Worker Safety - Recordable incident rate and days away, restricted or transferred rate

2023

Agencywide recordable incident rate remains the same from 2022 to 2023

The combined agencywide recordable incident rate for WSDOT (including Washington State Ferries) was unchanged at 4.1 recordable injuries per 100 workers in 2022 and 2023. The agencywide "days away, restricted or transferred" rate worsened by 21.7%, from 2.3 in 2022 to 2.8 in 2023 per 100 workers. The DART rate is a subset of the RIR and includes only injuries that resulted in days away from work, restricted work activities or required a transfer of job duties. During the five-year period from 2019 and 2023, the agencywide RIR improved by 12.8% from 4.7 to 4.1 per 100 employees, while the DART rate remained the same at 2.8.

Not including Washington State Ferries, WSDOT's RIR from 2022 to 2023 worsened by 6.2% from 3.2 to 3.4 and the DART rate worsened by 45.5% from 1.4 to 2.1. For the five-year period between 2019 and 2023, the RIR for WSDOT improved 10.5% and its DART rate stayed the same at 2.1 not including WSF. WSF is reported separately from WSDOT at times because of the unique safety issues that working in a marine work environment can present.

Washington State Ferries' RIR between 2022 and 2023 improved by 4.8% from 6.3 to 6.0, and its DART rate worsened by 4.2% from 4.8 to 5.0. For the five-year period between 2019 and 2023, the RIR for WSF improved by 15.5% from 7.1 to 6.0 and the DART rate worsened by 4.2% from 4.8 to 5.0.

WSDOT continues to focus on improving safety by adding new signage, updating the hearing conservation program, having more frequent communications about safety awareness, and implementing regular stretching and flex exercising to reduce sprain and strain injuries. WSDOT's continual focus on the safety program is reducing worker compensation claims. As WSDOT employees continue to embrace a safe work environment, they have fewer injuries and are more productive.

2022

Agency-wide recordable incident rate improves 28.1% from 2021 to 2022

The combined agency-wide recordable incident rate for WSDOT (including Washington State Ferries) improved by 28.1% from 5.7 recordable injuries per 100 workers in 2021 to 4.1 in 2022. The agency-wide "days away, restricted or transferred" rate improved by 36.2%, from 3.6 in 2021 to 2.3 in 2022 per 100 workers. The DART rate is a subset of the RIR and includes only injuries that resulted in days away from work, restricted work activities or required a transfer of job duties. During the five-year period from 2018 and 2022, the agency-wide RIR improved by 18.0% from 5.0 to 4.1, while the DART rate improved by 25.9% from 3.1 to 2.3.

Not including Washington State Ferries, WSDOT's RIR from 2021 to 2022 improved by 25.6% from 4.3 to 3.2 and the DART rate improved by 43.1% from 2.5 to 1.4. For the five-year period between 2018 and 2022, the RIR for WSDOT improved 25.6% and its DART rate improved by 25.9%. WSF is reported separately from WSDOT at times because of the unique safety issues that a marine work environment can present.

Washington State Ferries' RIR between 2021 and 2022 improved by 25.0% from 8.4 to 6.3, and its DART rate improved by 27.9% from 6.6 to 4.8. For the five-year period between 2018 and 2022, the RIR and DART rate for WSF improved by 10.0% and 6.7%, respectively.

WSDOT's focus continues to be on improving safety through efforts like adding new signage, updating the hearing conservation program, having more frequent communications about safety awareness, and implementing regular stretching and flex exercising to reduce sprain and strain injuries. WSDOT's continual focus on the safety program is effectively reducing worker compensation claims. As WSDOT employees continue to embrace a safe work environment, they have fewer injuries and are more productive.

2021

Agency-wide recordable incident rate worsens 29.5% from 2020 to 2021

The combined agency-wide recordable incident rate for WSDOT (including Washington State Ferries) worsened by 29.5% from 4.4 recordable injuries per 100 e in 2020 to 5.7 in 2021. The agency-wide "days away, restricted or transferred" rate worsened by 33.3%, from 2.7 in 2020 to 3.6 in 2021. The DART rate is a subset of the RIR and includes only injuries that resulted in days away from work, restricted work activities or required a transfer of job duties. Between 2017 and 2021, the agency-wide RIR worsened by 21.3%, while the DART rate worsened by 56.5%.

Not including Washington State Ferries', WSDOT's RIR from 2020 to 2021 worsened by 22.8% from 3.5 to 4.3 and the DART rate worsened by 31.6% from 1.9 to 2.5. For the five-year period between 2017 and 2021, the RIR for WSDOT was 0.0% and its DART rate worsened by 47.1%.

Washington State Ferries RIR between 2020 and 2021 worsened by 20.0% from 7.0 to 8.4, and its DART rate worsened by 34.7% from 4.9 to 6.6. Due to its marine work environment, WSF has experienced more substantial five-year changes to its injury rates than the rest of WSDOT. For the five-year period between 2017 and 2021, the RIR for WSF worsened by 42.4% and its DART rate worsened by 78.4%.

Agency-wide, the focus is on improving safety efforts like adding new signage, updating the hearing conservation program, having more frequent communications about safety awareness, and stretching and flex exercising to reduce sprain and strain injuries.

Recordable incident rate decreases in 2020, but sees increase in 2021

The 18.6% improvement to the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) recordable incident rate at WSDOT from 4.3 in 2019 to 3.5 in 2020, can be attributed to the lost time due to the shutdowns at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Even after employees returned to work, they did so in limited numbers across the state. This resulted in a decrease of approximately 600,000 actual work hours that can be attributed to the initial COVID response. As the number of hours decreases, increases to the number of recordable injuries has a dramatic effect on the final recordable incident rates.

Following the 22.8% increase in RIR from 3.5 in 2020 to 4.3 in 2021, WSDOT reviewed its safety data and discovered recordable issues that either had not been as prevalent in the past or were fairly new and had surfaced during this time, including:

• Additional ergonomic injuries from employees teleworking for a year in environments that were not conducive to their wellbeing
• A rise in vehicle incidents that stemmed from so much of the public being back on the road, and
• An upswing in COVID-19 claims that were transmitted in the workplace and therefore counted as an OSHA recordable illness

2020

WSDOT's agency-wide recordable incident rate improves slightly from 2019 to 2020

WSDOT's agency-wide recordable incident rate improved 6.4% from 4.7 recordable injuries per 100 workers at agency worksites in 2019 to 4.4 in 2020. The agency-wide "days away, restricted or transferred" rate improved approximately 3.6% from 2.8 in 2019 to 2.7 in 2020. The DART rate is a subset of the RIR and includes only those injuries that resulted in days away from work, restricted work activities or a transfer of job duties.

Between 2016 and 2020, the agency-wide RIR improved by about 4.3%, while the DART rate worsened by 22.7% (percentage increases and decreases are based on rates being rounded to the nearest 10th).

WSDOT has as a whole. Between 2019 and 2020, the RIR for WSF improved 1.4% from 7.1 to 7.0, and its DART rate worsened by 2.1% from 4.8 to 4.9. Between 2016 and 2020 the RIR for WSF worsened by 29.6% and its DART rate worsened by 36.1%. In addition to an aging workforce, WSF attributes these worsening rates to advancements in its reporting methods and how it captures incidents through its database as well as new resources dedicated to more accurate incident reporting. See p. 10 for more details about WSF safety efforts and its COVID-19 response.

2019

Recordable incident and days away, restricted or transferred rates improve from 2018 to 2019

WSDOT's agency-wide recordable incident rate improved 6.0% from 5.0 recordable injuries per 100 workers at agency worksites in 2018 to 4.7 in 2019. The agency-wide "days away, restricted or transferred" rate improved 9.7% from 3.1 in 2018 to 2.8 in 2019. The DART rate is a subset of the RIR and includes only those injuries that resulted in days away from work, restricted work activities or a transfer of job duties.

These recent improvements are in contrast to long-term trends. Between 2015 and 2019, the agency-wide RIR worsened by 9.3%, and the DART rate worsened by 55.6%.

Washington State Ferries, which has a marine work environment, has experienced more substantial changes to its injury rates than WSDOT has as a whole. Between 2018 and 2019, the RIR for WSF worsened 1.4% from 7.0 to 7.1, and its DART rate improved by 5.9% from 5.1 to 4.8. Between 2015 and 2019 the RIR for WSF worsened by 47.9% and its DART rate was 100% worse. In addition to an aging workforce, WSF attributes these worsening rates to advancements in how it captures incidents through its database as well as new resources dedicated to incident reporting.