Study: Reporting more injuries leads to better safety program

May 9, 2012 by Fred Hosier

Posted in: Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Injuries, Latest News & Views, Research on safety, Workers' comp

Researchers recently compared injury and fatality rates in the construction industry in all 50 states. Some of the results surprised researchers.

Among the surprising findings: States that report low numbers of nonfatal injuries among construction workers tend to have high rates of fatal injuries, and the opposite is also true.

Researchers with the RAND Corporation found states with low injury rates and high fatality rates tended to:

be in the South
have lower worker compensation benefits
be less unionized, and
pay lower wages.

In contrast, states with high injury rates and lower fatality rates tended to:

be in the West
pay higher benefits and wages
be more strongly unionized, and
carry out more workplace inspections.

States with the highest number of injuries and lowest number of fatalities were Arizona, California, Maine, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. States with the highest number of fatalities and lowest number of injuries were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee.

How workers’ comp figures in

The researchers found more extensive workers’ comp benefits are associated with higher reports of injuries largely because this gives workers more incentive to report injuries. It’s also plausible that costlier premiums that result from higher benefits provide a stronger incentive for employers to prevent injuries.

Because fatality rates are measured quite accurately, the findings suggest states reporting low injury rates and high fatality rates are probably under-reporting injuries. Thus, fatality rates appear to be a more valid measure of how a particular state is doing.

The study also suggests that, to a degree, reporting more injuries can be a sign of a better worker safety program. The authors compared it to reporting of medical errors by hospitals: Higher reporting often means more honest reporting and more opportunities to learn from the errors.

The researchers examined data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2003 to 2008.

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Tags: fatality rates, injury rates, RAND Corporation, Workers' comp

Mr. Safety

Dave C you are so correct. The history of how the OSHA Log and especially the incident rates like LWDI, ORIR, etc. are now being used as a major factor in qualifying a contractor to bid on a project is amazing. These rates should not be used in this manner and OSHA never intended for these rates to be used this way. I worked for the feds for 13 years.
It would have helped if OSHA would make a stand and tell the industry that using these rates in this manner only encourages the under-reporting of injuries and does nothing for the BLS studies of injuries and illnesses. NOTHING.
The smaller contractors really get the short end of this stick. We have another company and if we get one recordable with the hours we work we are out of luck and will not be asked to bid. That’s ridiculous. This is nothing but a joke.
You have a bunch of paper pushers as well as the new generation of safety professionals who think there is nothing wrong with this. Those who sit in the office have no real grasp of what these numbers mean except that they exceed what they have as a bench mark. Young safety professionals have no idea what these numbers really mean because they’ve never worked in the field or have a real grasp of what these numbers mean except that they are numbers.
It’s all a sad day for me when I have someone go get checked out just to make sure they receive proper medical care and then pray to God that the physician does not give them a prescription. I mean it practically gives me a nervous breakdown………you wonder why we have under-reporting of injuries……there you go.
Owners, construction managers, general contractors should just ask potential bidders for their last three years of OSHA logs and review the logs and then ask questions of the contractor about some of the entries if need be. Those who qualify contractors have got to quit playing this numbers game and actually look at the OSHA logs and then ask questions. You have a lot of good contractors…
alecfinn

I agree unless there are adjustments Stats can be much skewed and that is very unfair.

Just as some of the rules on PPE and PP procedures are not researched properly.
http://www.fowlergc.com Dave C

My company has a strict (Zero Incident and Accident) safety policy that includes reporting ALL injuries no matter how minor in order to track trends. We are a small company that cant afford any recordables which would effect our incident rates. I find it unethical for anybody to under report. However, I totally understand why companies do it, especially construction contractors. In Washington if we dont maintain a workers comp E.M.R. below 1.0 we cannot qualify for most major projects.

Furthermore, I find it unfair that the calculations for D.A.R.T. rates, Lost Time Case Rates, etc. are calculated based on workdays per 100 full time employees. This gives us a total disadvantage when competing against larger companies with under reported injuries and a poor safety record.

Example; Company #1 works a total average of 100,000 man hrs and has 3 lost time injury cases. Company #2 works an total average of 1,000,000 man hrs with 10 lost time injuries, 7 transfered or ristricted, and 2 fatalities. Who has the better recordable incident rate?