Workplace Injury Statistics You Should Know In 2025
While workpalce safety has improved through years, there are still many businesses that don’t take enough precautions to prevent occupational accidents. It is no secret that proactive site safety practices and appropriate work safety awareness lead to fewer accidents, OSHA violations and injuries in the workplace. This article will lay out the most important workplace safety statistics that you must know in 2025.
Important Construction Injury Statistics
One way to determine the state of workplace safety is by examining violation trends. Below are the top 10 most cited OSHA standards from Fiscal Year 2024, which offer deep insights into where safety lapses most often occur:
What Workers Say About Their Safety
OSHA Outreach Courses surveyed more than 500 workers from different industries to get their perspective on how safe they feel at work. Here are the results:
🛡️ Workplace Safety Insights
😟 1 in 10 Workers Feel Unsafe
Only 1 in 10 workers report feeling unsafe at their workplace—an important indicator of safety culture gaps.
✅ Just 22% Feel “Very Safe”
Only 22% of employees said they feel “very safe” on work sites, indicating room for stronger safety measures and communication.
🚨 18% Never Had a Safety Drill
18% of workers say their employers have never conducted a workplace safety drill.
🧯 60% Ready for Emergencies
Despite gaps, 60% of employees feel confident managing workplace emergency situations.
📢 Only 26% Say Concerns Are Always Heard
Just 26% of workers say their safety concerns are “always” taken seriously by management.
🚫 9% Say Supervisors Ignore Them
9% of workers feel their safety concerns are completely ignored by their supervisors.
🖥️ 33% Lack Online Safety Training
33% of employees said their employers never provide online safety training programs.
🦺 88% Have Access to PPE
Encouragingly, 88% of workers said personal protective equipment and safety tools are always accessible when needed.
How OSHA Categorizes Injuries and Illnesses?
When it comes to discussing workplace safety statistics, it is first important to get familiar with the terminologies. OSHA recognizes two categories of incidents: injuries and illnesses. These categories distinguish between incidents that harm employees and those that result in long-term or chronic health effects.
Injuries
Stated below are the conditions considered as injuries by OSHA.
Illness
Listed down are health issues that OSHA categorizes as illnesses.
A cut
Fracture
Sprain
Amputation
Skin Disease
Respiratory Disease
Poisning
Depression
Workplace injuries are still unfortunately prevalent in the year 2025. For this reason, OSHA imposes heavy fines on violations of its safety standards.
Listed down below are the average fines that OSHA enforces on breaches of its workplace safety rules.
Violations
General Violations
Serious Violations
Willful or Repeat Violations
Failure to Abate Up to
Failure to Report
General Violations
Other Key OSHA Numbers You Should Know
million is the total budget of OSHA in 2025.
is the total number of inspectors OSHA has employed.
is the number of workplaces that OSHA oversees.
the number of inspection conducted by OSHA in 2025.
of all workplace fatalities in the United States occur in the construction industry.
is the estimated cost of workplace substance abuse.
How to Prevent Workplace Accidents and OSHA Violations
OSHA violations and workplace acidents can result in severe consequences ranging from fines, loss of productivity and legal complexities to serious injuries and worker fatalities. However, employers and employees can opt for a valuable solution to prevent such violations: OSHA Outreach Courses.
These courses, known as OSHA 10 and 30 hours training courses, are available for both the General and Construction Industries and can help individuals avoid potential OSHA violations through maintaining workplace safety by preventing workplace injuries.
These courses are meant to target different degrees of employees, such as OSHA 10-Hour courses are for candidates who are new or starting their career in the construction or general industries. In contrast, OSHA 30-Hour courses are for candidates at a supervisory or managerial level of employment.
Remember, the leading cause of workplace fatalities and injuries is ignorance, which makes adequate training all the more important.
Workplace Injuries Statistics and Cost
5 MYTHS About Workplace Injuries and OSHA
If you’ve done the job for years, you don’t need all the safety steps
Overconfidence and complacency can be disastrous at a workplace. Experience is not a substitute for precaution.
OSHA Prioritizes Large Companies
OSHA performs suprise inspections on large and small business alike. No company is too small to be held accountable for safety violations.
If OSHA Comes to Inspect You, Employees Should Stop Working
Employees should never stop working or do anything to give a false impressions to the inspector.
Safety is the supervisor’s job
In reality, safety is everyone’s responsibility. A single careless act can put the entire team at risk
OSHA standards are just guidelines
They are enforceable laws, and failure to comply can lead to fines or shutdowns.
6 Important Workplace Injury Facts
- 80-90 percent of serious injuries are caused by human error which can be prevented by giving site safety training.
- The OSHA 300 Log requires employers to check one of 6 boxes to categorize the injury/illness: (1) injury (2) skin disorder (3) respiratory condition (4) poisoning (5) hearing loss (6) all other illnesses
- Over 99 percent of all accidents are preventable
- The most common workplace injury cause is slips, trips, and falls
- Manufacturing industry workers not only have the highest fatality rate, but they are also at increased risk of serious injury compared to other industries.
- There are about 340 million occupational accidents and 160 million victims of work-related illnesses annually
Preventable Workplace Injuries and Accidents by Industry
The number of workplace fatalities in the United States varies significantly by industry. The table below shows a comparison of fatal occupational injuries by sector for the years 2022 and 2023.
Impact of Workplace Injuries on Business
Accidents or incidents at a workplace lead to some significant impacts that can clash with the business operations and sometimes even with the ultimate vision of a business. Shown below are some primary impacts of accidents and incidents on a company:
Loss of productivity
Reduction of sales
Low staff morale
Loss of reputation
Conclusion
The mentioned construction site injury statistics and workplace injuries figures demonstrate the needs for stakeholders to invest heavily into creating safe work environments. Preventing injuries requires a proactive approach that involves everyone in the organization from top to bottom. However, the onus is on the employers to prioritize safety, empower employees, and foster a culture of safety and compliance.
