Evaluating Injury and Illness Trends in Federal and Postal Service Employees Using Workers' Compensation Claims Data 2007-2022.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to understand federal workplace injury/illness trends.

METHODS

Over 1.5 million federal and Postal Service employee workers' compensation (WC) claims from 2007 to 2022 were linked to employment data and analyzed.

RESULTS

From 2007 to 2019, falls, slips, trips represented the highest proportion of claims (30.7%), followed by overexertion and bodily reaction (24.4%), unclassified (16.4%), contact with objects and equipment (13.1%), violence and other injuries by persons or animals (8.8%), transportation incidents (4.0%), exposure to harmful substances or environments (2.5%), and fires and explosions (0.24%). From 2020 to 2022, COVID-19 drove a major shift to exposure to harmful substances or environments representing the highest proportion of claims (44.3%).

CONCLUSIONS

Claims data represent a potentially rich data source that employing agencies can use to focus prevention and treatment of injury/illness.