Advanced Safety Management, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER 7INNOVATIONS IN SERIOUS INJURY, ILLNESS, AND FATALITY PREVENTION

Preventing occupational incidents and illnesses that have serious results has now become a subject that speakers address in conferences, authors write about and for which knowledgeable safety professionals seek information.

While incident frequency has been substantially reduced, the greater part of the reduction has been for incidents resulting in lesser severity. Also, statistics indicate that the incident rate for fatalities has plateaued.

This chapter sets forth the actions that can be taken to achieve additional reductions in severity. It is understood that other safety professionals may propose other actions because of their experience. First, though, illustrative statistical and supportive data is presented.

EMPLOYEE INJURIES HAVE DECREASED

Reductions achieved in employee injuries and illnesses have been stellar. In the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI, 2011) publication “2015 State of the Line,” the Chief Actuary, Kathy Antonello (2015), said that “Workers compensation claim frequencies have dropped more than 50% over the last 20 Years” (p. 1).

NCCI has issued several bulletins indicating that while claims frequencies have been reduced, the reductions were more prominent for injuries resulting in lesser severity. That trend is displayed Table 7.1.

TABLE 7.1 Private Industry: Trending—Percent of Days-Away-from-Work Cases

Number of Days Lost
1	2	3–5	6–10	11–20	21–30