Injuries and Illness for State and Local Government Workers

Bureau of Labor Statistics: February 24, 2010

Nonfatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Requiring Days Away from Work for State and Local Government Workers

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NONFATAL OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND ILLNESSES REQUIRING DAYS AWAY FROM WORK FOR STATE GOVERNMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT WORKERS, 2008

There were 277,680 occupational injuries and illnesses with days away from work reported for State and local government combined in 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fifty percent occurred in service occupations, including health care support and protective service workers. In contrast, 22 percent of the injuries and illnesses in private industry occurred in service occupations.

State government workers sustained occupational injuries and illnesses at an incidence rate of 170 cases per 10,000 full-time workers and required a median of 8 days away from work to recuperate. The incidence rate for local government workers was 195 and the median days away from work was 9. For comparison, the incidence rate for private industry was 113 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.

There were a total of 206,580 cases of days away from work in local government and 71,100 cases in State government. Sprains and strains comprised 43 percent of the injuries and illness in local government at an incidence rate of 83 cases per 10,000 full-time workers. For State government, sprains and strains comprised 39 percent of the cases at a rate of 67 per 10,000 full-time workers (see table 3).

Key findings for injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work for State government and local government in 2008:

- Local government workers accounted for 15 percent of the 1.4 million days-away-from-work cases reported for private industry, State government, and local government combined--higher than their share of employment (9 percent) (see chart A).

- The incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers for assaults and violent acts by person in State government was 27 (compared to 2 for private industry) (see table 3). Fifty-three percent of these assaults and violent acts by a person occurred to the following three occupations: correctional officers and jailers; psychiatric aides; and psychiatric technicians (see table 5).

- The incidence rate for falls on the same level in local government was 36 (compared to 17 for private industry). Thirty-seven percent of falls to the same level (see table 5) occurred to the following five occupations: janitors and cleaners; police and sheriff’s patrol officers; elementary school teachers; teacher assistants; and secondary school teachers.

- The proportion of injuries and illnesses occurring to workers with over five years of service with an employer was greater for both State government (58 percent) and local government (60 percent) than for private industry (31 percent) (see table 6).

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The 2008 results announced today present the first national data for State government and local government on the case circumstances and worker characteristics for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work. Data for total recordable cases for State and local government were reported in the Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, 2008 news release issued in October 2009.
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[Chart A. Injuries and illnesses and employment by ownership, 2008, appears here in the .pdf version of this news release.]

Occupation

State government. Workers in protective service occupations suffered the most injuries and illnesses with days away from work (19,720), followed by healthcare support occupations with 8,860 cases, and healthcare practitioners and technical occupations with 7,550 cases. Combined these three occupational groups accounted for 51 percent of days-away-from-work cases in State government.

- Among detailed occupations, correctional officers and jailers experienced the highest number of days-away-from-work injuries and illnesses in 2008 (12,420 cases) (see chart B). Twenty-six percent of these injuries were suffered by women and of the cases involving women, 29 percent
(940 cases) were falls. The median number of days away from work for this occupation was 10 days.

- Psychiatric aides had 4,620 cases in 2008. Two-thirds of these cases were suffered by women, nearly all in hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities. Assaults and violent acts accounted for 44 percent of cases to psychiatric aides, followed by overexertion (24 percent). The median number of days away from work was 10 days for this occupation.

[Chart B. Injuries and illnesses with days away from work for occupations in State government with 2,000 or more cases, by ownership, 2008, appears here
in the .pdf version of this news release.]

Local government. Workers in protective service occupations suffered the most injuries and illnesses with days away from work with 57,790 cases (see table 2) in local government; followed by building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations with 29,390 cases; and education, training, and library occupations with 27,260 cases. Combined these occupational groups accounted for 55 percent of the days-away-from-work cases in local government. Protective service workers needed 11 median days away from work to recuperate from injuries and illnesses and building and grounds
cleaning workers needed 10 days. Education, training, and library workers required only 4 days to recuperate.

- Among detailed occupations, police and sheriff’s patrol officers had the most cases with 24,020 (see chart C). Men accounted for 87 percent of these cases. Transportation accidents accounted for 20 percent of the cases to this occupation and assaults and violent acts by person accounted for 17 percent. The median number of days away from work for this occupation was 9 days.

- Three detailed occupations, police and sheriff’s patrol officers, janitors and cleaners, and fire fighters each had more than 15,000 injuries and illnesses with days away from work and together accounted for 30 percent of all cases in local government.

[Chart C. Injuries and illnesses with days away from work for occupations in local government with 4,000 or more cases, by ownership, 2008, appears here in the .pdf version of this news release.]

Worker characteristics

Worker characteristics include age, gender, race or ethnic origin, and length of service with the employer (see table 6).

Age. In both State government and local government, the proportion of injuries and illnesses occurring to workers in the age groups 16 to 19,
20 to 24, and 25 to 34 was lower compared to the same age groups for private industry.

Local government workers age 65 and over required 14 median days away from work to recuperate from their injuries and illnesses while State government workers in this age group required 9 median days. In State government, workers 55 to 64 years old required a median of 10 days away from work. In private sector, the median days away from work was 15 for workers age 65 and over and 12 days for workers age 55 to 64.

Gender. Men accounted for 52 percent of the days-away-from-work cases in State government and 59 percent of the cases in local government. These percentages were lower than in private industry, where men comprised 64 percent of days-away-from-work cases. Men in local government required a median of 10 days away from work to recuperate from their injuries and illnesses, while women needed 6 days.

Case characteristics

A number of variables describe the circumstances of workplace injuries and illnesses that required one or more days away from work. They include nature, part of body, source, and event or exposure, as well as "musculoskeletal disorders" (an amalgamation of selected nature and event or exposure categories).

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A nursing aide sprains (nature) her back (part of body) from overexertion in lifting (event or exposure) a health care patient (source).
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Event or exposure. In 2008, three event or exposure categories accounted for 65 percent of the total injuries and illnesses requiring days away from work in private industry: contact with objects and equipment; overexertion; and fall on same level. These same event or exposure categories accounted for 48 percent of total injuries and illnesses in State government and 55 percent in local government.

- Assaults and violent acts by person had a rate of 27 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in State government, compared to a rate of 11 in local government and a rate of 2 in private industry (see chart D). Of the injuries incurred from assaults and violent acts by person in State government, 59 percent occurred in the health and social assistance industry. Of these types of injuries in State government, 18 percent occurred to psychiatric aides and 15 percent to psychiatric technicians.

- Days-away-from-work cases from overexertion occurred at a rate of 28 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in State government and a rate of 36 for local government workers. In private industry, the incidence rate was 26 for overexertion.

- Overexertion was the most frequent event associated with injuries to nursing aides, orderlies and attendants in local government and private industry. Overexertion was the most frequent event among janitors and cleaners in State government and firefighters in local government.

Nature of injury or illness. In 2008, sprain or strain injuries accounted for 39 percent of total injury and illness cases requiring days away from work in both private industry and State government; these types of injuries accounted for 43 percent of cases in local government. The incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers for sprain or strain injuries in local government was 83, which was significantly higher than the rate for State government (67) and private industry (44) (see chart E).

- Of the sprains and strains occurring to State government workers, 19 percent occurred to correctional officers and jailers (see table 4).

- Of the sprains and strains occurring to local government workers, 12 percent occurred to fire fighters, 11 percent to police and sheriff’s patrol officers, and 11 percent to janitors and cleaners (see table 4).

[Chart D. Incidence rate of injuries and illnesses with days away from work by event or exposure, 2008, appears here in the .pdf version of the news release.]

[Chart E. Incidence rate of injuries and illnesses with days away from work by nature, 2008, appears here in the .pdf version of the news release.]

Musculoskeletal disorders. In 2008, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) accounted for 29 percent of all workplace injuries and illnesses requiring time away from work in private industry compared to only 22 percent in State government and 25 percent in local government. The incidence rate of MSDs for local government was 49 per 10,000 full-time workers, greater than the rate for State government and private industry, with incidence rates of 37 and 33 respectively (see chart F).

In State government, healthcare support occupations comprised 17 percent of the MSD cases and protective service occupations accounted for 16 percent. In local government, protective service occupations accounted for 25 percent of the MSD cases and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations accounted for 20 percent. Transportation and material moving occupations had the highest percent (21) of MSD cases in private industry. In State government and local government, this occupation group accounted for 3 and 9 percent of the MSD cases respectively.

[Chart F. Incidence rate of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) by ownership, 2008, appears here in the .pdf version of the news release.]