1. Collecting occupational fatality data is one of my several functions at Research and Planning.
Safety: Don’t Become a Statistic March 29th, Sara Saulcy, Senior Economist Wyoming Department of Employment, Research & Planning

2. Topics Comparison of Research & Planning (R&P) and OSHA functions.
How R&P and OSHA use one another’s data.
How R&P obtains injury and fatality data.
Most recent statistics on occupational injuries and fatalities in the U.S. and Wyoming.
Focus on traffic accidents.

3. R&P’s and OSHA’s Roles in Occupational Safety
OSHA and R&P are both housed in the Wyoming Department of Employment.
R&P is part of the Unemployment Tax Division.
OSHA is part of the Workers’ Safety & Compensation Division.
OSHA has a direct role in worker safety and health while R&P’s role is indirect.
         

4. R&P’s and OSHA’s Roles in Occupational Safety Continued
Oversees the implementation and enforcement of worker safety regulations.
Helps employers with accident prevention strategies.
Does not investigate work-related traffic deaths.
Traffic accidents are the leading cause of occupational fatalities in both Wyoming and the U.S.
R&P
Collects and analyzes health and safety data.
Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII)
Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)
By Federal law, data that allows individual firms or workers to be recognized cannot be released.
[SOII pronounced SOY]

5. How R&P and OSHA Use One Another’s Data
OSHA uses SOII and CFOI data to track accident and illness trends.
R&P uses OSHA accident reports to confirm work-related fatalities for CFOI.
Our data helps OSHA determine what intervention strategies may be appropriate.

6. Injuries and Illnesses Defined
Injuries are acute (short term).
A broken arm from a fall down the stairs
A concussion from being hit on the head by a hammer
Illnesses are chronic (long term).
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Black lung disease
The date an injury occurred can be established while the date an illness began cannot be precisely determined.

7. Obtaining Occupational Injury & Fatality Data
Nonfatal injury and illness data are collected via the SOII.
If selected to participate in the SOII, your firm will first receive a notice of requirement to participate in December prior to the year you are you required to participate.
Over the course of the year, your firm keeps track of work-related injuries or illnesses that occur on the OSHA 300 form included in the Notification booklet.
The SOII is the only mandatory survey R&P conducts.
[SOII pronounced SOY] [hold up form] Bullet 1: all states collect data the same way so that the information is comparable across states and to national data. Bullet 2: for example, if you received a notification form in 2004, you would have tracked workplace injuries and illnesses in 2005.

8. Obtaining Occupational Injury & Fatality Data Continued
In January following the year your firm tracked injuries/illnesses, your firm will receive a 2nd booklet.
Record any injuries or illnesses that occur in the booklet, along with some employment information, then mail it back.
R&P can’t accept the 300 form.
Even if your firm did not have any injuries or illnesses, we need your information.
Bullet 1: For example, if you tracked injuries and illnesses in 2005, you would have or should have received a survey form in Bullet 4: If your firm does not have any injuries or illnesses during, you check the appropriate box in the survey form, complete the hours worked and the employment information, and mail it to us.

9. Obtaining Occupational Injury & Fatality Data Continued
Report only those injuries or illnesses that required a doctor’s treatment.
Set bones
Prescriptions
Stitches
The following are not considered doctor’s treatment, even if performed by a doctor.
Diagnostic tests
X-rays
blood tests
First aid
Band aids
Flushing of eyes with water
Pulling splinters or other objects with tweezers
Bullet 1 regarding prescriptions: Include workers who receive prescriptions, even if that prescription is not filled.

10. Occupational Injury Data After the Survey
Using the information that firms provide, estimates of nonfatal injuries and illnesses are developed at the state and national levels.
Data are used for a variety of purposes by agencies such as OSHA.

11. Collecting Occupational Fatality Data
Administrative and public records are the main data sources
Death certificates
OSHA reports
News media reports
Only rarely are employers ever directly contacted about work-related deaths.
CFOI data are used for purposes similar to SOII data.
Employers are contacted about work-related deaths only when information is unavailable from other data source.

12. Nonfatal Injuries & Illnesses – U.S.
Note that tabulations are still being run on some portions of the data. We’ll focus on industry stats for both U.S. and Wyoming data. Manufacturing accounted for the most work-related injuries in the U.S. followed by Health Care & Social Assistance, while Mining accounted for the fewest.

13. Nonfatal Injuries & Illnesses – U.S. Continued
When considering illnesses, Manufacturing accounts for nearly half of all work-related illnesses, while Health Care & Social Assistance Accounted for near 20% of illnesses. Mining accounted for the least number of work-related illnesses.

14. Nonfatal Injuries & Illnesses – U.S. Continued
Injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers
This chart is for the private sector only as shown by the very first bar. The next level describes whether the firms are goods producing or service providing industries, both not highlighted. Then within each of those categories the industries are broken into industry super sectors, highlighted in yellow, and selected sub sectors, underlined in green. A super sector is the highest level of grouping for an industry. All of the levels of grouping below a super sector are referred to as sub sectors. Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting, and Mining are sub sectors included in the super sector of Natural Resources and Mining. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting as just Agriculture. Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, Transportation and Warehousing, and Utilities are sub sectors of Trade, Transportation, and Utilities. This chart shows injuries in which there were days away from work, job transfer, or restriction. It does not include people, who, say, got a bump on the head, got a pain prescription, and went back to work. This chart indicates the level of severity of injuries and illnesses. The sub sector of Transportation and Warehousing accounted for the majority of cases with days away from work, job transfer, or restriction. Agriculture as well as Manufacturing also accounted for relatively high incidence rates.

15. Nonfatal Injuries & Illnesses – Wyoming
This chart is similar to the previous chart, but the sub sectors are broken out slightly differently. The super sectors are still highlighted in yellow and the sub sectors are underlined in green. In the previous chart, Transportation and Warehousing was broken out as a separate sub sector. In this chart, only Wholesale Trade and Retail Trade are shown as sub sectors. Part of this is due to the fact that many sub sectors that we can’t report on in Wyoming because of the small number of employers and workers. Notice that state and local government is shown, along with the combined incidence rate for the private and public sector. This information was not included in the national chart. Most industries in the State saw declines in injuries and illnesses from 2003 to The exceptions are Agriculture, Wholesale Trade, and Professional & Business Services. The chart shows that, by far, the greatest incidence of employer injury and illnesses is for Agriculture.

16. Nonfatal Injuries & Illnesses – Wyoming Continued
This chart shows incidence rates for selected industries at a more detailed industry level. For those of you familiar with the NAICS classification system, this is at the three-digit industry level. Wood product manufacturing includes firms that produce things such as prefabricated wood buildings, wood containers, lumber, and plywood. Many of the injuries in the industry are from saws. Many injuries and illnesses in hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities are due to patient handling such as lifting.

17. Nonfatal Injuries & Illnesses U.S./ Wyoming Comparison
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting had the highest incident rate in Wyoming.
Transportation & Warehousing had the highest rate nationwide.
Financial Activities had the lowest rate for both the U.S. and Wyoming.
Many transportation workers are injured from lifting objects such as pipe. Financial Activities – not much to endanger workers except maybe papercuts.

18. Fatal Workplace Injuries – U.S.
Over the past 2 years, the U.S. saw increases in work-related deaths. This follows five years of decline recorded the most deaths over the 12 year period. The early 1990’s when workplace violence at places such as post offices was a more frequent occurrence, spawning the term “go postal.”

19. Fatal Workplace Injuries – U.S. Continued
A total of 5,703 work-related deaths occurred in Construction had the most fatal injuries in the U.S., followed by Transportation & Warehousing. Most Construction deaths are due to falls. Utilities had the fewest fatal injuries. Mining had relatively few injuries, however, their rate per 100,000 workers was higher than all but Agriculture. The fatality rate for Construction was the 4th highest.

20. Fatal Workplace Injuries – U.S. Continued
By occupation group, Transportation & Material Moving workers had the highest number of fatalities in the past year, followed by Construction & Extraction workers. However, the 2 occupation groups account for the second and third highest fatality rates, respectively. The highest fatality rate is for Farming, Fishing, & Forestry.

21. Fatal Workplace Injuries – U.S. Continued
Although women accounted from 46 percent of employment in 2004, only 399 of the 5, 5703 work-related fatalities were women. Much of the disparity is due to the fact that men are more commonly employed in relatively riskier industries as we’ll see in the next slide.

22. Fatal Workplace Injuries – U.S. Continued
While men more frequently die on the job, they are also more frequently employed in industries that have higher fatality rates. Among them are Natural Resources and Mining, Construction, Manufacturing, and Wholesale Trade, Transportation, and Utilities. Note that these industries are also primarily for the manufacture or distribution of goods.

23. Fatal Workplace Injuries – U.S. Continued
Workers years of age had the highest number of fatalities by age group, followed by workers years of age. However, the number of workers ages who died on the job from declined, while the number of workers ages increased. The number of fatally injured workers 65 and over also increased slightly from 2003 to 2004.

24. Fatal Workplace Injuries Wyoming
2004 had the largest number of work-related fatalities since the inception of the CFOI program in Wyoming in 1993.

25. Fatal Workplace Injuries Wyoming Continued
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities had the most work-related deaths, followed by Mining. Total deaths in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities rose by six from 2003, while total deaths in Agriculture and Mining held steady. Construction accounted for six deaths in 2004, an increase of one over Public Administration deaths rose by three from 2003 to The remaining five deaths occurred in a variety of other industries.

26. Fatal Workplace Injuries Wyoming Continued
Thirty-eight men and five women died on the job. The most deaths by age group was individuals The biggest increase was for workers 55-64, with an increase of four.

27. Fatal Workplace Injuries Wyoming Continued
As with the U.S., men in Wyoming are more commonly employed in goods producing or goods distributing industries. These industries also present greater risks to life and limb.

28. Fatal Workplace Injuries Wyoming Continued
Highway accidents account for more than half of all Wyoming fatalities. Note that this includes people traveling through the state but who are not Wyoming residents. The reason is that fatalities are counted on the basis of where a person was injured, not where they are from.

29. Fatal Workplace Injuries U.S./Wyoming Comparison
The high numbers of men’s deaths in Wyoming and the U.S. is at least partly a result of the occupations and industries in which they work.
Wyoming followed the U.S. pattern of increases in deaths over the past two years.
The Construction industry lead the U.S. in deaths, while Trade, Transportation, & Utilities experienced the most in Wyoming.
Traffic accidents were the leading cause of work-related fatal accidents for both Wyoming and the U.S.
Bullet 1: Although less so than in prior decades, men are still the predominant workers in industries such as Construction and Mining in both Wyoming and the U.S.. Bullet 2: Most of those who died in Wyoming in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities were truck drivers.

30. Rural vs. Urban U.S. Highway Fatalities 1994-2003
The figure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that the fatal crash rate for rural states like Wyoming is more than double that of urban areas. The trend holds regardless of the year. The lack of quick access to medical care is at least one contributor to the higher fatal crash rate. Another factor is that overall speeds that people travel are higher in rural areas.

31. Rural vs. Urban U.S. Highway Fatalities 1994-2003 Continued
About nine percent fewer passenger vehicles were involved in fatal rural crashes compared to urban areas. Conversely, about seven percent more light trucks and vans were involved in rural fatal crashes. Large trucks were also more frequently involved in rural fatal crashes.

32. Rural vs. Urban U.S. Highway Fatalities 1994-2003 Continued
Fatal crashes in rural areas involving roll overs were thirteen percent more common than in urban areas. In contrast, fatalities in urban areas were thirteen percent more likely to not involve a rollover.

33. Rural vs. Urban U.S. Highway Fatalities 1994-2003 Continued
Individual who die in rural traffic crashes are more likely to have been ejected than in urban crashes. Part of this is due to not wearing seatbelts, as we’ll see in the next slide.

34. Rural vs. Urban U.S. Highway Fatalities 1994-2003 Continued
When comparing restraint use, a higher percentage of rural crash fatalities were not wearing seatbelts compared to urban areas. Note that when comparing seatbelt use, there was a very similar percentage of use in rural and urban areas in fatal crashes. In urban areas, a nearly identical percentage of deaths occurred to people wearing and not wearing seatbelts. By comparison, the percent of people in rural areas who died and were not wearing a seatbelt was about six percent higher.

35. U.S. Highway Fatalities
Although total fatalities in the U.S. declined, there were increases in some areas such as large trucks, which contributes to many work related fatalities, especially in Wyoming.

36. Wyoming Highway Fatalities 2004
The 164 killed in 2004 represents a decline of one from Note that the majority of Wyoming deaths were due to vehicles leaving the roadway. One-fourth of all deaths involved large trucks, either occupants of trucks or those killed in collisions with them, which is more than double the percent in the U.S. overall.

37. Wyoming Highway Fatalities
Seat Belt Use Lags in Wyoming
Casper Star-Tribune
March 21, 2006
Cheyenne – Wyoming lags behind the nation in seat belt use the Wyoming Department of Transportation announced Monday.
Only 56 percent of Wyoming drivers are using seat belts. On a national level, seat belt use is at an all-time high of 82 percent.
Nearly 70 percent of the people who died on Wyoming roads in 2005 were not wearing seat belts.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies will work overtime this week to crack down on people who fail to use their seatbelts.

38. Wyoming Work-Related Highway Fatalities
The table shows that work-related deaths on Wyoming highways increased in both 2003 and In addition to 2004 having the large total number of work-related deaths, work-related deaths on Wyoming highways also hit an 11-year high of 25.

39. What Traffic Accidents Mean for Employers’ Bottom Line
Crashes cost YOUR BUSINESS money.
Estimated annual total cost to Wyoming employers of on- and off-the-job crashes from
$73 million
$310 per employee
Nationwide, crashes cost employers an estimated $41.5 billion per year from
Estimated costs include health insurance, Workers’ Comp., motor vehicle and property damage, and other costs that someone, often the employer, has to foot the bill for.

40. What’s an Employer to Do?
The number one way to avoid becoming a CFOI statistic
Wear your seatbelt

41. What’s an Employer to Do?
Don’t wait for an accident to happen before you talk to your employees about safe travel.
REMIND THEM TO BUCKLE UP.
Slow down on slick roads.
Avoid driving distractions.
Help your workers overcome the “it will never happen to me” attitude.
Employer traffic safety resources on the Internet.
Recall that more than 2/3 of all deaths on Wyoming’s highways are due to vehicles leaving the roadway. [Play sound recording] [Refer employers to the handout with traffic safety resources on the Internet.]

42. Let’s be safe out there.