Arkansas Public Sector Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Data 2023-2024

Arkansas Workplace Injuries and Illnesses Biennial Case and Demographic Data for Public Sector 2023-2024

01/23/2026

Little Rock – The Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing has released the 2023-2024 non-fatal biennial case and demographic public sector data in the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII).

We began biennial publication of estimates involving workplace injury and illness cases with days away from work (DAFW) and days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR) by detailed case characteristics and worker demographics for the period of 2021-2022. This data will now be published every 2 years.

Public Sector (state and local combined) reported 1,990 injuries and illnesses involving cases with days away from work (DAFW) over the 2-year period 2023 and 2024.

State Government reported 690 cases with DAFW.

• Of these cases, 430 or 62.3% were male, and 260 or 37.7% were female.
• The age group of 25 to 34 had 170 or 24.6% of the cases.
• 270 or 39.1% of cases had a length of service with employer of 1 to 5 years; and 270 or 39.1% of these cases had a length of service with employer of more than 5 years.
• Race or ethnic origin – White only workers had 350 cases or 50.7%. Black only workers had 220 cases or 31.9%. Hispanic or Latino only workers had 20 cases or 2.9%; while 90 or 13% did not report race or ethnic origin.
• The median days away from work was 18 days.
• Correctional officers and jailers had 160 cases with DAFW. First line supervisors of correctional officers had 120 cases with DAFW. Highway maintenance workers had 70 cases with DAFW.
• Nature of injury or illness – Sprains, strains, and tears had 150 cases. Soreness, swelling, and inflammation had 80 cases. Bruises and contusions had 60 cases; Cuts, lacerations, punctures without injury to internal structures had 60 cases. Fractures had 30 cases.
• Part of body affected – There were 230 cases with lower extremities affected. There were 180 cases with upper affected. There were 100 cases with multiple body parts affected. There were 80 cases with the trunk affected, with back injuries totaling 40 of these cases. There were 70 cases with the head affected.
• Source of injury or illness – Ground, travel, and support surfaces totaled 190 cases. Person-other than injured or ill worker had 130 cases.

• Event or exposure – There were 240 cases with falls, slips, or trips, including 180 cases with slip, trip, stumble, or fall on same level. There were 140 cases of contact incidents. There were 110 cases of overexertion, repetitive motion, and bodily conditions. There were 90 cases of transportation incidents; and there were 90 cases of violent acts by other person.
  Local Government (Cities and Counties) reported 1,300 cases with DAFW.

• Of these cases, 660 or 50.8% were male, and 630 or 48.5% were female.

• The age group of 45 to 54 had 390 or 30% of the cases.

• 610 or 46.9% of these cases had a length of service with employer of more than 5 years.

• Race or ethnic origin – White only workers had 630 cases or 48.5%. Black only workers had 190 cases or 14.6%; while 480 or 36.9% did not report race or ethnic origin.

• The median days away from work was 4 days.

• Police and sheriff’s patrol officers had 280 cases with DAFW. Teaching assistants, preschool, elementary, middle, and secondary school, except special education had 120 cases. Firefighters had 100 cases. School bus drivers had 90 cases.

• Nature of injury or illness – Sprains, strains, and tears had 450 cases. Fractures had 130 cases. Bruises and contusions had 90 cases.

• Part of body affected – There were 330 cases with upper extremities affected. There were 300 cases with multiple body parts affected. There were 290 cases with lower extremities affected. There were 180 cases with the trunk affected, with back injuries totaling 170 of these cases. There were 90 cases with the head affected.

• Source of injury or illness – Ground, travel, and support surfaces totaled 400 cases. Person-other than injured or ill worker had 310 cases.

• Event or exposure – There were 500 cases with falls, slips, or trips, including 410 cases with slip, trip, stumble, or fall on same level. There were 210 cases of violent acts by other person. There were 190 cases of overexertion, repetitive motion, and bodily conditions. There were 160 transportation incidents. There were 140 contact incidents; and 80 cases with exposure to harmful substances or environments.
  Public Sector (state and local combined) reported 1,340 injuries and illnesses involving cases with days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR) over the 2-year period 2023 and 2024.

State Government reported 230 cases with DJTR.

• Of these cases, 60 or 26.1% were male, and 170 or 73.9% were female.
• The age group of 45 to 54 had 70 or 30.4% of the cases.
• 80 or 34.8% of these cases had a length of service with employer of more than 5 years.
• Race or ethnic origin – White only workers had 70 cases or 30.4%. Black only workers had 40 cases or 17.4%. 110 or 47.8% did not report race or ethnic origin.
• The median days of job transfer or restriction was 10 days.
• Nursing assistants had 60 cases with DJTR. Registered nurses had 30 cases with DJTR.
• Nature of injury or illness – Sprains, strains, and tears had 130 cases. Bruises and contusions had 20 cases. Soreness, swelling, and inflammation had 20 cases.
• Part of body affected – There were 80 cases with upper extremities affected. There were 50 cases with lower extremities affected. There were 50 cases with the trunk affected, with back injuries totaling 40 of these cases. There were 40 cases with multiple body parts affected.
• Source of injury or illness – There were 80 cases with Person-other than injured or ill worker. Ground, travel, and support surfaces had 60 cases. Containers had 30 cases.

• Event or exposure – There were 70 cases of DJTR with overexertion while moving or manipulating external object(s). There were 60 cases with falls, slips, or trips, including 50 cases with slip, trip, stumble, or fall on same level. There were 40 cases of violent acts by other person; and 30 cases of contact with non-running objects or equipment.
  Local Government (Cities and Counties) reported 1,110 cases with DJTR.

• Of these cases, 640 or 57.7% were male, and 460 or 41.4% were female.

• The age group of 45 to 54 had 330 or 29.7% of the cases.

• 440 or 39.6% of these cases had a length of service with employer of more than 5 years.

• Race or ethnic origin – White only workers had 340 cases or 30.6%. 700 or 63.1% did not report race or ethnic origin.

• The median days of job transfer or restriction was 16 days.

• Police and sheriff’s patrol officers had 320 cases with DJTR. Teaching assistants, preschool, elementary, middle, and secondary school, except special education had 80 cases with DJTR.

• Nature of injury or illness – Sprains, strains, and tears had 630 cases. Bruises and contusions had 120 cases. Fractures had 80 cases.

• Part of body affected – There were 330 cases with the trunk affected, with back injuries totaling 260 of these cases. There were also 330 cases with lower extremities affected. There were 290 cases with upper extremities affected. There were 80 cases with multiple body parts affected.

• Source of injury or illness – Person-other than injured or ill worker had 250 cases. Activities and conditions of injured or ill worker had 210 cases. Ground, travel, and support surfaces had 160 cases.

• Event or exposure – There were 530 cases of DJTR with overexertion, repetitive motion, and bodily conditions, including 320 cases with overexertion while moving or manipulating external object(s). There were 190 cases of violent acts by other person. There were 170 cases with falls, slips, or trips, including 140 cases with slip, trip, stumble, or fall on same level. There were 130 contact incidents.
  Days away from work (DAFW). Injuries or illnesses for which employees used days away from work (beyond the day of injury or onset of illness) to recover from an occupational injury or illness. The number of days away from work is determined by the number of calendar days after the date of the injury or illness, before an employee returns to work. These cases may include days of job transfer or restricted work activity in addition to days away from work. For example, an employee suffers a work-related injury resulting in five days away from work and upon returning to work, the employee is unable to perform normal duties associated with the job for an additional three days (i.e., the employee was on restricted work activity). This case would be recorded as a days-away-from-work case with five days away from work and three days of restricted work activity. It would not be recorded as a days-of-job-transfer-or-restriction case.

Days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR). Days-of-job-transfer-or-restriction cases are those injuries and illnesses which result only in job transfer or restricted work activity without days away from work. This occurs when, as the result of a work-related injury or illness, an employer or healthcare professional recommends keeping an employee from doing the routine functions of his or her job or from working the full workday that the employee would have been scheduled to work before the injury or illness occurred. This may include the following instances:

• An employee is assigned to another job on a temporary basis
• An employee works at a permanent job less than full time
• An employee works at a permanently assigned job but is unable to perform all duties normally connected with the job Detailed tables and charts for cases with days away from work (DAFW), days with job transfer or restriction (DJTR), and days away from work, job transfer, or restriction (DART) for private and/or public sectors are available for 2023-2024 upon request.

Occupational injuries and illnesses collected in the SOII include cases of COVID-19 when a worker was infected as a result of performing their work-related duties and met other recordkeeping criteria. COVID-19 is considered a respiratory illness under criteria established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

This news release is the third of four releases this year covering occupational safety and health statistics in Arkansas. The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) was administered by the Arkansas Department of Labor and Licensing, Division of Labor, OSH/CFOI Section, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. The 2017 version of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS 2017) was used to group company data by industry. Arkansas employers are randomly selected for the survey each year.

For additional information, please go to www.bls.gov/iif (current and archived data for national and by individual state), www.labor.arkansas.gov, or www.bls.gov/iif/state-data.htm#AR.

Fatal occupational injuries for calendar year 2024 were not included in this study. A separate publication for the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) will be issued February 19th, 2026.

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