Policy Development, Research and Statistics

BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses:
information for participating Minnesota employers

About the survey

These pages are your source for Minnesota-specific information to help you complete and submit your response to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). If you've been directed to this page, one or more of the establishments for your company have been selected to participate in the survey to help obtain a complete and accurate representation of work-related injuries and illnesses in Minnesota's workplaces. Your information will also be used to obtain the national estimates of work-related injuries and illnesses.

The SOII is a mandatory survey. If your establishment has been selected to participate, you are required by law to provide the requested information.

These Web pages are intended to help you complete your survey form, find additional information about the survey and review results from the most recently published survey. If you cannot find the information you need about the SOII on this page or from the links provided, contact us.

In Minnesota, the SOII is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI). The SOII survey team is part of the DLI Policy Development, Research and Statistics unit; it is not part of Minnesota OSHA.

Types of survey participants

In any given year, there are two sets of survey participants:

1. companies that have received the SOII survey form to send OSHA log information about occupational injuries and illnesses from the previous calendar-year (approximately 5,000 Minnesota workplaces for 2009). Statistics about the 2009 injuries and illnesses will be published in the fall of 2010.
2. companies that have been notified that information from the current year's OSHA log records of occupational injuries and illnesses will be collected during 2011 (approximately 5,000 Minnesota workplaces for 2010). Statistics about the 2010 injuries and illnesses will be published in the fall of 2011.

Learn why your participation makes a difference.

Web pages with information relevant to both sets of participants

How to be an exemplary survey participant -- important tips for preparing the OSHA log and completing an error-free survey response

BLS SOII survey respondent page -- assists survey respondents, explains survey purposes

OSHA recordkeeping assistance -- OSHA forms, articles to help keep accurate records

Minnesota results from previous years' surveys -- tables, charts to compare industry results

Annual Minnesota Workplace Safety Report -- compilation of latest survey results, showing trends; includes statistics about occupational fatalities and Minnesota OSHA programs (2008 SOII results report to be available spring 2010)

Injuries, illnesses and fatalities (BLS survey results) -- access to results from annual surveys, tools for calculating rates and creating custom-made tables

BLS handbook of methods, chapter nine, Occupational safety and health statistics -- detailed information about how the SOII is conducted, how cases are coded, how estimates are computed

News release about Minnesota's 2008 survey results -- summary results of Minnesota's overall injury and illness rates, rates for industry divisions