Welcome to the Department of Labor Standard’s Occupational Health and Safety Statistics Program.  Every year we are tasked with collecting occupational injury and illness data in survey form, from private and public sector workplaces.  The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 was passed to ensure "…so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful-working conditions and to preserve our human resources." (PL 91-596, 1970). The OSH act directed the U.S. Secretary of Labor to issue regulations to require employers to maintain records on workplace injuries and illnesses.  The Massachusetts Department of Labor Standards (DLS), in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor, collects two annual surveys: the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII), and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Work-Related Injury and Illness Data Collection Initiative (ODI).

OSHA Data Collection Initiative (ODI) 

Collected between June and October, the ODI collects work-related injury and illness data from businesses by specific industry and size of company characteristics.  The data is used by OSHA to calculate injury and illness incidence rates for each company that is selected.  This company-specific data is available to the general public by clicking on the following webpage link http://osha.gov/pls/odi/establishment_search.html.   Note: Not all states or territories participate in ODI and therefore, data may not be available for some states in certain collection years.

BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses

Since 1992, Massachusetts, and most other states, has been in a partnership with the BLS to collect non-fatal occupational injury and illness data.  Each year approximately 5,800 surveys are sent out to public and private sector workplaces in every industry, size class, and region of the state.  This survey differs from the OSHA survey, in that it collects case details for every case that results in days away from work due to the injury or illness.  Collecting case characteristics enables us to produce an annual occupational injury and illness report .  This annual report provides raw data and statistical comparison about the work-related injuries and illnesses that are occurring in our workplace.  Nationwide, over 200,000 surveys are collected.

The goal of DLS’s Occupational Safety and Health Statistics Program is to keep improving workplace environments by presenting data to institutions and entities that can use it to target incident trends and devise strategies to reduce occupational injuries and illnesses.  We encourage all employers to use the data and to keep safety and health as a focal point in the daily operation of your workplaces.