BROOMFIELD, Colorado—Hotels are complex and dangerous workplaces; all of the machinery, chemicals, and physical effort employees are exposed to can lead to a wide array of accidents.
Analyzing a dataset compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on occupational injuries has shed some light on the most common injuries and sources of injuries among hotel employees.
The dataset includes total 2011-2014 figures of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses reported by the hotel industry but excluding casino hotels, according to the report’s U.S. private industry section. The data also has demographic information and detailed data on type of injuries as well as accident type, source and time, among other interesting variables.
In spite of all the dangers lurking in hotels, roughly only 1 in every 1,000 hotel employees is injured each year. Accidents reported in the hotel industry make up nearly 2% of all accidents in the private sector. There is also a strong correlation (0.908) between number of injuries and property occupancy levels.
The infographic below shows aggregated data for all four years on accident timing and most common types of injuries.
