New SDS Manager analysis finds 35.2% of U.S. workplace injuries are serious

SDS Manager says a new analysis of OSHA data finds that 35.2% of recordable U.S. workplace injuries now lead to days away from work or death, with transportation and warehousing near the top at 46.1%. The benchmark could help safety teams focus on injury severity, not just injury counts, as they plan 2026 priorities.

Why it matters: - SDS Manager’s new benchmark, called the Serious Injury Share, highlights how often workplace injuries lead to days away from work or death instead of minor treatment. - The measure gives safety teams a way to spot risk that total injury counts can miss. - The analysis suggests severity varies sharply by industry, with a nearly two-to-one gap between the safest and most dangerous sectors.

What happened: - SDS Manager released an analysis on July 23, 2026, using the most recent complete federal injury data available from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. - The company examined roughly 1.49 million recordable workplace injuries in the dataset. - The analysis found that 35.2% of recordable injuries were serious, meaning they resulted in days away from work or death. - The remaining injuries were resolved with first aid or light duty. - SDS Manager introduced the Serious Injury Share as the percentage of an organization’s 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 share at 25.1%. - Wholesale trade posted a 39.6% Serious Injury Share. - 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 about 36 days when longer cases were included. - OSHA released the dataset in 2025, and the data reflects employer filings due through early 2026. - Complete 2025 data will not be finalized until 2027, leaving 2024 as the current benchmark safety leaders are using for 2026 planning. - The full analysis and industry breakdown are available in the company’s report.

Between the lines: - SDS Manager is arguing that injury frequency alone can understate the real burden on workers and employers. - A lower incident count does not necessarily mean a safer workplace if the remaining cases are more severe. - The industry spread shows that some sectors are dealing with far more serious outcomes than others, which can affect staffing, recovery time and operational disruption.

What's next: - Safety teams are expected to track the Serious Injury Share alongside total injury counts. - SDS Manager says organizations should connect every serious injury to a structured investigation that ends with a verified fix. - The 2024 dataset will remain the main benchmark until complete 2025 federal data is finalized in 2027.

The bottom line: - SDS Manager’s new metric reframes workplace safety around severity, not just volume, and it shows serious injuries make up a larger share of U.S. recordable cases than many employers may expect.