Minnesota's Workplace Injury Rate Reaches New Low
The state had an estimated 3.5 OSHA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time-equivalent workers in 2015, and the estimated rate was 3.7 cases per 100 FTE workers in 2014 and 3.9 in both 2013 and 2012.
Minnesota's estimated workplace injury and illness rate for 2015 dropped to the lowest rate since measurement started in 1973, according to the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, the state's Department of Labor and Industry announced Oct. 28. The state had an estimated 3.5 OSHA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time-equivalent workers in 2015, and the estimated rate was 3.7 cases per 100 FTE workers in 2014 and 3.9 in both 2013 and 2012.
The survey estimated Minnesota had 75,000 workers with OSHA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2015, down from 78,700 estimated cases for 2014, while employment covered by the survey increased from 2.63 million in 2014 to 2.67 million in 2015.
"In the past decade, Minnesota has seen a 31 percent decrease in its rate of work-related injuries and illnesses," said Ken Peterson, the DLI commissioner. "While this is good news overall, there is still much work to do to improve workplace safety and health to ensure more workers go home safe and healthy each night."
For the survey, DLI collects injury and illness records from randomly sampled Minnesota employers in the private and public sectors (excluding federal agencies); about 4,800 employers participated in the 2015 survey. It estimated 35,500 injuries and illnesses resulting in days away from work, job transfer, or restrictions after the day of injury, significantly lower than the 2014 estimate of 38,400 cases. Industries with the highest total injury and illness rates were agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (6.5 cases per 100 FTE workers); construction (5.3); and transportation and warehousing (5.0).