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In the field of safety, an incidence rate is just a number that shows how many events (injuries and/or
illnesses) occurred during a specified reporting period. Many firms and safety professionals use
incidence rates to analyze the quality of safety in a given firm as compared to industry averages.
Incidence rates take on more meaning for a firm when its injury and illness experience is compared with
that of other firms doing similar work with workforces of similar size.
Information available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) permits detailed comparisons of injury
rates by industry and size of firm. The BLS has developed a formula to help firms evaluate their injury
and illness records. The formula uses a common base and time period to allow firms to determine problem
areas and progress in preventing work-related injuries and illnesses.
An incidence rate of occupational injuries and illnesses can be calculated using this formula:
Number of nonfatal injuries & illnesses x 200,000 = Incidence rate
Number of hours all employees actually worked
Number of nonfatal injuries and illnesses — Count the number of OSHA-recordable cases for the year
from the Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, which companies are required to keep as
part of OSHA recordkeeping requirements. This will include all nonfatal injuries and illnesses with lost
workdays, and injuries and illnesses without lost workdays.
The number of hours all employees actually worked — Do not include vacation, sick leave or holidays. If
actual hours worked are not available for employees paid on commission, by salary or by the mile,
hours worked may be estimated based on scheduled hours or 8 hours per workday.
The 200,000 in the formula represents the equivalent of 100 employees working 40 hours per week, 50 weeks
per year, and provides the standard base for the incidence rates.
The above description includes all incidents/accidents. Firms also can use the same formula to compute
incidence rates for just lost workdays or for non-lost workday cases.
Example — A corrugated and solid fiber box manufacturing plant has a Standard Industrial Classification
(SIC) code number of 2653. It has 300 employees who accumulated 600,000 hours of actual work as taken from time
sheets. Management has excluded vacation and sick time from the total hours worked. The firm had 45 injuries for
the year that is logged on their OSHA recordkeeping sheet. The firm would like to examine how well they are
controlling their worker accidents in comparison to the national average.
Putting the numbers into the equation:
45 injuries x 200,000 = 15
600,000 hours actually worked
If the firm goes to the BLS Web site, they can check out
the national average for businesses with the same SIC code. For the year 2000, the national average was 6.6
and would indicate this firm is doing worse than average, and they should seriously consider changes to
their safety program.
COPYRIGHT ©2002, ISO Services Properties, Inc.
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