slips and Trips | 672 | Falls to lower level | 645 |
| Fires and Explosions | 71 | Explosions | 40 |
Most fatalities were categorized under ‘Transportation Incidents’, with the majority being ‘Roadway Incidents Involving Motorized Land Vehicles’, which includes road collisions with other vehicles and collisions with other objects.
‘Exposure to harmful substances and environments’ saw the second-highest number of fatalities, with ‘exposure to other harmful substances, which includes drugs and alcohol, being attributed to 448 deaths.
Under, ‘Violence and other injuries by persons or animals’ many fatalities were caused by ‘intentional injury by person’, this includes homicides and suicides, 392 workplace fatalities were as a result of homicide in 2020.
By Sector
The Top Ten Sectors for Workplace Fatalities Were:
| Sector | No. of Fatalities | Fatal Work Injury Rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers) |
| Construction | 1008 | 10.2 |
| Transportation and Warehousing | 805 | 13.4 |
| Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing | 511 | 21.5 |
| Government | 415 | 1.8 |
| Manufacturing | 340 | 2.3 |
| Retail Trade | 275 | 2 |
| Leisure and Hospitality | 219 | 2.5 |
| Other Services (excluding Public Admin) | 188 | 3.3 |
| Wholesale Trade | 155 | 4.6 |
| Educational and Health Services | 145 | 0.7 |
Construction was the industry that saw the highest number of fatalities at 1008, this accounts for 21% of the total fatalities reported in 2020. However, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing have the highest injury rate, with 21.5 fatalities for every 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
Within construction, 368 are classified as ‘Falls, Slips and Trips’, this accounts for 37% of the fatalities recorded under the sector.
The Transportation and Warehousing industry experienced 805 fatalities, with 575 being classed as ‘Transportation Incidents’, this is 57% of the total fatalities under the industry.
Like Transportation and Warehousing, the highest number of fatalities within the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing industry was attributed to ‘Transportation Incidents’, with 247 fatalities out of the total 511 reported, which is 48%.
By Occupation
The Data Reports That These Are the Occupations with the Highest Fatality Rate in 2020:
| Sector | Fatal Work Injury Rate (per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers) | No. of Fatalities |
| Fishing and Hunting Workers | 132.1 | 42 |
| Logging Workers | 91.7 | 42 |
| Roofers | 47.0 | 88 |
| Helpers and Construction Trades | 43.3 | 19 |
| Aircraft Pilots and Flight Engineers | 34.2 | 50 |
| Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors | 33.1 | 30 |
| Structural Iron and Steel Workers | 32.5 | 16 |
| Driver/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers | 25.8 | 887 |
| Underground Mining Machine Operators | 21.6 | 10 |
| Farmers, Ranchers and Other Agricultural Managers | 20.9 | 207 |
Despite Drivers/Sales Workers and Truck Drivers experiencing 887 fatalities within the occupation, which accounts for 19% of the total fatalities reported in 2020. Fishing and Hunting workers had an injury rate of 132.1 workers being fatally injured per 100,000.
Logging Workers had the second-highest rate, with 91.2 per 100,000 workers. Both Fishing and Hunting and Logging had 42 fatalities attributed to the occupation each.
By State
The Top Ten States Reported with the Highest Number of Work Fatalities in 2020 Were the Following:
| State | Fatal work injuries, 2020 |
| Texas | 469 |
| California | 463 |
| Florida | 275 |
| New York | 223 |
| Georgia | 193 |
| North Carolina | 189 |
| Indiana | 158 |
| Pennsylvania | 148 |
| Tennessee | 142 |
| Illinois | 135 |
| Michigan | 131 |
Texas had 469 fatalities in 2020, which is approximately 10% of the total fatalities recorded and California was second-highest, with 463 fatalities recorded. Combined, Texas and California accounted for 19.5% of all workplace fatalities in 2020.
The Top 10 States Reported with the Lowest Number of Work Fatalities in 2020 Were the Following:
| State | Fatal work injuries, 2020 |
| Rhode Island | 5 |
| Delaware | 7 |
| Vermont | 8 |
| District of Columbia | 13 |
| New Hampshire | 14 |
| Hawaii | 16 |
| Maine | 20 |
| North Dakota | 26 |
| Connecticut | 29 |
| Montana | 29 |
| Alaska | 31 |
Rhode Island only saw 5 workplace fatalities reported in 2020, which is 0.1% of total fatalities in 2020, followed by the State of Delaware at 7 and Vermont at 8 fatal injuries in 2020.
By Age
The Data Also Reported the Numbers of Fatalities in 2020 by Age Which Were as Follows:
| Age Range | Fatalities |
| Under 16 Years | 14 |
| 16 to 17 Years | 12 |
| 18 to 19 Years | 66 |
| 20 to 24 Years | 260 |
| 25 to 34 Years | 833 |
| 35 to 44 Years | 898 |
| 45 to 54 Years | 954 |
| 55 to 64 | 1,051 |
| 65 Years and Over | 676 |
Ages 55 to 64 saw the highest number of workplace fatalities at 1052, which is 22% of the total number reported.
Younger age demographics were least at risk, with only 14 fatalities being attributed to those 16 and under, and 12 to those between the ages of 16 and 17.
FAQs
What types of workplaces have the highest injury rates?
Workplaces with the highest injury rates include construction sites, manufacturing plants, warehouses, and transportation industries. These environments involve heavy machinery, hazardous materials, and physically demanding tasks that increase the risk of workplace injuries.
How common are injuries in the healthcare industry?
Injuries are quite common in the healthcare industry, particularly among nurses and aides. These injuries often result from lifting patients, repetitive motions, and exposure to infectious diseases, making healthcare one of the higher-risk industries for workplace injuries.
What are the most frequent injuries in the retail sector?
In the retail sector, common injuries include slips, trips, and falls, as well as musculoskeletal injuries from lifting and moving merchandise. Retail workers are also at risk for cuts, bruises, and repetitive strain injuries from continuous manual tasks.
How do injuries in the hospitality industry typically occur?
Injuries in the hospitality industry typically occur from slips, trips, and falls, especially in kitchens and dining areas. Other common injuries include burns, cuts, and musculoskeletal issues from lifting heavy items and repetitive tasks.
Final Thoughts
The figures clearly demonstrate that much more needs to be done to ensure the safety of workers in 2022 and beyond.
The labor force is continually growing in the United States, therefore we need to make sure employers are doing their job properly so that workers can safely do theirs.
We must also ensure that every worker is aware of their rights and is empowered to speak up about concerns in their workplace.
If you require legal aid concerning an injury at work, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. If you have been physically injured or financially harmed through no fault of your own, then our team of attorneys and legal assistants will take on even the largest corporations.
We are one of the leading and most highly recognized law firms in the USA, specializing in representing individual plaintiffs and their families.