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NMSU 2023 OSHA 300A

The NMSU workforce has a new normal as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of us have returned to a normal work life and back on campus full time, some of us continue to work a hybrid schedule (both on campus and remotely) and a few of us have given up their office space and working remotely full time.

Regardless of our place of employment, NMSU remains a safe workplace and our 2023 OSHA injury and illness update reflects the importance of safety amongst our entire workforce. The majority of the workforce returning to campus full-time is reflective of our 2023 injury and illness case counts. The 2023 case counts were increased 5 % from 2022. From the pre-COVID year of 2019, NMSU has dropped from an annual recordable case count of 84 to 40 cases in 2023; a 52% decrease.

 

POSTING

Environmental Health Safety & Risk Management notes this summary in the OSHA Form 300A. Under New Mexico law the annual OSHA 300A must be posted from February 1 through April 30. All NMSU employment units; including units such as PSL, NMDA, CEMRC, NMSU Community Colleges, ASC facilities, etc. need to communicate the OSHA 300A Log by posting it on a bulletin board in a central employee area or forwarding this link to the entire department staff. A PDF version is available to print by clicking on image of OSHA log to the right. If your department is teleworking, please email to the entire department for their viewing.

              

INJURY CHART

As mentioned, last year, there is a 5% increase in recordable injuries from 2022. This slight increase is reflective of the majority of the NMSU workforce returning to campus in 2023. The slight increase is a good reminder to work safe and remember your safety training. 

Over the last 20 years, NMSU has carried a continuous improvement trend in overall injuries and can be atributed to safety training and the overall care taken by each NMSU employee to make sure they go home safe everyday. 

 

SEVERITY RATE

The OSHA severity rate normalizes the injury data to make it comparable from year to year regardless of employee changes. This rate calculation considers the number of lost days of work and total hours worked each year and gives the average number of lost days per recordable incident. The severity rate measures how critical the injuries or illness sustained were by using the number of lost days per accident as a proxy for severity.

 Even though we only had a slight increase in case count in 2023, unfortunately there was a 35% increase in days of loss time which resulted unfavorably in 2023 and the severity rate increased from 6.17 to an 8.17. This is an indication of more people back on campus with a higher risk of more serious injury and increased time away from work for recovery of the injury.

In comparison to pre-pandemic years in 2019 there is a 53% decrease from 2019. This is still a significant accomplishment and should be commended to all at NMSU and keeping yourselves safe in your day to day work.  

 

Incident Reporting, Investigation and Prevention

Employees are reminded to report work-related injuries and illness to their supervisor. It is important for the supervisor to complete the Supervisor Accident Investigation Report. The completion of this report guides the Supervisor and EHS&RM to investigate the incident and drill down to root cause of incident. Identifying root cause will help identify and establish preventive actions in attempt to prevent the same type of incident from occurring again.

In 2023, 100% of supervisors completed a Supervisor Accident Investigation Report and determined cause of the incident and what mitigation steps should be taken. EHS&RM reviews each report of injury or illness and provides recommendations to the supervisor where applicable.