manufacturing output, employment, hours, and hourly compensation and are considered preliminary until the national accounts and other statistics used for the long-term measures becomes available.

Additional sources of information

For additional information, see BLS Handbook of Methods, Bulletin 2414 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1992), and periodic Monthly Labor Review articles. Historical data are provided in the Handbook of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 2340 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1989). The statistics are issued twice per year-in a news release (generally in June) and in a Monthly Labor Review article.

Occupational Injury and Illness Data

(Table 50)

Description of the series

The Annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses is designed to collect data on injuries and illnesses based on records which employers in the following industries maintain under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970: agriculture, forestry, and fishing; oil and gas extraction; construction; manufacturing; transportation and public ulitities; wholesale and retail trade; finance, insurance, and real estate; and services. Excluded from the survey are self-employed individuals, farmers with fewer than 11 employees, employers regulated by other Federal safety and health laws, and Federal, State, and local government agencies.

Because the survey is a Federal-State cooperative program and the data must meet the needs of participating State agencies, an independent sample is selected for each State. The sample is selected to represent all private industries in the States and territories. The sample size for the survey is dependent upon (1) the characteristics for which estimates are needed; (2) the industries for which estimates are desired; (3) the characteristics of the population being sampled; (4) the target reliability of the estimates; and (5) the survey design employed.

While there are many characteristics upon which the sample design could be based, the total recorded case incidence rate is used because it is one of the most important characteristics and the least variable; therefore, it requires the smallest sample size.

The survey is based on stratified random sampling with a Neyman allocation and a ratio estimator. The characteristics used to

stratify the establishments are the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code and size of employment.

Definitions

Recordable occupational injuries and illnesses are: (1) occupational deaths, regardless of the time between injury and death, or the length of the illness; or (2) nonfatal occupational illnesses; or (3) nonfatal occupational injuries which involve one or more of the following: loss of consciousness, restriction of work or motion, transfer to another job, or medical treatment (other than first aid).

Occupational injury is any injury, such as a cut, fracture, sprain, amputation, and so forth, which results from a work accident or from exposure involving a single incident in the work environment.

Occupational illness is an abnormal condition or disorder, other than one resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment. It includes acute and chronic illnesses or disease which may be caused by inhalation, absorption, ingestion, or direct contact.

Lost workday cases are cases which involve days away from work, or days of restricted work activity, or both.

Lost workday cases involving restricted work activity are those cases which result in restricted work activity only.

Lost workdays away from work are the number of workdays (consecutive or not) on which the employee would have worked but could not because of occupational injury or illness.

Lost workdays-restricted work activity are the number of workdays (consecutive or not) on which, because of injury or illness: (1) the employee was assigned to another job on a temporary basis; or (2) the employee worked at a permanent job less than full time; or (3) the employee worked at a permanently assigned job but could not perform all duties normally connected with it.

The number of days away from work or days of restricted work activity does not include the day of injury or onset of illness or any days on which the employee would not have worked even though able to work.

Incidence rates represent the number of injuries and/or illnesses or lost workdays per 100 full-time workers.

Notes on the data

Estimates are made for industries and employment-size classes and for severity clas

sification: fatalities, lost workday cases, and nonfatal cases without lost workdays. Lost workday cases are separated into those where the employee would have worked but could not and those in which work activity was restricted. Estimates of the number of cases and the number of days lost are made for both categories.

Most of the estimates are in the form of incidence rates, defined as the number of injuries and illnesses, or lost workdays per 100 full-time employees. For this purpose, 200,000 employee hours represent 100 employee years (2,000 hours per employee). A few of the available measures are included in the Handbook of Labor Statistics. Full detail is presented in the annual bulletin, Occupational Injuries and Illnesses in the United States, by Industry.

Comparable data for individual States are available from the BLS Office of Safety, Health, and Working Conditions.

Mining and railroad data are furnished to BLS by the Mine Safety and Health Adminstration and the Federal Railroad Administration, respectively, Data from these organizations are included in BLS and State publications. Federal employees experience is compiled and published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Data on State and local government employees are collected by about half of the States and territories; these data are not compiled nationally.

Additional sources of information

The Supplementary Data System provides detailed information describing various factors associated with work-related injuries and illnesses. These data are obtained from information reported by employers to State workers' compensation agencies. The Work Injury Report program examines selected types of accidents through an employee survey which focuses on the circumstances surrounding the injury. These data are not included in the Handbook of Labor Statis-tics but are available from the BLS Office of Safety, Health, and Working Conditions.

The definitions of occupational injuries and illnesses and lost workdays are from Recordkeeping Requirements under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. For additional data, see Occupational Injuries and Illnesses in the United States, by Industry, annual Bureau of Labor Statistics bulletin; BLS Handbook of Methods, Bulletin 2414 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1992); Handbook of Labor Statistics Bulletin 2340 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1989), pp. 411-14; annual reports in the Monthly Labor Review; and annual U.S. Department of Labor press releases.