Occupational Injury and Illness in New Hampshire: 2000–2013 Data Report to Inform Programs and Policies

Details

• Personal Author:
  Armenti KR
• Description:
  According to the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, which is based on a monthly sample survey of employing establishments, the total average of New Hampshire employees for 2012 in all industries was 634,800 (New Hampshire Non-farm Wage and Salary Employment - Not Seasonally Adjusted). The top five industries with the highest number of employees in New Hampshire in 2012 were as follows: Trade-Transportation and Utilities (135,800), Education and Health (114,300), Retail Trade (94,400), Manufacturing (66,000), and Professional and Business (68,200). Fifty-two percent of New Hampshire's employed workers in 2012 were male and 48% were female. Among the total civilian non-institutional population, 69.6% of men and 61.5% of women were employed. Based on the civilian labor force, male and female unemployment rates are 6.2 and 4.9, respectively; 3.9% of New Hampshire workers were between the ages of 16 and 19 years of age. Among the civilian labor force in this age group, males have a 21.9 unemployment rate and females have a rate of 13.2 compared with the overall State of New Hampshire unemployment rate for 5.6. Each year thousands of these workers are injured on the job or become ill as a result of exposure to health and safety hazards at work. In New Hampshire, there were 37,411 workers employed in industries with a high risk for occupational morbidity in 2012, making up 6.8% of the workforce. During the same year, there were 70,406 workers employed in occupations with a high risk for occupational morbidity, making up 13.5% of the workforce. There were 79,186 workers employed in industries with a high risk for occupational mortality in 2012,or 13.0% of the workforce. Occupations with high risk of mortality employed 53,046 workers in 2012, which is 8.7% of the workforce in New Hampshire. The total number of fatal occupational injuries nationally was 4,628 in 2012. There were 12 fatal occupational injuries in New Hampshire for 2012. Since 2005, occupational fatalities in New Hampshire have been decreasing, until 2011-2012 where there were increases (2005-18, 2006-13, 2007-14, 2008-7, 2009-6, 2010-6, 2011-9, and 2012-12). In 2012, more than half of the 3 million injuries and illnesses occurring nationally in private industry required recuperation away from work beyond the day of the incident. These work-related events result in substantial human and economic costs, not only for workers and employers, but also for society as a whole. Work injuries cost Americans $198.2 billion. That amounts to $1,379 per worker. Workers' compensation claims alone in New Hampshire cost approximately $227.5 million in 2011. That is an average cost of $380 per covered (non-agricultural) New Hampshire employee. The number of workers covered by workers' compensation insurance has increased, and while the frequency of claims has declined, the medical and wage-replacement costs per worker have increased, assuring continued economic impact of work-related injuries and illnesses on workers and employees. While this occupational health indicator is useful for tracking change over time, the actual burden is much higher. Some workers are not covered (farmers, domestic help, railroad workers, federal employees, etc.), and claims are often not filed by eligible workers. Furthermore, indirect costs to workers, employers, and society are not included in this indicator. New Hampshire's population has become more racially and ethnically diverse over the past 20 years. The rate of population change by race and ethnicity has not been the same across all New Hampshire communities. New Hampshire still has a predominately white, non-Hispanic population with just over 93.9% of residents reporting race/ethnicity as white, non-Hispanic on the 2010 U.S. Census. However, employment statistics available through the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website show that the percentage of New Hampshire workers who are white has decreased from 96% in 2008 to 95.5% in 2013. Hispanic workers in 2008 were 1.6% of the workforce in New Hampshire and 3.1% in 2013. Underreporting to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of occupational injuries and illnesses has been documented within the occupational health academic field.15,16 The House Committee on Education and Labor has held extensive hearings on this issue with first-hand testimony from worker victims and OSHA employees. These hearings on underreporting of occupational health events in the workplace highlight the need to improve occupational health surveillance at the national and state level. There are a number of reasons for this problem. The long interval between exposure to toxins and the development of disease has made it difficult to associate the exposures to the disease process. In addition, many diseases have multi-factorial causes making it difficult to determine the exact role of workplace exposures. The failure of health care providers to recognize the association of the disease and workplace exposures and the failure to report work-related diseases also contributes to the under reporting (many diseases, such as asthma, may not appear any different in their presentation whether it is work related or not). Developing a robust and comprehensive occupational health surveillance program is the key to uncovering the true magnitude and burden of work-related injury and disease in this country. Work-related injuries and illnesses can be prevented with appropriate and targeted interventions. Successful approaches to making the workplace safer begin with having the most accurate and current occupational health surveillance data, which are necessary to understand the root causes of the problems that lead to occupational injury and illness. Federal occupational health surveillance reporting requirements result in data gaps and shortfalls that do not accurately capture the true burden of occupational health and illness. This can result in an inaccurate view that occupational health and illness is on a downward trend. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Economics Education Environmental Exposure Manufacturing And Industrial Facilities Men Morbidity Mortality Occupational Health Race Factors Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety Transportation Women Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Economic Impact Employees Exposure Levels Fatalities Hazards Health Care Health Protection Humans Injuries Manufacturing Morbidity Rates Mortality Rates Office Workers Racial Factors Retail Workers Risk Factors Sociological Factors Statistical Analysis Surveillance Transportation Industry Utility Workers Work Environment Worker Health Workers Worker Safety

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• Publisher:
  New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  New Hampshire ; OSHA Region 1
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DRDS - Division of Respiratory Disease Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-45
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049827
• Citation:
  Concord, NH: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services, Bureau of Public Health Statistics and Informatics, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, 2015 Mar; :1-45
• Contact Point Address:
  Karla R. Armenti, ScD, Principal Investigator, Occupational Health Surveillance Program, Bureau of Public Health Statistics & Informatics, Division of Public Health Services, 29 Hazen Drive, Concord, NH 03301
• Email:
  karmenti@dhhs.state.nh.us
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  New Hampshire State Department of Health Statistics and Data Management
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20100701
• Source Full Name:
  Occupational injury and illness in New Hampshire: 2000-2013 data report to inform programs and policies
• End Date:
  20150630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:ad7ea61d2c4914997c07d0181e52291a813800ba1223941a988d5e57f5636ad62dfeb2009e418c85235eeabd430763c96c7db27875e248c07b1c8ef666e5a796
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/210449/cdc_210449_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.96 MB ]