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Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities

Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Data

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) is a Federal/State cooperative program that publishes estimates on nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses. Each year, approximately 200,000 employers report for establishments in private industry and the public sector (state and local government). In-scope cases include work-related injuries or illnesses to workers who require medical care beyond first aid. See the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the entire recordkeeping guidelines. The SOII excludes all workrelated fatalities as well as nonfatal work injuries and illnesses to the selfemployed; to workers on farms with 10 or fewer employees; to private household workers; to volunteers; and to federal government workers. For more information on the scope and sampling methodology see the SOII Handbook of Methods.

SOII data are released to the public through the SOII News Release, SOII charts and tables and through the IIF public database, generally in early November.

SOII Outputs

The Injuries, Illness and Fatalities program publishes two broad categories of outputs based on information provided by employers. Since 1972 BLS has published summary estimates of the number and incidence rate of injuries and illnesses by industry. In 1992, BLS began publishing information on the detailed case circumstances and demographics of the injured or ill worker. These estimates historically covered only cases involving days away from work (DAFW). For 2011-2019, estimates for detailed case circumstances and worker demographics for cases involving job transfer or work restriction (DJTR) were also available from a subset of industry subsectors covered in a pilot study. DJTR case details will be collected across all industries starting with the data for reference year 2021, from which BLS will later publish estimates for both DAFW and DJTR (see below for additional details on DJTR collection and estimates). For more on workplace injuries and illnesses see our definitions page.

SOIIData Example (Expand to view)

Data Example

Typically, the SOII produces over ten million publishable data points for a given reference year. A hypothetical, simplified case is illustrated below to demonstrate the breadth and depth of SOII data by its industry level and case and demographic aggregations. The following example shows some of the typical information that is provided by survey respondents on the SOII survey form.

Section 1: Establishment Information

ZYX/CBA Telecommunications1
Annual average number of employees: 670 full-time workers2
Total hours worked by all employees: 1,387,000 hours3

Section 2: Summary of Work Related Injuries and Illnesses

Number of cases with days away from work:24
Number of cases with job transfer or restriction: 15
Number of other recordable cases: 26
Total number of injuries: 4
Total number of respiratory conditions: 17

Section 3: Reporting cases

Job title: Cell Tower Tech 8
DOB: 9/13/19819, Sex: M10, Race/Ethnicity: Hispanic11
Hired: 05/10/200912
Comments: Complained of general pain13 in the lower of his back14 when his
harness15 jarringly restrained him from falling17 due to icy conditions16 on
the tower.
Incident date: 01/18/201612, 18, 21, Return date: 01/21/201618
Beginning shift: 10:00 AM20, Incident time: 11:15 AM19, 20

Data elements captured in SOII-Annual Summary

Category TypeNo.CharacteristicCharacteristic ValueCodeCoding System

Industry

1IndustryWireless telecommunications carriers517210NAICS 2012

Industry

2Class Size670 full-time equivalent employees250-999

Industry

3Hours Worked1,387,000

Case Types

4Days Away From Work2OSHA
5Days of Job Transfer or Restriction1OSHA
6Other Recordable2OSHA
7Illness (Respiratory condition)1OSHA

Data elements captured in SOII-Case and Demographics

Category TypeNo.CharacteristicCharacteristic ValueCodeCoding System

Industry

1IndustryWireless telecommunications carriers517210NAICS 2012

Occupation

8OccupationRadio, cellular, and tower equipment installers and repairers49-2021SOC 2010

Demographics

9Age or Age Group3535-44
10GenderMale
11RaceHispanic and otherOMB
12Length of Service5 years or more

Case Characteristics

13Nature of InjurySoreness- pain- hurt--nonspecified injury1972OIICS 2.01
14Part of Body InjuredLumbar region322OIICS 2.01
15Source of Injury (Primary)Lifelines- lanyards- safety belts- harnesses775OIICS 2.01
16Secondary Source of InjuryIce- sleet- snow9273OIICS 2.01
17Event of InjuryFall or jump curtailed by personal fall arrest45OIICS 2.01

Temporal Characteristics

18Days-away-from-work Group2 Days
19Time-of-day Group8:01 AM to 12 Noon
20Hours-on-the-job Group1-2 Hours
21Day of WeekMonday


Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction

Job transfer or restriction cases occur when, as a result of a work-related injury or illness, an employer or health care professional keeps, or recommends keeping an employee from doing the routine functions of his or her job or from working the full workday that the employee would have been scheduled to work before the injury or illness occurred.

Expanded DJTR Data Collection (2021 and forward)

BLS will collect details for cases involving days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR) from all establishments starting in January 2022. BLS will publish biennial (2-year) estimates of the case characteristics and worker demographics for cases involving days away from work, job transfer, or restriction starting in 2023 (for reference years 2021 and 2022). This shift will result in significant changes to the SOII news release and how publication tables are presented. Visit our Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction Collection page for more details.

DJTR Pilot Study (Final)

From 2011 through 2019, BLS conducted a series of pilot studies to collect DJTR case details from establishments in rotating sets of six selected industry subsectors. Details about this completed study can be found on our Days of Job Transfer or Work Restriction (DJTR) page.




Series Breaks

Although SOII began collecting data in 1972, users are advised against making comparisons across the entire time period due to series breaks in the classification systems used to code SOII data. Case circumstance information is categorized according the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) by event or exposure, nature of injury or illness, part of body, and source of injury or illness. Occupation is classified according to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) and industry by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Please review our Occupational Safety and Health Changes to OIICS, NAICS and SOC page to assess the changes that have occurred over your time period of interest.

Access SOII Data


Research in Progress


Contact Us

Assistance is available by contacting the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses at iifstaff@bls.gov or (202) 691-6170.

 

Last Modified Date: June 4, 2021