70k+ SIRs

Federal OSHA collected a total of 70,206 severe injury reports (SIRs) from employers it covers from 2015 to 2021, according to a new report by the agency.

SIRs are submitted by employers when an employee suffers severe injuries or illnesses in the workplace resulting in hospitalization, amputation or eye loss. OSHA began collecting SIRs in January 2015.

During the same period, OSHA received 56,696 inpatient hospitalization SIRs and 18,559 amputation SIRs. Many of the amputations were so severe that they required inpatient hospitalization, according to the report.

A total of 5,049 reported amputations also required inpatient hospitalization. However, the two different SIRs are “counted as one despite being categorized separately” in the report.

Manufacturing On Top

Manufacturing had the highest SIR rate with 26.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. Construction and Transportation/Warehousing came in at second and third at 25 and 16.2, respectively.

For inpatient hospitalization SIRs, the manufacturing industry had the highest number again with 27% followed by the construction industry at 19.9%. Transportation and warehousing was third with 9.8%.

Manufacturing also had the highest number of amputation SIRs by a large margin with 55.2%. The category labeled as “other” – which includes a variety of different industries from agriculture and education to finance and entertainment – was a distant second with 11.3%. Construction had the third highest total with 10.5%.