Minnesota Workplace Injury Rate At All-Time Low In 2016

Minnesota’s estimated workplace illness and injury rate for 2016 was the lowest all-time recorded rate since the measurement started in 1973, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry.

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses estimated that the state had 3.4 OSHA-recordable nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time equivalent workers in 2016, down from 3.5 in 2015.

In total, an estimated 73,600 workers had some sort of workplace injury or illness in 2016, down from an estimated 75,000 cases in 2015.

“In the past decade, Minnesota has seen a 33 percent decrease in its rate of work-related injuries and illnesses,” Ken Peterson, Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) commissioner, said in a statement. “That’s a lot less hurt — physically, emotionally and financially — for Minnesota’s workers. Still, there is much to be done to ensure more Minnesotans go home safe and healthy each night.”

An estimated 3,534,600 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses occurred across the country in 2016 in both the public and private sector, resulting in a rate of 3.2 cases per 100 full-time workers.