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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities > Home

Days of Job Transfer or Restriction (DJTR) Collection

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) will introduce the publication of a new biennial (2-year) case and demographic data series for cases that involve days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR) with the release estimates from the Survey of Occupational and Injuries (SOII) in November, 2023. This shift will result in significant changes to the SOII news release and how publication tables are presented to provide additional data on the case circumstances and workers demographics for DJTR cases, in addition to details for that have long been published for cases involving days away from work (DAFW). Summary industry estimates, produced annually, will remain unchanged.

The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) currently includes only data on the case circumstances and worker characteristics on DAFW cases; this change is an expansion of the SOII to collect and report the same detail for DJTR cases. See our DJTR Collection frequently asked questions for additional information.

DJTR cases have become more prevalent since 1992 when detailed data were first collected only for DAFW cases. In 1992, DJTR cases accounted for 21 percent of total days away from work, days of restricted work activity, or job transfer cases (DART). By 2011, DJTR accounted for 40 percent of these cases. Having detailed data on DJTR cases for all industries will allow for a complete comparison of differences between the two types of injury and illness cases. This expanded level of detail will lead to a better understanding of how occupational injuries and illnesses are managed and give a more complete accounting of the types of injuries and illnesses that occur to workers and how they occurred. The pilot collection of DJTR case details from select industries over reference years 2011-2019 has provided important insights into workplace safety and health data that were previously unavailable. Analysis of DJTR data showed that their inclusion provides a more complete understanding of the circumstances leading to occupational injuries and illnesses than DAFW cases alone can provide.

The BLS conducted several pilot studies for selected industries from 2011-2019 to collect and report in DJTR cases. Data and reports are published on the Days of Job Transfer or Restriction Study page. Based on the findings from these studies and the depth of information they produced, as well as the recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) A Smarter National Surveillance System for Occupational Safety and Health in the 21st Century , BLS decided to collect information on DJTR cases for all industries. Particularly, Recommendation A from Chapter 4 of the NAS report noted, “BLS should routinely collect detailed case and demographic data for injuries and illnesses resulting in job transfer or restricted duty as well as those resulting in days away from work.” The report further notes that this could be easily accomplished in the short term with minimal impact to respondent burden since these data are already recorded by employers. The change in collection starting with 2021 data will result in the collection and reporting of nationally representative DJTR and DAFW estimates from all industries.

Information about the complete methodology of the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) can be found in the BLS Handbook of Methods. Concepts directly related to days of job transfer or restriction cases are listed below.

Days of job transfer or restriction (DJTR). Days-of-job-transfer-or-restriction cases are those injuries and illnesses which result only in job transfer or restricted work activity without days away from work. This occurs when, as the result of a work-related injury or illness, an employer or healthcare professional recommends keeping an employee from doing the routine functions of his or her job or from working the full workday that the employee would have been scheduled to work before the injury or illness occurred. This may include the following instances:

An employee is assigned to another job on a temporary basis
An employee works at a permanent job less than full time
An employee works at a permanently assigned job but is unable to perform all duties normally connected with it

Days away from work (DAFW). Injuries or illnesses for which employees used days away from work (beyond the day of injury or onset of illness) to recover from an occupational injury or illness. The number of days away from work is determined by the number of calendar days after the date of the injury or illness, before an employee returns to work. These cases may include days of job transfer or restricted work activity in addition to days away from work. For example, an employee suffers a work-related injury resulting in five days away from work and upon returning to work, the employee is unable to perform normal duties associated with the job for an additional three days (i.e., the employee was on restricted work activity). This case would be recorded as a days-away-from-work case with five days away from work and three days of restricted work activity. It would not be recorded as a days-of-job-transfer-or-restriction case.

Days away from work, restriction, job transfer (DART). These are an aggregation of injuries or illnesses that involved days away from work (DAFW) and those that involved days of job transfer or restricted work activity (DJTR).

The concepts above are summarized as follows:

DJTR: Days of job transfer or restriction (only)
DAFW: Days away from work (with or without days of job transfer or restriction)
DART: The sum of Days away from work and days of job transfer or restriction. (DART = DJTR + DAFW)

Last Modified Date: June 4, 2021