State Marks All-Time Low on Workplace Accident Rate

Tuesday, November 20, 2018 | 0

Nonfatal workplace injury and illness rates in North Carolina reached an all-time low in 2017, according to a new report from the state Department of Labor.

The overall rate for 2017 was 2.3 cases per 100 full-time workers, part of a steady decline in injuries since 2001, when the rate was 4.8, the department said in a bulletin. The rate is also below the national rate of 2.8.

“With this decline, North Carolina’s rate has hit an unprecedented low,” Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry said. “The downward trend speaks to a safety and health culture that has taken root in businesses throughout North Carolina, and I give employers and employees much of the credit for this drop.”

As a state with its own workers' compensation insurance rating bureau, North Carolina has made an effort to improve safety in the most accident-prone industries, and the free training and safety inspections have paid off, Berry said.

The 2017 injury and illness rate for construction jobs was 1.8, well below the national rate of 3.1. For manufacturing, the rate was 2.9 cases per 100 full-time workers, compared to the national rate of 3.5.