Texas Work Comp Division: Job Injuries, Illnesses Increased in 2006

The Texas Department of Insurance Division of Workers’ Compensation reported that the number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work in private industry in Texas increased in 2006 by nearly 5 percent compared to 2005. Although 3,230 more of these types of injuries and illnesses were reported in 2006 compared to 2005, the 2006 total is less than the numbers reported in 2004 and 2003.

In 2006, the rate of injuries and illnesses per 10,000 full-time equivalent workers in Texas was 104.4 compared to a national rate of 128.0. Other Texas results from the 2006 Survey of Occupational Injury and Illness include:

–Service-providing industries reported 60 percent more nonfatal injuries and illnesses than the goods-producing industries, although the rate per 10,000 full-time workers was 14 percent less.
–Workers aged 35 to 44 years experienced the largest percentage (27) of the total number of cases involving days away from work.
–Among the ten occupations reporting the most cases with days away from work, construction workers experienced the highest median days away from work (27) although they experienced the fifth highest number of injuries or illnesses.

This is the third release reporting on 2006 data from the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) workplace safety and health statistical series. The first release, in August 2007, covered work-related fatalities from the 2006 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. In October 2007, BLS reported that there were 258,515 nonfatal injuries and illnesses in Texas in 2006, based on the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.

The releases are published by the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation (TDI-DWC) in cooperation with the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses.

In 2006, Texas private industry reported a total of 72,660 injuries and illnesses involving days away from work. This was a 4.8 percent increase from the 69,340 cases reported in 2005. A total of 74,080 nonfatal injuries and illnesses were reported in Texas in 2004; the total number of cases in 2003 was 82,110. The median days away from work for Texas in 2006 was 8 days, which is lower than the median of 9 days for the state for 2005 and higher than the nationally reported median days of 7.

Source: TDI-DWC, www.tdi.state.tx.us/wc/