INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Department of Labor (IDOL) recently released the annual nonfatal workplace injury and illness report for 2016. Indiana’s nonfatal occupational injury and illness rate is the lowest in state history with an estimated 3.5 injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time workers.
The 2016 rate represents an eight percent decrease from 2015’s previous historically low rate of 3.8, and the fifth consecutive year the injury and illness rate has been at or below 4.0.
“We are proud of our Hoosier workforce and their dedication to maintaining safe and healthy workplaces,” said Rick Ruble, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Labor. “Indiana’s employers and employees continue to make workplace safety a top priority. Partnerships with organized labor, trade associations and safety councils, as well as Indiana’s IOSHA enforcement and INSafe programs, help ensure that workplace safety is more than a buzzword. It’s a culture.”
Some findings in the 2016 report include:
- The overall state nonfatal injury and illness rate for 2016 is 3.5 injuries or illnesses per 100 full-time workers, the lowest rate since the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) report was introduced in its current form in 1992. The 2016 rate represents a one-year decline of eight percent from the previous historic low rate of 3.8 in 2015.
- 15 of 19 major Indiana industry classifications experienced a decrease in nonfatal worker injury and illness rates.
- The finance and insurance industry experienced the greatest one-year decline in nonfatal worker injuries and illnesses, 60 percent.
- The Indiana construction industry remained steady with the 2015 rate of 2.8 per 100 fulltime workers.
- The Hoosier manufacturing industry saw a 13 percent decrease in injuries and illnesses from the 2015 rate of 4.7 to 4.1 in 2016.
- The Hoosier agriculture industry nonfatal worker injury and illness rate saw a one-year 39 percent decrease from 7.1 in 2015 to 4.3 in 2016.