New safety benchmark finds 35.2% of U.S. workplace injuries are serious

SDS Manager’s analysis of federal OSHA data introduces a new measure called the Serious Injury Share, showing that 35.2% of recordable U.S. workplace injuries led to days away from work or death. Transportation and warehousing had the highest serious-injury rate, while educational services had the lowest.

Why it matters: - SDS Manager says the new Serious Injury Share benchmark helps safety teams measure not just how many injuries happen, but how severe those injuries are. - The finding matters because a falling injury count can still mask a rising share of serious cases. - The analysis also shows a nearly two-to-one gap between the safest and most dangerous industries on severity.

What happened: - SDS Manager released an analysis on July 23, 2026, based on the most recent complete federal workplace injury data. - The analysis reviewed roughly 1.49 million recordable injuries reported to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. - The company found that 35.2% of those injuries resulted in days away from work or death. - The remaining cases were resolved with first aid or light duty. - SDS Manager introduced the Serious Injury Share, or SIS, as the percentage of recordable injuries that are severe rather than minor.

The details: - Transportation and warehousing had the highest Serious Injury Share among major industries at 46.1%. - Educational services had the lowest Serious Injury Share at 25.1%. - Wholesale trade recorded a Serious Injury Share of 39.6%. - Public administration recorded 39.1%. - Administrative and waste services recorded 37.8%. - The median days-away case kept a worker off the job for nine days. - The average recovery stretched to roughly 36 days when longer cases were included. - The analysis says OSHA released the dataset in 2025 and that it reflects employer filings due through early 2026. - Complete 2025 data will not be finalized until 2027, making 2024 the current benchmark for safety planning in 2026. - SDS Manager said the full analysis and industry breakdown are available here.

Between the lines: - The benchmark shifts attention from volume to severity, which could change how companies evaluate safety performance. - The industry spread suggests that job type and workplace risk exposure still drive very different injury outcomes. - The data also reinforces that serious injuries create long recovery times, not just temporary disruptions. - Erlend Bruvik, founder of SDS Manager, said safety teams should pay as much attention to injury severity as to injury count.

What's next: - Safety leaders will likely use the Serious Injury Share alongside total injury counts to spot hidden risk. - SDS Manager says serious injuries should trigger structured investigations that end with a verified fix. - More complete federal data for 2025 is expected in 2027, which will give a fuller view of whether severity trends improve.

The bottom line: - The new benchmark suggests U.S. workplace safety debates should focus less on how many injuries occur and more on how many leave workers seriously hurt.