Reduce Workplace Injuries By Streamlining Your Injury Data

Recommended Additions to Fields Required Within OSHA 300:

1. Case Number
2. Employee Name
3. Employee Job Title
   • Recommendation #1: Add a category of the Classification of Job Title for the employee injured
4. Date of Injury or Onset of Illness
   • Recommendation #2: Add a category for the Day of Week that injury occurred
   • Recommendation #3: Add a category for the Month that the injury occurred
   • Recommendation #4: Add a category for the Year that the injury occurred
   • Recommendation #5: Add a category of what Quarter the injury occurred
   • Recommendation #6: Add a category for the Time of Day that injury occurred
5. Where the Event Occurred
   • Recommendation #7: Add Primary Work Location of the employee
6. Describe the Injury or Illness, Part of Body Affected, and Object/Substance that Directly Injured or Made Person Ill (TIP: Be Thorough In The Description)
   • Recommendation #8: Add category of what the Mechanism of Injury was
   • Recommendation #9: Add category of what Body Part was injured
7. Classification of the Case
8. Days Away
9. Restricted Days
10. Injury Classification

• BONUS
  • Recommendation #10: Add a new category COST of the injury

Your organization is likely collecting all of this data already, but segmenting it in this way will allow you to gain insight that will allow your team to make informed decisions.

Below, we show you the step-by-step easiest ways to add each of these fields using quick formulas.

1. Case Number

2. Employee Name

3. Employee Job Title

   • Recommendation #1: Add Job Classification Column

WHY: Beyond the actual job title, add a job classification that makes sense to segment your employees.

• • • For Example: Office vs Field

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Manual Entry
      • Add new column titled “Job Classification”

4. Date of Injury

• Breaking up the date of injury into more specific columns will allow you to segment your injuries to identify trends of when your injuries are occurring

  • Recommendation #2: Add Day of the Week Column

WHY: Adding the day of the week will allow you to identify if injuries are more likely to occur on specific days of the week. If so, you’ll be able to identify if your organization could benefit from putting special attention on those “high-risk” days.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Use an Equation
      • Excel Formula  =TEXT(DATE,”dddd”))

• 

 

• • Recommendation #3: Add Month of Injury Column

WHY: Adding the month of the injury will allow you to identify if injuries are more likely to occur during specific months of the year. We often find that injuries are more prevalent during or immediately following a company’s busy season of the year.  Adding this category will allow you to determine if your company should put a special emphasis on injury prevention during certain months.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Use an Equation
      • Excel Formula  =TEXT(DATE,”mmmm”)
• 

 

• • Recommendation #4: Add Year of Injury Column

WHY: Adding the year of the injury will allow you to examine your company’s trends over time. Are your injuries increasing/ decreasing/ remaining constant over time?

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • • Use an Equation
        • Excel Formula  =YEAR(DATE)
  • 

 

• • Recommendation #5: Add Quarter Column

WHY: Similar to adding the month, adding the quarter of the year an injury occurred allows you to determine if certain times of the year put your team members at a higher risk for injury than others. This may be related to weather, nature of the work they are completing during this period or even what they are doing outside of work during each season of the year.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Use an Equation
      • Excel Formula  =ROUNDUP(Month(DATE)/3,0)
• 

 

• • Recommendation #6: Add Time of Day Column (if known)

WHY: Identifying what time of day the injury occurred will allow your organization to track when in the workday are the highest risk for team members. If clear trends appear, your organization may want to consider placing special attention on injury prevention during those high-risk hours.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Manual Entry
      • Example:

5. Where the Event Occurred

   • Recommendation #7: Add Primary Work Location Column

WHY: If your company operates out of more than one location, identifying the primary location in which the injured employee works will allow you to identify the regions or locations that have the highest risk of injury and provide targeted support.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Manual Entry
      • Utilize your employee database to look up the employee’s primary location

 

6. Describe the Injury or Illness, Part of Body Affected, and Object/ Substance that Directly Injured or Made Person Ill

   • Recommendation #8: Add Mechanism of Injury Column

WHY: One of the most valuable pieces of information you can segment from your data is HOW the injury actually occurred. Segmenting the mechanism of injury will allow you to monitor injury trends and determine the best starting place to allocate resources.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • • Manual Entry
        • Add new column titled “Mechanism of Injury”
  • 

 

• • Recommendation #9: Add Body Part Column

WHY: Similar to adding Mechanism of Injury, segmenting by Body Part will allow you to narrow your focus to the areas of the body that have the highest risk of injury among your team members.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Manual Entry
      • Add new column titled “Body Part”

7. Classification of the Case

 

8. Days Away

 

9. Restricted Days

 

10. Injury Classification

• BONUS: Injury Cost – Not Required by OSHA  

  • Recommendation #10: Add Cost Category

WHY: Your organization is most likely already collecting this information. By adding this column to your data sheet, you will be able to track which type of injuries are most expensive for your organization and how injury costs are changing over time.

HOW TO DO IT:

• • • • Manual Entry
      • Add new column titled “Injury Cost”

Although injury data is just one of the sources to examine when conducting a risk analysis, creating a more robust data set is the first step to making more informed decisions around safety initiatives. Adding these 10 classifications to your injury data takes a minimal amount of time, but could produce a significant ROI for your company when it comes to preventing workplace strains and sprains. More importantly, understanding what’s causing your employees to break down can help you take steps to keep your team members safe, healthy and enjoying a high quality of life.

Get started streamlining your data with our printable step-by-step guide: