ASSP Calls for Employers to Act, BLS Statistics Reveal
Unacceptable Injury Rates

PARK RIDGE, IL - The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) is urging employers to take measures to better protect American workers from injuries and illnesses in response to newly released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

According to the BLS, there were 2.8 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2018. The number remains unchanged from 2017. Stagnant injury rates imply that incidents where workers are injured, become ill, or are harmed in any way, are occurring way too often across all industries. These statistics are a clear call to employers nationwide to review their safety and health programs and strategies.

The ASSP recommends that employers implement Health and Safety Management Systems, and use holistic approaches to worker safety and well-being, such as Total Worker Health. Health and Safety Management Systems help companies create true safety cultures by continuously identifying and eliminating safety and health risks. This system shifts an organization’s focus from a compliance-based approach to risk-based programs in order to better protect worker well-being on and off the job.

Total Worker Health is an approach that allows an organization to move beyond the traditional boundaries of worker health and instead view worker well-being on a broader spectrum. Total Worker Health is a system of policies, programs, and practices that integrates protection from work-related safety and health hazards, with the promotion of injury and illness prevention efforts to advance worker well-being. This strategy not only results in a sustainable benefit to worker safety and health but also has a positive impact on the organization’s financial health.

The bottom line – when employers make safety and health a priority, businesses save money, eliminate injuries and, most importantly - save lives.