Are You Beating the Industry Sandard?
Even though you may be in a state that exempts you from keeping OSHA injury/illness records, did you know that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is still keeping tabs on the dental laboratory industryís injury/illness rates? Yes, itís true and how do you think you measure up to the industryís standards, are you beating the standard or is it beating you?
The Bureau of Labor Statisticís (BLS) Injury Rates, as of 2005, are as follows for dental laboratories:
Total Recordable Cases Rate (sometimes called TCIR) 1.0 - These are injuries that require more than a one-time first aid treatment, loss of consciousness, loss of a work day other than date of injury and/or the injury treatment called for a prescription that was for more than one dayís supply.
Lost Day Case Rate (sometimes called DART) 0.4 - These injuries include any of the above plus they resulted in one or more of the following: lost time other than the day of the injury, job transfers, and/or restricted time. This is sometimes referred to as a Severity Case Rate because the recordable injury was more severe and impacted the worker more severely.
When calculating incidence rates, you must use a standard to help you qualify your rate. The
has a standard manhours number that is used based on 100 workers working a 40-hour week, 50 weeks of the year or 200,000 total manhours. This number is multiplied by your number of cases then divided by the number of actual hours worked at your laboratory for the period you are calculating. Once you determine your number of hours worked and can determine your number of recordable and/or lost time cases, you can then track and trend your workplace injuries. Most companies track their injuries on a monthly, quarterly, annual and year-to-date rate.
Looking at total recordable case and lost time case rates, here is an illustration of how different sized laboratories would compare to the industry rate using an incidence of only 1 case:
14 employee laboratory working full-time (2,080 hours per year per employee)
1 recordable injury X 200,000 = 6.9 compared to 1.0 for dental laboratories as a whole
29,120 hours
1 lost time accident X 200,000 = 6.9 (industry average is 0.4)
29,120 hours
25 employee laboratory
1 recordable X 200,000 = 3.79 (1.0 industry average)
52,800 hours
1 lost time accident X 200,000 = 3.79 (0.4 industry average)
52,800 hours
65 employee laboratory
1 recordable X 200,000 = 1.48 (1.0 industry average)
135,200 hours
1 lost time accident X 200,000 = 1.48 (0.4 industry average)
135,200 hours
As you can see, the more manhours you can put into the equation, the more diluted your rate becomes, but most laboratories in the