The quest for meaningful and accurate occupational health and safety statistics

To help mark the Monthly Labor Review's centennial, the Review invited several producers and users of BLS data to take a look back at the last 100 years. This installment of the anniversary series comes from the Bureau's Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS) program. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics collects and publishes data on occupational injuries and illnesses. The OSHS program administers these efforts and has evolved for the purpose of collecting more accurate and complete data. Over time, this evolution has required a variety of changes, including new classification systems, recordkeeping procedures, injury and illness categorization, data collection methods, and coding schemes.