Nonfatal Work-Related Injuries Treated in Hospital Emergency Departments in the U.S., 2012-2023

Details

• Personal Author:
  Marsh, Suzanne M. ; Derk, Susan J. ; Hendricks, Kitty J.
• Description:
  Introduction: Work-related injury surveillance is an important mechanism to measure occupational injuries and exposures. Although there is no single source of nonfatal occupational injury surveillance data, the Occupational Supplement to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS-Work) has been used for many years. Calendar year 2023 was the final year of data collection for NEISS-Work. This paper provides an overview of NEISS-Work data from 2012 to 2023 and compares the earliest year of results (1998) to the final year (2023). Methods: Nonfatal workplace injuries treated in U.S. emergency departments (EDs) were analyzed using data from NEISS-Work. Data from the U.S. Current Population Survey were used as denominators in the calculation of rates per full-time equivalents (FTE). Results: From 2012 to 2023, an estimated 29 million (+/-5.3 million) work-related injuries were treated in hospital EDs, resulting in a rate of 163 ED-treated injuries per 10,000 FTE. Male workers incurred 65% of the total injuries. Workers aged 15-19 years had the highest injury rate of 330 per 10,000 FTE. Contact with objects and equipment; overexertion/bodily reaction; and falls, slips, and trips combined represented 75% of worker injuries treated in EDs. Workplace violence events were the only injury category that increased over this period. Conclusions: Findings from this study suggest that nonfatal work-related injuries have decreased. The drivers of this decrease are unclear and may include improvements in workplace safety or lingering effects of the pandemic. Practical Applications: NEISS-Work data have played a critical role in the surveillance of nonfatal occupational injuries in the United States for 25 years. NEISS-Work data are no longer collected. Future surveillance efforts may begin identifying other sources of nonfatal occupational injury data that complement existing resources.
• Subjects:
  Hospitals Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Surveillance; Occupational; Nonfatal Injuries; Hospital Emergency Departments; Work; Trends Injuries; Surveillance; National Electronic Injury Surveillance System; NEISS; Teenagers; Slips, Trips, And Falls; STF; Overexertion; Emergency Care;
• ISSN:
  0022-4375
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  West Virginia ; Philadelphia Region [OSHA]
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSR - Division of Safety Research
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  7 pdf pages
• Volume:
  96
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20071166
• Citation:
  J Safety Res 2026 Feb; 96:197-203
• Email:
  suzanne@pleasantdaycare.com
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2026
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Journal of Safety Research
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:02b47537a8e571eb1505d4967dc10c4aa33604d95f6365fff8dab44e0584b22dec21c173fdd6d11cec461915c83fb5cfaf318767f903d159db02d4e86cb22a6d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/257932/cdc_257932_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.50 MB ]