12.3: Workplace Injuries and Illnesses
Workplace injuries include both relatively minor injuries like cuts or bruises, and major injuries like amputations, fractures, loss of an eye, or severe burns and acute poisoning. Non-fatal injuries are most commonly slips, trips, and falls, or contact with equipment (CDC/NIOSH, 2022). Motor vehicle accidents are the most common source of fatal workplace injuries, but deaths from violence and unintentional overdoses have also increased over the last several years (BLS, 2023). In 2022, workplace injuries and deaths in the U.S. had a price tag of 167 billion dollars; including the lost productivity, medical expenses, and administrative costs. Compared to the number of people in the workforce, that’s just over $1000 per worker. There were also 108 million days of work lost to injuries that happened in 2022 or in years prior (National Safety Council, 2024a).
Workplace illnesses are often more difficult to connect to workplace exposures since symptoms can often take many years to develop. These include skin diseases, loss of hearing from industry noise, or cancers developed from exposure to environmental toxins used in industrial processes. Workplace-related respiratory conditions include (among others) silicosis - which is developed from inhaling silica dust commonly from grinding or sanding rocks or cement, coal worker’s pneumoconiosis - aka black lung disease, and asbestosis - caused by inhaling asbestos fibers (Seabert et al., 2021). Those working outdoors such as farmers, construction workers, and firefighters are also at higher risk for heat-related illness such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion - particularly in the summer months (Riley et al., 2018).
In 2022, the BLS reported 5,486 fatal work injuries, an increase of 5.7% from 2021. The BLS also reported 2.8 million nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses in private industry, up 7.5% from 2021. Including government jobs as well, the rate of nonfatal injury and illness was 3% of all workers for 2022 (BLS, 2023a). The highest rates of nonfatal work-related injuries and illnesses were found in transportation and warehousing, as well as agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting. The highest total numbers of nonfatal injuries and illnesses were recorded for the healthcare and social assistance sector however, likely due to the high number of workers employed in those occupations. See Fig. \(\PageIndex{1}\) below.
According to the BLS, the fatal injury rate in 2022 was 3.7 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. However, this rate was higher for African American or Black workers (4.2 per 100,000 FTE workers) and Hispanic or Latino workers (4.6 per 100,000 FTE workers). Those between the ages of 55-64 have the highest number of fatalities (BLS, 2023b). These demographic differences may indicate disparities in exposures to hazards, or perhaps a lack of protections in certain sectors of industry.