State releases workplace injury rate data
The state has released a searchable six-year database of workplace injury claim data, showing which Maine industries incurred the highest costs from workplace injuries and illness.
The chart, profiling work-related injuries and illnesses in Maine from 2006 to 2011, was released Monday by Maine's Department of Labor, in part to promote its SafetyWorks! program that provides free safety consultations to businesses. Consultants from that program cannot issue fines or citations to a business, but can flag potential regulatory violations.
Commissioner of Labor Jeanne Paquette said in a press release that the searchable data aims to give employers a way to compare their safety data to similar businesses in the state.
The interactive chart breaks down workplace injury statistics by industry, region, age group and gender over the last six years.
The data shows Maine's general medical and surgical hospitals recording the most reported cases of workplace injury or illness in each of the past six years, making up 7.6%, or 866, of the total reported injuries or illness at Maine workplaces in 2011.
Elementary and secondary schools had the second highest number of injury or illness reports, making up 5.5%, or 643, of the state total. Nursing care facilities ranked third on the list, making up 4.9%, or 568, of the state total.
Those figures roughly align with the cost of injuries to each industry, but there are outliers. For example, workplace injuries and illness cost Maine paper mills an estimated $1.57 million in 2011. That's more than nursing care facilities' costs, which had well over four times the number of reported injuries or illness.
The department says the data has been limited to industries with at least 10 incidents to protect the identity of injured workers.
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments