FACTS

1. Correctional workers can be bitten or stabbed during an inmate assault, punctured with a used needle, or splashed in the face with blood. Exposures to bloodborne diseases can happen in any of these situations.
2. Research has shown that correctional officers experience high stress levels, burnout, and a variety of other mental health-related consequences as a result of their jobs.
3. The negative physical and mental health outcomes for correctional officers can have harmful effects on the wider prison institution.
   Jails and prisons can be unpredictable work settings.
4. Security issues are often a higher concern than infection control.
   Inmates may have a higher rate of bloodborne diseases.

STATS

• According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), correctional officers had one of the highest days away from work (DAFW) nonfatal injury rates (445.6 per 10,000 full-time workers) among all occupations (117.2 per 10,000 full-time workers; BLS,).
• Prison is a controlled environment and occupational injuries are often the result of assaults by inmates or restraining an inmate during a fight (BLS,). According to the Bureau of Prisons, there were 1,902 inmate-initiated work-place assaults reported by federal prison officers.
• The majority of nonfatal injuries occurs to male correctional officers.
• Half of the nonfatal injuries were among officers ages 35 years and older.
• Of the nonfatal assaults and violent act injuries, more than one-third (37 percent) occurred while restraining an inmate or interacting with an inmate during an altercation.
• Nonfatal injuries primarily affected the upper limb, with approximately two-thirds affecting the hand and fingers.