December 2016
Long-term safety efforts by the SIU, its contracted companies and others in the American maritime industry are paying off.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently released the findings of their 2015 Employer- Reported Workplace Injury and Illness study, and found that the maritime industry is safer than the average, across all occupations. Employees in state-run nursing homes and hospitals suffer from the highest rate of on-the-job injury, surpassing that of even construction or policing, according to the study.
About 12 percent of workers in state-run nursing homes or hospitals suffered nonfatal workplace injuries last year, compared with 8 percent of workers in state construction jobs and 6.2 percent of justice and public-order jobs.
The AFL-CIO said, “The injury rate for workplace violence has been increasing even as the overall injury and illness rate in the U.S. has been decreasing.… Workplace violence rates in health care and social assistance agencies have been increasing at an especially alarming rate.”
According to the study, the average industry faces a 3.3 percent incident rate of occupational injury and illness, while the marine transportation industry only had a 2 percent injury or illness rate. Of that 2 percent, only half of those cases resulted in days away from work, and only 0.5 percent resulted in job transfer.
Additionally, the transportation industry as a whole reported a decline in injuries and illnesses in 2015, one of the few industries to do so. Two more releases from the BLS are expected before the end of 2016, providing further detail on non-fatal injuries requiring time off, as well as fatal occupational injuries.
The report that came out in late October is extensive and is available online at www.bls.gov
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