Office Safety Stats & Facts

FACTS

  1. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) cites falling as the most common office related accident. The CDC found that office workers are 2 to 2.5 times more likely to suffer an injury from a fall than non-office workers. The most common causes of office falls include:
    • Slipping on wet floors
    • Reaching for something while sitting in an unstable chair
    • Tripping over loose carpeting, electrical cords, an open file drawer, or objects in walkways
    • Using a chair instead of a ladder
    • Poor lighting/visibility
  1. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, “Adapting tasks, workstations, tools, and equipment to fit the worker can help reduce physical stress on a worker’s body and eliminate many potentially serious, disabling work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).
  2. Homicide is the fourth-leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. In fact, of the 4,547 fatal workplace injuries that occurred in the U.S. in 2010, 506 were workplace homicides. One of the best ways employers can prevent workplace violence is to establish a zero-tolerance policy toward violence in the workplace and implement a workplace violence prevention program.

STATS

  • Roughly 40% of workplace deaths occurred in transportation incidents. Other leading causes were fall/slips and trips, deaths from being struck by objects or equipment, and exposure to harmful chemicals.
    • Transportation incidents – 40%
    • Falls, slips, trips – 17%
    • Violence and other injuries by persons or animals – 16%
    • Contact with objects and equipment – 14%
    • Exposure to harmful substances or environments – 10%
    • Fires and explosions – 2%ing or improperly used electrical equipment
  • The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reveals that workplace deaths jumped 7% from 2015 to 2016, and stayed roughly the same thru 2017, leading to the deaths of 5,147 workers across all industries in 2017.
  • In a 2014 report B.L.S. said that more than 3 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported by private industry employers in 2013.