Some Question Data on Low Worker Injury Rates in North, South Carolina

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A new federal study estimating the rate of workplace injuries last year finds North and South Carolina among the country’s safest in which to work.

But some workplace safety experts doubt whether the rates accurately reflect which states are safer.

North Carolina’s rate of injuries or illnesses at private companies dropped to a historic low in 2009 of 3.1 cases per 100 full-time workers, compared with 3.4 cases in 2008, the state’s Labor Department said. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said the injury rate in South Carolina was 3.2 cases per 100 workers last year, compared to 3.1 in 2008.

Injury rates in both states were near the country’s lowest, along with Texas, Louisiana, Virginia and New York. The states with favorable rates include both those like Texas and Louisiana that are regulated by the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration and those that run their own workplace safety programs, like North and South Carolina.

Workplace injuries have been falling nationwide for at least seven years, federal figures show.

But Peter Dooley, a Michigan safety consultant who is a member of OSHA’s national advisory committee, said the numbers don’t tell the whole story because employers work to avoid reporting injuries.

“It’s technically illegal, but it does happen in ways that companies basically get away with it,” Dooley said. “Workers are increasingly worried about having the jobs they have and that can really effect the bottom-line numbers.”

The declining injury rates also are a puzzle to Gary Tencer, assistant director of occupational safety at Duke University in Durham, at a time when recession-hit workers are under greater pressure.

“When you think about the number of workers doing more work than they did before — companies are trying to do more with less, or doing the same with less — that increases exposure because you’ve got people doing more things, doing more things more quickly,” he said. “You actually have bigger potential for injury with less people.”

Last month, a U.S. Labor Department audit blasted workplace safety programs in both Carolinas for downplaying serious safety problems and assessing weak fines on violating companies. The average penalty per serious violation was about $281 in South Carolina and $512 in North Carolina, the report said. The federal OSHA’s average penalty is $970.

North Carolina responded to the report by saying it did not plan to increase fines, but that recently it had issued initial penalty assessments for serious violations that were on par with the federal OSHA’s average penalty.

“The state will not make additional changes to its penalty procedures at this time,” the state Labor Department said in its written response.

North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry said that employers and employees deserve credit for reducing workplace injuries. Berry said her model of cooperating with rather than coercing businesses to improve safety has shown results. Her agency also has focused on hazardous industries like construction, she said.

“The federal emphasis is kind of a one-size-fits all,” Berry said. State-run OSHA programs are “better targeted to the specifics of the individual states. We’re all different. I believe that goes a long way to making our numbers what they are.”