The find the results "both interesting and confounding."
For the sixth straight year, claim frequency, the total number of claims, has declined. Many industry people take great comfort in this. Safety efforts seem to be bearing real fruit. However, the declines in the past few years have mostly been in the less severe injury types. Moreover, BLS data show that frequency has declined in 6 of the last 7 recessions. Perhaps there's more going on here than successful safety. Maybe more workers than usual who suffer minor injuries are choosing to tough it out in the workplace, rather than go out on workers' compensation and risk being replaced. Something to think about.