Wisconsin Worker Injuries, Illnesses, and Deaths Dashboard

The Worker Injuries, Illnesses, and Deaths Dashboard shows how Wisconsin workers' health is affected by their jobs. Work is always a factor in a person's health and well-being. Public health, industrial hygienists, safety officers, and occupational health clinicians can use this information to help prevent injuries, illnesses, and deaths.

Return to the Occupational Health Data and Publications page

Where do these data come from?

  • This dashboard uses Wisconsin and nationwide data from the Survey of Occupational Illnesses and Injuries (SOII) and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (CFOI). Both come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). 
  • BLS administers the SOII to a scientific sample of employers. This allows SOII to publish estimates of severe non-fatal, work-related injuries and illnesses that have been reported by employers. In contrast, for CFOI BLS combines many different data sources to publish counts of all recorded work-related deaths (not a sample or estimate). Data are available from 2014–2022.
  • Rates were calculated using the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), also from BLS. Injury and illness rates are shown per 10,000 workers and death rates are shown per 100,000 workers. Ninety-five percent confidence intervals (±) are shown in parentheses for injury and illness rates. Counts (n) are shown in parentheses for death rates.

For additional information about how this dashboard works, see the expandable sections below the dashboard.

How to use this dashboard

There are two main dashboard views: “Wisconsin and U.S. Comparison” and “Wisconsin Industry Rates.” Use the “Wisconsin and U.S. Comparison” view for state and/or national comparisons and trends over time. Use the “Wisconsin Industry Rates” view to compare injury and illness or death rates across Wisconsin industries, or to get more detailed data within a particular Wisconsin industry sector. Each of these views can toggle between injuries, illnesses and deaths. Use the dark buttons in the top right to navigate between views.

Note: to reset all filters to the default view, click the “Reset view” button (looks like an arrow making a U-turn toward a horizontal bar) in the dashboard's footer.

This view contains injury, illness, and death rates per 10,000 (for injuries and illnesses) and 100,000 (for deaths) workers. Wisconsin (green) and U.S. (gray) rates are shown overall; by injury/illness case type and cause of death; and by year.

Illness/injury case types include:

  • Hearing loss
  • Poisoning
  • Respiratory illnesses
  • Skin disease
  • All other illnesses

Cause of death categories include:

  • Contact with objects and equipment
  • Exposure to harmful substances or environments
  • Falls, slips, trips
  • Fires and explosions
  • Transportation incidents
  • Violence and other injuries by persons or animals

Filters

Year: Calendar year for which the data was collected. This filter does not affect the yearly rates plot on the bottom of the dashboard. Select a year between 2014 and 2022. Default is 2022.

Ownership (injury and illness data only): Workplace ownership type. Default is “all ownerships.” Ownership options include:

  • All ownerships
  • Private industry
  • State government
  • Local government

Sector: Broad industry sector type. Sector classifications align with North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Default is “All Sectors.” Note: for injury and illness rates, the only Sector available for “all ownerships” is “All Sectors.” To see additional Sector options, change the Ownership filter to an option other than “all ownerships.”

Sector options include:

  • Arts, Entertainment, And Recreation
  • Construction
  • Educational Services
  • Finance And Insurance
  • Health Care and Social Assistance
  • Information
  • Management Of Companies and Enterprises
  • Manufacturing
  • Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction
  • Other Services (Except Public Administration)
  • Professional, Scientific, And Technical Services
  • Public Administration
  • Real Estate and Rental And Leasing
  • Retail Trade
  • Transportation and Warehousing
  • Utilities
  • Wholesale Trade

This view contains Wisconsin injury, illness, and death rates per 10,000 (for injuries and illnesses) and 100,000 (for deaths) workers. The default view shows a single plot with a single bubble for each sector with the size of the bubble indicating the sector injury/illness or death rate for the selected year.

Green bubbles indicate sectors with additional rates at the subsector level. To view subsector rates, click on a green bubble and an additional plot will appear on the right side of the dashboard with the corresponding subsector rates. For example, clicking on the green “Retail Trade” bubble will show subsector rates for “Automobile Dealers,” “Grocery Stores,” and “Health And Personal Care Stores,” all of which fall under the “Retail Trade” sector. Only one green bubble can be selected at a time. Subsector rates are not available for some sectors (white bubbles).

Filters

Year: Calendar year for which the data was collected. Select a year between 2014 and 2022. Default is 2022.

Ownership (injury and illness data only): Workplace ownership type. Options include “private industry,” “state government”, and “local government.” Default is “private industry.”

Case type (injury and illness data only): Type of injury or illness. Default is “total cases.” Case type options include:

  • Total cases
  • Total illnesses
  • Total injuries
  • All other illnesses
  • Hearing loss
  • Poisoning
  • Respiratory illnesses
  • Skin disease

Cause of death (death data only): Broad cause of death categorizations. Default is “total deaths”. Cause of death options include:

  • Total deaths
  • Contact with objects and equipment
  • Exposure to harmful substances or environments
  • Falls, slips, trips
  • Transportation incidents
  • Violence and other injuries by persons or animals

Frequently asked questions about these data

SOII is a survey, and as such, is not intended to include the entire population of worker injuries. Rather it uses a sample from which estimates of the true rates are calculated. As such, a 95% confidence interval is used to give a range within which the true rate falls. For example, Wisconsin’s reported injury and illness rate for all cases in 2022 was 310 per 10,000 workers ±12.8. This means that, while the estimated rate is 310, we are 95% confident that the true rate is between 297.2 and 322.8 (310 ±12.8).

CFOI on the other hand is a census, meaning it includes complete counts of work-related deaths. Therefore, the count published by BLS is assumed to be the true count and no confidence interval is necessary.

See the links at the bottom of the FAQ accordions for additional SOII and CFOI methods information.

Any work-related injury or illness that requires medical care beyond first aid is classified as "severe."

There are a couple reasons why these numbers do not sum up cleanly. One reason is that not all businesses are coded to the subsector level. 

For example, Company A may only have enough detail to categorize it as a manufacturing facility, but Company B may have provided enough detail to be categorized more specifically, as a foundry. 

Additionally, some data suppression was used to protect the privacy of individuals.

While different data sources should more or less tell the same story about occupational risks, different data sources have different purposes and approaches to tracking work-related injuries/Illnesses and deaths. This will result in different numbers from different data systems. 

For instance, SOII is an employer-based survey of occupational injuries, and will likely differ somewhat from worker's compensation claims resulting in lost work time. A comparison of SOII vs. CFOI coverage can be found in the Concepts section of the BLS Handbook of Methods, under Exhibit 1. A comparison of SOII vs. OSHA injury tracking application data can be found on the BLS SOII FAQ page

For more information on SOII and CFOI methodologies, see the links below.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is a standard framework for classifying workplaces. Workplaces included in SOII and CFOI are classified based on NAICS structure codes. This allows workplace information to be compared across multiple data sources. NAICS classifications are also collapsible, meaning there is an industry code hierarchy allowing detailed workplace classifications (subsectors) to be sorted into larger groups (sectors). For example, the subsectors “Animal Food Manufacturing,” “Sawmills and Wood Preservation,” and “Steel Product Manufacturing from Purchased Steel” are all grouped within the “Manufacturing” sector.

To find out what NAICS code your workplace falls under, try the NIOSH Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS) form* below. Enter a brief description (two to three words) of your industry (where you work) in the blank fields below. NIOCCS will assign the NAICS code. 

This dashboard does not have data classified by occupation, but if you are curious about occupation you can also complete the NIOCCS occupation field (what you do) to find the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code that best fit your entries.

Note: the first two digits of a NAICS code indicates that industry's sector classification.

*This form provided by NIOSH using the NIOSH Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS). Available on the About the Industry and Occupation Autocoding Web API webpage, published 2021.

Related pages

References

Suggested citation: Wisconsin Dept. of Health Services, Division of Public Health, Office of Health Informatics and Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health, https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/occupational-health/injury-illness-dashboard.html. Wisconsin Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, accessed MM/DD/YYYY.

Glossary

 
Last revised December 20, 2024