Workplaces Safer, but We’re Not Out of the Woods Yet

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses among private industry employers declined in 2009 (the most recent year for which statistics are available) to a rate of 3.6 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, down from a total case rate of 3.9 in 2008.

Injuries and illnesses fell by about 400,000 overall in 2009, but they still amounted to:

• 275,00 reported injuries and illnesses a month;
• 63,462 a week; and
• Over 9,000 a day.

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Key Findings

Key findings from BLS’s 2009 Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses include the following:

• Although incidence rates for injuries and illnesses in general declined significantly in 2009, the rate of lost workdays remained relatively unchanged from the previous year.
• The manufacturing industry sector reported the largest year-to-year decline in injuries and illnesses since 2003—falling by 23 percent (161,100 cases) from 2008 to 2009, lowering the incidence rate by 0.7 cases to 4.3 cases per 100 workers. The drop in cases reported in this sector represents nearly 39 percent of the total private industry decline in injuries and illnesses in 2009. 
• The construction industry sector reported 71,700 fewer cases in 2009, compared to 2000—a 22 percent decline, lowering the incidence rate by 0.4 cases to 4.3 cases per 100 workers. The decline in reported cases among the manufacturing and construction industry sectors together represents nearly 56 percent of the total private industry decline in injuries and illnesses in 2009.
• The incidence rate of injuries only among private industry workers fell from 3.7 to 3.4 cases per 100 workers between 2008 and 2009, resulting from an 11 percent drop in the number of injury cases.
• Both the incidence rate and the number of illness cases declined significantly in 2009, compared to 2008—led by a decline among the skin diseases category which accounted for nearly 47 percent of the decline in illness cases among private industry establishments.
• Slightly more than one-half of the 3.3 million private industry injury and illness cases reported nationally in 2009 were of a more serious nature that involved days away from work, job transfer, or restriction (commonly referred to as DART cases). These occurred at a rate of 1.8 cases per 100 workers, declining from 2.0 cases in 2008.

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Employee Training Center

It’s a fair to say that injury and illness rates are probably going down in large part due to improved safety training, like the training programs you’ll find in BLR’s Employee Training Center.

Unlike many training solutions available on the market today,Employee Training Center courses are routinely reviewed and updated to reflect changes in federal regulations or best practices. Each training course is developed by BLR lawyers, industry experts, and instructional designers who have experience across a wealth of industries, topics, and compliance areas.

Courses keep participants interested with engaging audio, built-in exercises, and key points to remember. At the completion of every course, individuals take a quiz designed to test for competency in all the course material presented. Quiz results and course completion times are automatically recorded.

Every course can be tailored with supporting and custom documents. BLR provides supporting documents for courses that include complete slide show notes and the answer key for the included quiz. As the administrator, you have the option of displaying uploaded documents and requiring review before the session begins. This is especially useful for company policies or worksite-specific information. Supporting materials can be added, edited, or removed at any time.

With only a few minutes’ setup, you company will have a complete Web-based training program with professionally developed courses, employee testing capabilities, and systematic documentation of employee training sessions and scores. And remember, BLR^® Employee Training Center courses can be delivered at individual employee desks, in computer centers, at training kiosks, or even in a classroom.

No wonder BLR^® Employee Training Center was named "Best Workforce Training Solution" by the Software Information Industry Association. It can help you launch a cost-effective and successful employee training program.

We urge you to sign up for a no-obligation demo by visiting the award-winning Employee Training Center. Or, feel free to call our customer service people toll-free at 866-696-4827.

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