The state's findings from the Oregon Population Survey include a growing collection of data on occupational injuries and illnesses and worker's compensation claims. Every two years, the state conducts an extensive survey of a random sample of Oregon households with telephones. Questions about occupational injuries and illnesses and workers' compensation claims began in 2000, with relatively minor adjustments made to those questions in 2002.

Questions and results on workplace injuries and illnesses and workers' compensation claims are in the table at the end of this report. In sum, workplace injuries and illnesses appear to have declined by 9 percent. However, a large and growing percentage of Oregonians have not filed workers' compensation claims for their most recent workplace injury or illness. These findings apply to working adult Oregonians only.

During 2001, were you injured on the job or did you have an occupational illness that required the services of a medical provider (such as a doctor, a physician's assistant or a nurse)?

About 7 percent of Oregonians age 18 and above who were working during the summer of 2002 said that they had a 2001 occupational injury or illness. The statistical confidence level is 99 percent, for all questions. The survey question's margin of error is about 0.9 percentage points. That is, 99 out of 100 times, the sample results would be within +/- 0.9 percentage points of what a full census would find.

For adults working during the summer of 2000, the injury and illness rate was about 7.7 percent. Figure 1 shows a substantial drop over two years in the percentage of working Oregonians with recent occupational injuries or illnesses.

An estimated 1.5 million Oregonians age 18 and older were employed or self-employed during the summer of 2002, according to the OPS 2002. If 7 percent had a workplace injury or illness during 2001, then roughly 105,000 adult Oregonians had recovered sufficiently that they were working during the summer of 2002.

According to the Employment Department, average employment, including self-employment, for Oregonians age 16 and over was 1.7 million during the summer of 2002. If 7 percent had a workplace injury or illness during 2001, then there would have been roughly 120,000 adult Oregonians with a recent occupational injury or illness who were still working in the summer of 2002.

Whatever basis is used for counting employment, these estimates exclude Oregonians who had occupational injuries or illnesses that were disabling enough that they did not return to work. Related questions that attempt to quantify the number and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses do not necessarily include all out-of-work injured Oregonians, either. That bias aside, the OPS estimates seem to indicate a downward trend from 2000 to 2002: fewer injured and ill Oregon workers who have fewer and less severe injuries and illnesses.

For your most recent work-related injury or illness, did you file a workers' compensation claim?

Almost 46 percent of the injured or ill workers did not file a workers' compensation claim for the latest incident, according to the OPS 2002. The margin of error for this question is around 8.7 percentage points.

Figure 2 illustrates the apparent increase in the no-filing rate. By comparison, almost 39 percent of the OPS 2000 responses indicated no claims filed. These high figures, along with the growing tendency to not file claims, seem worthy of further investigation.

The survey features an open-ended follow-up question for Oregonians who did not file workers' compensation claims for their occupational injuries and illnesses: why didn't you file? The margin of error for this question is a minimum 1.4 percentage points. A more important weakness may be the survey's method for tabulating responses; 55 percent of OPS 2002 open-ended responses to this question could not be classified. Thus, few conclusions may be drawn about why Oregonians do not file workers' compensation claims. Certainly, some workers, especially the self-employed, were not covered by workers' compensation insurance. As well, some workers felt their injuries were not serious enough to file claims, even though they said that they required the services of medical providers.

The survey also has a follow-up for claim filers, about the current status of their workers' compensation claims. Table 1 shows a higher percentage of accepted claims for OPS 2002 respondents. Percentages for denied claims and claims still under consideration went down.

The survey's questions about workers' compensation claims exclude Oregonians who had occupational injuries or illnesses that were disabling enough that they did not return to work. This bias could have some effect upon the results for workers' compensation claims.

To view the results of the population survey in its entirety, please click on the link below:

Survey Results

For more information about occupational injuries and illnesses and worker's compensation claims, contact the Research and Analysis Section of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, 503-378-8254.