Industries with the most workplace injuries in California

When the Occupational Safety and Health Administration opened in 1971, the state of workplace safety was extremely grim. In the 1960s, a staggering 14,000 workers died on the job every year. Without safety regulations or enforcement in place, workers were left largely unprotected from unsafe conditions, leading to high rates of injury and death.

The creation of OSHA drastically changed the workplace safety landscape. In the first three decades after the administration opened, the workplace injury rate dropped by 40%. In 2020, 4,764 workplace-related deaths occurred in the U.S., down from 5,333 in 2019, although workplace illnesses quadrupled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While workplaces have generally become safer over the past five decades, with far fewer injuries and fatalities reported, some industries are more dangerous than others. In 2020, the industries with the highest rates of workplace deaths were agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, construction, and transportation and warehousing. Due to the pandemic, however, nurses and other health care workers experienced much higher rates than usual of illness and injury which resulted in taking days off from work.

Stacker compiled a list of industries with the highest rate of workplace injuries in California during 2021 using data from OSHA. Industries are ranked by rate of injury. Ties are broken by sheer number of injuries. Industries with a working hour count totaling less than a year of work, or 2,000 hours, and industries with an injury rate of 0 were excluded.

#21. Management of Companies and Enterprises
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 0.3
- Total injuries in 2021: 115

#20. Finance and Insurance
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 0.7
- Total injuries in 2021: 35

#19. Construction
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 0.7
- Total injuries in 2021: 9,658

#18. Health Care and Social Assistance
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 0.7
- Total injuries in 2021: 29,469

#17. Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 0.7
- Total injuries in 2021: 649

#16. Information
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 0.9
- Total injuries in 2021: 546

#15. Educational Services
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 1.1
- Total injuries in 2021: 1,508

#14. Public Administration
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 1.2
- Total injuries in 2021: 10,545

#13. Mining
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 1.5
- Total injuries in 2021: 73

#12. Manufacturing
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 1.8
- Total injuries in 2021: 19,632

#11. Other Services (except Public Administration)
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 2.5
- Total injuries in 2021: 1,038

#10. Transportation and Warehousing
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 2.7
- Total injuries in 2021: 31,238

#9. Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 2.8
- Total injuries in 2021: 2,761

#8. Utilities
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 3.0
- Total injuries in 2021: 1,571

#7. Wholesale Trade
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 3.2
- Total injuries in 2021: 6,655

#6. Accommodation and Food Services
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 3.7
- Total injuries in 2021: 4,157

#5. Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 4.0
- Total injuries in 2021: 5,848

#4. Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 4.0
- Total injuries in 2021: 7,886

#3. Real Estate Rental and Leasing
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 4.6
- Total injuries in 2021: 910

#2. Retail Trade
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 5.5
- Total injuries in 2021: 24,426

#1. Nonclassifiable Establishments
- Injury incidence rate per 200,000 working hours: 6.8
- Total injuries in 2021: 27