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ISN's Seven-Year Study Finds Decrease in Serious Injury and Fatality (SIF) Incidents, Reflecting Trend toward Prevention of Higher-Impact Events

HR Tech

Business Honor
21 March, 2025

New data indicate a 16% decrease in SIF cases in 2023, reflecting industry advancement in safety culture.

ISN, the world's leading provider of contractor and supplier information management services, has released the findings of its most recent Serious Injury & Fatality (SIF) Insights White Paper. The expanded seven-year review, incorporating 2017-2023 data, notes a 16% reduction in SIF incidents from 2022 to 2023, the lowest number since 2017. This trend toward improvement indicates that preventing high-consequence events is gaining attention as an area of priority, with industries moving toward safety culture programs and methodologies such as Human and Organizational Performance (HOP).

In accordance with the report, ISN analyzed 19,900 prospective SIF incidents, providing informative insights into the trends of workplace injuries and safety practices' impact during the past seven years. The main findings are:

- Leading Incident Category: Contact with objects or equipment continued to be the leading source of injuries at 60% of all injuries from 2017 to 2023. In 2023, amputations to hands, fingers, or wrists occurred in 90% of cases, matching the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) trend of severe injury.

- Industry-Specific SIF Rates: The transportation and construction industries recorded especially high SIF rates, with over 1,200 SIF incidents and 43 deaths in the construction industry in 2023 alone. The transportation sector recorded a 30% rise in SIF incidents between 2021 and 2023.

- Influence on Mid-Sized Firms: Smaller and mid-sized firms were noted to have uneven SIF rates, probably attributable to a lack of resources, labor turnover, and vulnerability to high-risk actions.

The article also highlights the need to create forceful safety cultures in organizations to minimize SIF events. Through the adoption of philosophies such as HOP, which aim to enhance processes rather than behavior, organizations are creating cultures that value safety through learning, proactive hazard identification, and near-miss reporting.

Marie Anderson, ISN Chief Customer Success Officer, said, "A good safety culture is the foundation of a successful safety program, and organizations require accurate insights to inform significant change. Our assessments and tools, such as CultureSight and RAVS 360™, deliver data-driven insights needed to close safety gaps and maximize health and safety ecosystems."