PCCA Journal|1
st
Quarter 2010
39
E
very year since 1996 the Oc-
cupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) has col-
lected work-related injury and
illness data from more than 80,000
employers. For the first time, the
agency has made the data from 1996
to 2007 available in a searchable
online database, allowing the public
to look at establishment or industry-
specific injury and illness data. The
workplace injury and illness data is
available at www.osha.gov/pls/odi/
establishment_search.html as well as
data.gov.
OSHA uses the data to calculate
injury and illness incidence rates to
guide its strategic management plan
and to focus its Site Specific Target-
ing Program, which the agency uses
to target its inspections.
“Making injury and illness in-
formation available to the public
is part of OSHA’s response to the
administration’s commitment to
make government more transparent
to the American people,” said David
Michaels, assistant secretary of labor
for OSHA. “This effort will improve
the public’s accessibility to work-
place safety and health data and
ensure the agency can function more
effectively for American workers.”
Information available at the web-
sites includes an establishment’s
name, address, industry, associated
Total Case Rate, Days Away, Restrict-
ed, Transfer case rate, and the Days
Away From Work case rate. The
data is specific to the establishments
that provided OSHA with valid data
through the 2008 data collection.
The database does not contain rates
calculated by OSHA for establish-
ments that submitted suspect or
unreliable data.
An OSHA press release said that
data.gov provides expanded public
access to valuable workforce-related
data generated by the Executive
Branch of the federal government.
Although the initial launch of data.
gov provides a limited portion of the
rich variety of federal datasets pres-
ently available, the public is invited
to participate in shaping the future
of the site by suggesting additional
datasets and site enhancements to
provide seamless public access and
use of federal data.
OSHA Releases Workplace
Injury and Illness Information
2011 PCCA Convention
Sanctuary Cap Cana Golf Resort & Spa
Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
February 18 - 23, 2011