Workplace injuries rose in 2022
Nonfatal workplace injuries among workers in the private industry increased for the second year in a row in 2022, according to a newly released report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Nonfatal injuries and illnesses, which includes 2.3 million injuries and about 461,000 illnesses, climbed to an estimated 2.8 million in 2008, up from 2.6 million in 2021. While injuries increased by 100,000, the higher total still falls short of the 2.7 million nonfatal injuries reported in 2019 and 2020.
Respiratory illnesses represented nearly 80 percent of all reported illnesses, with 365,000 cases compared to 270,000 in 2021. Both of these numbers fall well below the 2020 peak of 429,000 respiratory illnesses in 2020, but remain substantially higher than pre-pandemic rates of 12,100 in 2018 and 10,800 in 2019.
Healthcare and social assistance reported the highest numbers of nonfatal injuries and illnesses, followed by retail and manufacturing.