BLS U S Bureau of Labor Statistics : Employer-Reported Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in Arizona – 2017

News Release Information

19-133-SAN
Friday, January 25, 2019

Arizona's private industry employers reported 56,300 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2017, resulting in an incidence rate of 2.9 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that Arizona was among six states that had an incidence rate of total recordable cases (TRC) similar to the national rate of 2.8. (Arizona was 1 of 41 states and the District of Columbia for which statewide estimates are available. See Technical Note at the end of this release for more information about the survey.)

Arizona's findings from the 2017 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses include:

• TRC incidence rates in private industry ranged from 0.7 in financial activities to 5.2 in other services, except public administration. (See table 1.)
• Two supersectors, with about 40 percent of private industry employment, accounted for 47 percent of the occupational injuries and illnesses: trade, transportation, and utilities; and education and health services. (See table 2.)
• In private industry, the TRC injury and illness incidence rate ranged from 1.2 for small establishments (those employing fewer than 11 workers) to 3.3 for small mid-size establishments (those employing between 50 to 249 workers). (See table 3.)
• Arizona's private industry TRC rate of 2.9 in 2017 was similar to the rate in 2016. (See table 4.)

Characteristic	United States		Arizona
	Number (in thousands)	Rate (per 100 workers)	Number (in thousands)	Rate (per 100 workers)
Total cases	2,811.5	2.8	56.3	2.9
Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction	1,528.0	1.5	28.9	1.5
Cases with days away from work	882.7	0.9	14.1	0.7
Cases with job transfer or restriction	645.3	0.7	14.7	0.8
Other recordable cases	1,283.5	1.3	27.4	1.4

Private industry injury and illness case types

Of the 56,300 private industry injury and illness cases reported in Arizona, 28,900 were of a more severe nature, involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction-commonly referred to as DART cases. These cases occurred at a rate of 1.5 cases per 100 full-time workers. Forty nine percent of the DART cases in Arizona were incidents that resulted in at least one day away from work, compared to 58 percent nationally. Other recordable cases (those not involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction) accounted for the remaining 27,400 cases in Arizona, at a rate of 1.4. In comparison, the national rate for other recordable cases was 1.3.

In Arizona, the education and health services supersector experienced significant declines in both the TRC and DART incidence rates from the previous year, while the information industry had significant increases in both rates. The financial activities supersector had a significant decline in the DART incidence rate. No other private industry supersector had a significant change in the TRC or DART rate over the year.

In 2017, 53,800 (95.6 percent) of private industry recordable injuries and illnesses were injuries. Workplace illnesses accounted for an additional 2,500 recordable cases. Three categories-skin disorders, respiratory conditions, and hearing loss-accounted for 33 percent of the occupational illnesses in Arizona. Nationally, these three categories amounted to 34 percent of the work-related illness total.

State and local government injury and illness cases

In the state and local government sector in Arizona, 10,900 injury and illness cases were reported in 2017, resulting in a rate of 4.5 cases per 100 full-time workers. Nationally, the rate was 4.6. Eighty six percent of injuries and illnesses reported in Arizona's public sector occurred among local government workers.

State estimates and over-the-year change

Private industry and public sector estimates are available for 41 participating states and for the District of Columbia for 2017. The private industry injury and illness rate was statistically higher in 20 states than the national rate of 2.8 cases per 100 full-time workers, lower in 15 states and in the District of Columbia, and not statistically different in 6 states. (See chart 1.)

Compared to 2016, private industry TRC incidence rates declined in eight states. The private industry TRC incidence rate was relatively unchanged in 33 states, including Arizona, and in the District of Columbia. Estimates for nine states were not available in 2017 for comparison. Differences in the industry composition in each state account for some of the differences in injury and illness incidence rates across states.

Technical Note

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) is a Federal/State program in which employer's reports are collected annually from approximately 200,000 private industry and public sector (State and local government) establishments and processed by State agencies in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Summary information on the number of injuries and illnesses is transcribed by these employers directly from their recordkeeping logs to the survey questionnaire. The questionnaire also asks for the number of employee hours worked (needed in the calculation of incidence rates) as well as its annual average employment (needed to verify the unit's employment-size class).

Occupational injury and illness data for establishments in coal, metal, and nonmetal mining industries and for railroad activities are provided by the Department of Labor's Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), respectively. The SOII excludes all work-related fatalities as well as nonfatal work injuries and illnesses to the self-employed; to workers on farms with 10 or fewer employees; to private household workers; to volunteers; and to federal government workers.

Injuries and illnesses logged by employers conform to definitions and recordkeeping guidelines set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), U.S. Department of Labor. Under OSHA guidelines, nonfatal cases are recordable if they are occupational injuries or illnesses which involve lost work time, medical treatment other than first aid, restriction of work or motion, loss of consciousness, or transfer to another job. Employers record injuries separate from illnesses and also identify for each whether a case involved any days away from work or days of restricted work activity, or both, beyond the day of injury or onset of illness.

Survey estimates are based on a scientifically selected sample of establishments, some of which represent only themselves, but most of which also represent other employers of like industry and workforce size that were not chosen to report data in a given survey year.

The incidence rates presented in this release represent the number of injuries and/or illnesses per 100 full-time equivalent workers and were calculated as:

(N / EH) X 200,000 where,

N = number of injuries and/or illnesses

EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year

200,000 = base for 100 full-time equivalent workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year)

Background and methodological information regarding the BLS occupational safety and health statistics program can be found in Chapter 9 of the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/soii/home.htm.

Additional occupational injury and illness data are available from our regional web page atwww.bls.gov/regions/west. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: [phone]; Federal Relay Service: (800)-877-8339.

Industry	Total recordable cases	Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction			Other recordable cases
		Total	Cases with days away from work	Cases with job transfer or restriction
All industries including state and local government	3.0	1.5	0.7	0.8	1.5
Private industry	2.9	1.5	0.7	0.8	1.4
Goods-producing	3.1	1.7	0.9	0.8	1.4
Natural resources and mining	3.9	2.6	1.4	1.2	1.3
Construction	3.1	1.6	0.8	0.8	1.5
Manufacturing	2.9	1.6	0.8	0.8	1.3
Service-providing	2.8	1.4	0.7	0.7	1.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities	3.6	2.2	1.1	1.2	1.3
Information	2.4	1.7	0.5	1.2	0.7
Financial activities	0.7	0.2	0.1		0.6
Professional and business services	1.7	0.8	0.4	0.4	0.9
Education and health services	3.2	1.3	0.5	0.8	1.9
Leisure and hospitality	3.9	1.6	1.1	0.6	2.3
Other services, except public administration	5.2	2.8	-	-	2.4
State and local government	4.5	1.9	1.0	1.0	2.6
State government	2.4	1.5	1.0	0.4	0.9
Local government	5.3	2.1	1.0	1.1	3.2
Note: Because of rounding, components may not add to totals. Dashes indicate data not available. Incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers and were calculated as: (N/EH) x 200,000 where: N = number of injuries and illnesses; EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year; and 200,000 = base for 100 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year).

Industry	Total recordable cases	Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction			Other recordable cases
		Total	Cases with days away from work	Cases with job transfer or restriction
All industries including state and local government	67.2	33.5	16.5	17.0	33.7
Private industry	56.3	28.9	14.1	14.7	27.4
Goods-producing	9.7	5.4	2.7	2.7	4.3
Natural resources and mining	1.1	0.7	0.4	0.3	0.4
Construction	3.9	2.0	1.0	1.0	1.9
Manufacturing	4.7	2.6	1.3	1.3	2.1
Service-providing	46.6	23.5	11.4	12.1	23.1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	15.6	9.8	4.7	5.1	5.8
Information	0.9	0.6	0.2	0.5	0.3
Financial activities	1.4	0.3	0.2	0.1	1.1
Professional and business services	6.3	3.1	1.5	1.6	3.2
Education and health services	10.8	4.4	1.8	2.6	6.4
Leisure and hospitality	8.6	3.6	2.3	1.3	5.0
Other services, except public administration	2.9	1.6	-	-	1.4
State and local government	10.9	4.7	2.4	2.3	6.3
State government	1.5	0.9	0.7	0.3	0.6
Local government	9.4	3.7	1.7	2.0	5.7
Note: Because of rounding, components may not add to totals. Dashes indicate data not available. Incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers and were calculated as: (N/EH) x 200,000 where: N = number of injuries and illnesses; EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year; and 200,000 = base for 100 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year).

Industry	All establishments	Establishment employment size (workers)
		1 to 10	11 to 49	50 to 249	250 to 999	1,000 or more
All industries including state and local government	3.0	1.2	2.7	3.4	3.4	3.6
Private industry	2.9	1.2	2.7	3.3	3.2	3.2
Goods-producing	3.1	2.7	3.2	3.7	3.1	1.9
Natural resources and mining	3.9	2.0	0.9	2.6	5.4	-
Construction	3.1	-	2.7	3.8	2.8	-
Manufacturing	2.9	-	4.4	3.7	2.4	1.4
Service-providing	2.8	1.0	2.6	3.3	3.2	3.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	3.6	0.4	3.4	3.8	4.7	4.7
Information	2.4		-	5.6	1.5	0.6
Financial activities	0.7	-	-	0.8	0.7	0.8
Professional and business services	1.7	-	2.2	2.6	1.6	1.4
Education and health services	3.2	-	0.7	3.1	3.9	5.2
Leisure and hospitality	3.9	-	3.6	4.7	5.2	3.3
Other services, except public administration	5.2	-	-	2.7	4.6	-
State and local government	4.5	2.9	4.2	5.1	5.0	4.3
State government	2.4		-	3.7	3.0	2.3
Local government	5.3	8.0	4.7	5.4	5.4	5.2
Note: Because of rounding, components may not add to totals. Dashes indicate data not available. Incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers and were calculated as: (N/EH) x 200,000 where: N = number of injuries and illnesses; EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year; and 200,000 = base for 100 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year).

Industry	Total recordable cases		Cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction
	2016	2017	2016	2017
All industries including state and local government	3.1	3.0	1.5	1.5
Private industry	2.9	2.9	1.5	1.5
Goods-producing	3.2	3.1	1.8	1.7
Natural resources and mining	4.7	3.9	2.4	2.6
Construction	3.3	3.1	1.8	1.6
Manufacturing	2.9	2.9	1.6	1.6
Service-providing	2.9	2.8	1.4	1.4
Trade, transportation, and utilities	3.4	3.6	2.1	2.2
Information	0.9	2.4*	0.4	1.7*
Financial activities	1.0	0.7	0.4	0.2*
Professional and business services	1.5	1.7	0.6	0.8
Education and health services	3.7	3.2*	1.5	1.3*
Leisure and hospitality	4.1	3.9	1.8	1.6
Other services, except public administration	3.7	5.2	1.4	2.8
State and local government	4.6	4.5	2.0	1.9
State government	2.4	2.4	1.4	1.5*
Local government	5.4	5.3	2.2	2.1
Note: Dashes indicate data not available. Incidence rates represent the number of injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers and were calculated as: (N/EH) x 200,000 where: N = number of injuries and illnesses; EH = total hours worked by all employees during the calendar year; and 200,000 = base for 100 equivalent full-time workers (working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks per year). * An asterisk indicates a significant difference between the current year and prior year values, when testing at 95% confidence level.

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