According to a recent National Safety Council survey, American workers are most concerned about on-the-job injuries, even though those injuries occur less often than at home.

Four hundred employed American adults were conducted for NSC's June National Safety Month observance by Atlanta-based Infosurv, a market research firm that specializes in employee and customer surveys. American workers recognize safety as a serious issue, NSC's 2006 American Worker Safety Survey said, but their perceptions about their greatest safety risks do not mirror reality.

Accidental injury, the leading cause of death for people under 40 and the fifth leading cause of death for all ages, was the number one reported concern, and more individuals reported that they feel safer at home than at work, when in fact the opposite is true. According to the FBI's annual “Uniform Crime Report,” in 2004, 230 Americans died in natural disasters including hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme cold, and severe or tropical storms. However, in the same year, unintentional injuries claimed more than 110,000 lives and disabled roughly 23.2 million people seriously enough to cause permanent or temporary disability. In contrast, 5,000 workers died and 3.7 million suffered disabling injuries as a result of accidents occurring in the workplace.

When asked about what type of workplace injuries they were most concerned about, more than 37 percent of respondents said they were most concerned about falling. According to another recent NSC survey, businesses are recognizing the value of keeping their employees safe both on and off the job. Among 1,300 businesses of varying size that have implemented off-the-job safety programs, 58 percent reported reductions in injuries occurring outside of work.

More information is available at www.nsc.org.

Special Reports /

Workers Concerned About Wrong Kind of Injuries

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