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Burden, Need and Impact

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Over 20 million workers are employed in private and public sector industries covered by the Healthcare and Social Assistance (HCSA) program in 2015 based on available data. While employing 13.7% of the workforce, the these industries experienced more than 692,000 occupational injuries and illnesses, 19.1% of the total for all industries.1 Although injuries and illnesses are challenging to track and are frequently undercounted, this is the best estimate available at this time.2 Work-related fatalities are not as common in HCSA compared to other industries. Nevertheless, in 2015, industries covered by the HCSA program had 2.3% of the fatalities among all workers in the U.S.1

NIOSH strives to maximize its impact in occupational safety and health. The HCSA Program identifies priorities to guide investments, and base those priorities on the evidence of burden, need, and impact. Below are the priority areas for this program.

References

1National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. (2015). Current U.S. Workforce Data by NORA sector. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/surveillance/default.html
2 Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2016). An update on SOII undercount research activities. https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2016/article/an-update-on-soii-undercount-research-activities.htm

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