Safety the only option: Trend good in Utah; June is National Safety Month

Hundreds of billions of dollars. Lost productivity. Paperwork. Pain, and worse.

Each year in America, more than 4 million workers suffer disabling injuries on the job, the National Safety Council reported. Another 5,000 are killed.

Last year in Utah, more than 66,400 people were injured at work, and 59 people died, according to the Utah Labor Commission.

In June, the National and Utah Safety Councils, along with Workers Compensation Fund and others, will step up their efforts to promote worker safety — on and off the job — as part of National Safety Month.

"The numbers are trending in a positive direction," said Larry Patrick, administrator of the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Division. "The incident rate compiled by the BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) shows that our injury/illness incident rates are declining, are on a downward trend. Fatality rates are declining."

In 2000, there were 81,056 injuries reported, the Utah Labor Commission reported, significantly more than the 66,463 workplace injuries reported in 2004. But last year's injury numbers were slightly higher than the injury count of 64,928 in 2003.

Was 2004's increase a fluke, or is it cause for concern?

"It is worrisome," said Charles Pugh, a safety specialist at Workers Compensation Fund. WCF insures about 60 percent of Utah businesses.

"Generally, it's true that the trend has been that injuries have decreased," Pugh said. "But this year we're seeing a little bit of an upward trend in injuries reported, which is a concern."

While total injuries reported in 2004 increased 2 percent over 2003, Pugh reiterated that Workers Compensation Fund's clients — at 30,600 claims filed — saw a 9 percent decline during that same period.

Trend or no, Workers Compensation Fund and the safety councils want to get the word out to workers and business owners: "It is best not to have an accident, and the way to do that is to be proactive, to be forward-thinking and to really understand what accidents do to you and your organization," Pugh said.

While many Utah employers have improved their safety procedures at work, the 2005 National Safety Month is about more than that, said Bob Parenti, president of the Utah Safety Council. This year, its focus is on "Safety where we live, work and play."

"What we're asking employers to do is to be mindful that unsafe acts, regardless of where they occur, have an impact," Parenti said.