Private Industries Report 2.6 Million Workplace Injuries and Illnesses

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has released workplace injury and illness rates for 2021. Private industries reported:

• 2.6 million work-related injury and illness cases, a decrease of 1.8 percent from 2020
• 1,062,700 injuries and illnesses each caused at least one day of lost work, 9.7 percent lower than in 2020
• 2.7 total recordable cases per 100 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, unchanged from 2020
• 2.3 injury cases per 100 FTE workers compared to 2.2 cases per 100 FTEs in 2020
• 2.2 million injury cases, an increase of 6.3 percent compared to the previous year
• 365,200 non-fatal illnesses, down from 544,600 in 2020, a decline of 32.9 percent
• 269,600 respiratory illness cases, a 37.1 percent decrease compared to 428,700 in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic
• 3.7 illness cases per 10,000 FTE workers compared to 55.9 cases per 10,000 in 2020, reflecting a decline in respiratory illness

Health care and social assistance had the highest total injury and illness rates, while retail trade, transportation and warehousing had the largest increase in case rates.

Non-fatal occupational injury and illness estimates by industry and case type are available here.

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