Occupational Health & Safety

Lecture # 5

Imad Hassan
Lecturer
Energy Engineering Technology
University of Technology Nowshera
 Record Keeping
• Traditional Indexes
– Familiar statistical measures are frequency and severity,.
– Frequency = the # of cases/standard quantity of work hours
– Severity = lost workdays/standard quantity of work hours

• Incidence Rates
– Total injury-illness incidence rate includes all injuries or illnesses that require
medical treatment, plus fatalities.

• Medical treatment does not include

– simple first aid (one-time treatment without further medical care),
– preventive medicine (ex, tetanus shots), or
– medical diagnostic procedures with negative results.

• Regardless of the medical treatment, if an injury involves loss of

consciousness, restriction of work or motion, or transfer to another job,
the injury is required to be recorded.
– Sample types of medical treatment (see Appendix B in the text)
– Sample types of first aid treatment (see Appendix C in the text)
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 Record Keeping

• Total injury-illness incidence rate

No. of injuries, illnesses, and fatality X 200,000
= ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total hours worked by all employees during the period covered

– Without the Standard Factor ( 200,000 ), the incident rate would be very small.

• The Standard Factor ( 200,000 ) is obtained by the following:

– 100 Workers X 40 hrs/week X 50 weeks/year
– The Standard Factor is used to make the total injury-illness incidence rate represents
the number of cases expected by a 100 employee firm in a full year.

• The actual period for gathering the incidence rate data need not be a
year or any other specific time period. However, to obtain a
representative number of cases, a fairly long period is needed (typically 1
year)

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75 workers each worked 2000 hours

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 Record Keeping

• Lost work days include

– days Away from work,
– days of Restricted work activity, and
– days of Transfer to another job.

• Typical Incidence rates are:

1. Total Recordable Cases (TRC)
2. Lost Work-Day cases Incidence rate (LWDI)
3. Days Away, Restricted, or Transfer cases rate (DART)
4. Days Away From Work Injury and Illness case rate (DAFWII)
5. Number of Lost Workdays Rate
6. Injury Incidence Rate
7. Illnesses Incidence Rate
8. Fatality Incidence Rate
9. Specific Hazard Incidence Rate

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 Recordkeeping
• OSHA relied on the LWDI for a long time, as a criterion for selecting
high hazard industries for priority inspection
– LWDI considers injuries only, not illness
– LWDI considers lost-time injuries only, not all injuries.
– LWDI do not include fatalities

• The Days-Away, Restricted, or Transferred Rate (DART) replace the

LWDI (in 2008), as a criterion for inspection priority.
– Because OSHA recognize the importance of including illness statistics as well as
injury statistics in setting priorities for inspections.

• In counting the number of lost workdays, the date of the injury or

start of illness should not be counted, even though the employee
may leave work for most of that day.
– Thus, if the employee returns to his regular job and is able to perform all regular
duties full time on the day after the injury or illness, no lost workdays are counted.

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Figure 2.3 OSHA Form 300: Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses.

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• CASE STUDY A metal products fabrication and assembly plant employs 250 workers and has the
following injury-illness experience for the year:
• File 1/January 31: Press-blanking operator scratches hand from punch press; first aid received, no
medical treatment; worker remains on the job.
• File 2/February 19: Maintenance worker, not wearing eye protection, operating grinding machine in tool
room, incurs eye injury from flying chip; medical treatment required; injury occurs on Tuesday, employee
returns to regular job at regular time on Thursday.
• File 3/February 27: Assembly worker becomes “ill” due to noxious odors from remodeling operation in the
assembly area; receives permission from supervisor to take the rest of the day off; does not go to a doctor
or clinic; reports to regular work on time the next day.
• File 4/March 2: Sewing machine operator’s right ring finger pulled into unguarded drive belt pulley on
sewing machine; small fracture revealed by X ray; splint applied; worker returns to regular work at regular
time the next day.
• File 5/March 19: Dockworker sprains ankle on loading dock; moved to office job for two workweeks.
• File 6/May 2: Maintenance worker entangles finger in rope as winch is released; taken to clinic for X ray;
no fractures found; no treatment; worker returns to regular work the next day.
• File 7/June 7: Yard worker exposed to poison ivy while clearing weeds in tank-farm area behind plant;
Rash develops; treated with steroid drug by prescription; no time lost.
• File 8/July 6: Assembly worker loses two workdays getting better from severe allergic reaction to stings
incurred while cleaning out his attic at home; medical treatment with prescription drugs.
• File 9/August 4: Maintenance worker using ungrounded portable electric drill to repair equipment in
assembly area is electrocuted. Date of death: August 4.
• File 10/August 7: Loaded pallet in loading dock area falls from forklift on dock- worker’s left foot; worker
examined in hospital emergency room and X ray revealed no fractures or other injuries; worker receives
therapy and goes home; worker reports back to his regular job on time the next day and wears his
company-issued safety shoes.
• File 11/August 9: Maintenance worker in the tool room incurs injury from foreign object in the eye;
irrigation method used to remove foreign object, worker returns to regular job.
• File 12/September 11: Worker in final assembly diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) from
repetitive work; surgery prescribed; worker misses three weeks of work before returning to regular job with
engineering improvements to the workstation.
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Figure 2.6 OSHA 300 Log for Case Study 2.1.

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• ANALYSIS The first step is to complete the OSHA 300 Log of Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses.
• File 1: The key word is “first aid.” This case is not recordable.
• File 2: This is a lost-workdays injury case. Do not count the date of injury (Tuesday). Do
not count Thursday either because the worker returned to work at the regular time. Only
one day was lost.
• File 3: This case is not recordable. The worker felt “ill,” but there was no medical
treatment, and although the worker left work one afternoon. The worker returned to work
on time the next day, so no lost time is counted.
• File 4: This is a recordable injury, as the X ray was positive, revealing a fracture, which is
always recordable. The worker returned to her regular work at the regular time the next
day, however, so no time was lost.
• File 5: This is a lost time injury. Even though the worker returned to work, he was
assigned to a different job, so OSHA’s position is that the days at the restricted work
activity count as lost workdays.
• File 6: Unlike File 4, the X ray in this case was negative. Since there was no fracture and
no medical treatment and the worker returned to the same job the next day on time, this
case is not recordable.
• File 7: Poison ivy from on-the-job exposure is classified as an occupational illness and
is identified “Skin Disorder.”
• File 8: Incidents occurring off the job are not recordable.
• File 9: This is an injury-type fatality and should be recorded.
• File 10: The negative X ray and therapy during the first visit to medical personnel are
both considered first aid not medical treatment. This case is not recordable.
• File 11: Since the irrigation method was used and the object was not embedded in the eye,
this eye injury is considered a first-aid case and is thus not recordable.
• File 12: Because CTS is due to “repeated motion,” it is classified as an illness. This is a
recordable lost time illness. The lost time is in the days-away-from-work category.
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 Record Keeping
• Typical Indexes (Incidence Rates):

1. Total Recordable Cases (TRC)

2. Lost Work-Day cases Incidence rate (LWDI)
3. Days Away, Restricted, or Transfer cases rate (DART)
4. Days Away From Work Injury and Illness case rate (DAFWII)
5. Number of Lost Workdays Rate
6. Injury Incidence Rate
7. Illnesses Incidence Rate
8. Fatality Incidence Rate
9. Specific Hazard Incidence Rate

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 Record Keeping

• Index (Incident Rate)

No. of Case X Standard Factor (200,000)
= --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No. of Worker X Total hours worked by an employee during the period covered

– Total Hours (2,000) = 40 hours X 50 weeks

– Without the Standard Factor ( 200,000 ), the incident rate would be very small.
– Fatality case(s) excluded in No. of Case

• Standard Factor ( 200,000 ) :

– 100 Workers X Total Hours
– The Standard Factor is used to make the total injury-illness incidence rate represents
the number of cases expected by a 100 employee firm in a full year.

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 Calculation of Incidence Rates
5 X 200,000 (Total Recordable Cases)
• TRC = ----------------------- = 2 (H, I, J)
250 X 2000

2 X 200,000 (Lost Work-Day cases Incidence rate)

• LWDI = ----------------------- = 0.8 ((H)
250 X 2000

3 X 200,000 (Days Away, Restricted, or Transfer cases rate)

• DART = ----------------------- = 1.2 (H, I)
250 X 2000

2 X 200,000 (Days Away From Work Injury and Illness case rate)
• DAFWII = ----------------------- = 0.8 (H)
250 X 2000
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 Calculation of Incidence Rates

3 X 200,000
• Injury Incident Rate = ----------------------- = 1.2
250 X 2000
2 X 200,000
• Illness Incident Rate = ----------------------- = 0.8
250 X 2000
1 X 200,000
• Fatality Incident Rate = ----------------------- = 0.4
250 X 2000
(14 + 21+1) X 200,000
• No.-of-Lost-Workdays Rate = ------------------------------ = 14.4
250 X 2000
1 X 200,000
• Specific –Hazard Incident Rate = ----------------------- = 0.4
(Eye injuries) 250 X 2000

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