Workers' compensation information system (WCIS)

Workers’ Compensation Claims by Injury Type

Trading Partners submit First Reports of Injury (FROIs) to the Workers’ Compensation Information System (WCIS). These first reports contain information on the type of injury or illness a worker sustains, categorized by Part of Body, Cause of Injury, and Nature of Injury. These categorized values codes are collected and organized using the Workers’ Compensation Insurance Organizations’ (WCIO) Injury Description Tables which can be found at Workers Compensation Insurance Organizations.

While these codes contain descriptions of injuries and illnesses that are recognizable, they do not represent a diagnosis from a medical care provider. WCIS collects medical diagnosis information via the Medical Billing Database. To get a complete picture of workplace injuries requires a combination of these codes, the FROI injury description, and medical diagnosis information. The number of FROI records with a given occupational disease or injury should not be quoted without further study.

The numbers below reflect the WCIS database information as of the run date of the report.

Detailed Parts of Body Count of 2021 FROIs Percent of Total 2021 FROIs
Multiple Body Parts (incl. Body Systems and Body Parts) 66,030 10%
Low Back Area (Lumbar and Lumbo-Sacral) 65,120 10%
Finger(s) 48,853 7%
Knee 42,549 6%
Hand (excl. Wrist and Fingers) 36,962 5%
Shoulder(s) 36,013 5%
Lungs 33,183 5%
Body Systems and Multiple Body Systems 32,908 5%
Ankle 25,097 4%
Wrist 23,363 3%
Detailed Causes of Injury Count of 2021 FROIs Percent of Total 2021 FROIs
Pandemic 78,145 11%
Lifting 55,673 8%
Strain or Injury by, NOC 48,657 7%
Other Miscellaneous, NOC 39,323 6%
Fall, Slip, Trip, NOC 33,457 5%
Repetitive Motion 33,213 5%
Object Being Lifted or Handled 30,925 5%
Cumulative, NOC 26,564 4%
On Same Level 26,120 4%
Cut, Puncture, Scrape 22,991 3%
Detailed Natures of Injury Count of 2021 FROIs Percent of Total 2021 FROIs
Strain or Tear 180,986 26%
Contusion 83,571 12%
COVID-19 78,106 11%
Laceration 54,740 8%
All Other Specific Injuries, NOC 54,421 8%
Sprain or Tear 52,678 8%
Puncture 24,383 4%
All Other Cumulative Injuries 21,548 3%
Inflammation 19,049 3%
Multiple Physical Injuries Only 17,341 3%
Report Year Report Group Table Number Table Name
2021 Annual Aggregate Type of Injury Reports 1 Workers' compensation claims by part of body
2021 Annual Aggregate Type of Injury Reports 1a Workers' compensation claims by part of body – detailed
2021 Annual Aggregate Type of Injury Reports 2 Workers' compensation claims by cause of injury
2021 Annual Aggregate Type of Injury Reports 2a Workers' compensation claims by cause of injury – detailed
2021 Annual Aggregate Type of Injury Reports 3 Workers' compensation claims by nature of injury*
2021 Annual Aggregate Type of Injury Reports 3a Workers' compensation claims by nature of injury* - detailed

October 2022