Injuries and illnesses hit all-time low since 1970s
The latest federal statistics on workplace injuries and illnesses show that the rate for 1998 was the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in Washington, DC, began reporting this information in the early 1970s.
A total of 5.9 million injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry workplaces during 1998, resulting in a rate of 6.7 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, according to a survey by the BLS.
Employers reported a 4% drop in the number of cases and a 3% increase in the hours worked compared with 1997, reducing the case rate from 7.1 in 1997 to 6.7 in 1998.
Within the service sector, the highest incidence rate was reported for transportation and public utilities (7.3 cases per 100 full-time workers), followed by wholesale and retail trade (6.5 cases per 100 workers).
About 2.8 million injuries and illnesses in 1998 were lost workday cases; they required recuperation away from work or restricted duties at work, or both.
The incidence rate for lost workday cases has declined steadily from 4.1 cases per 100 full-time workers in 1990 to 3.1 cases per 100 workers in 1998.
The rate for cases with days away from work has declined for eight years in a row and, at 2.0 cases per 100 full-time workers in 1998, was the lowest on record. By contrast, the rate for cases involving only restricted work activity rose from 0.7 cases per 100 workers in 1990 to 1.2 cases in 1997 and remained at that level in 1998.
The latter types of cases may involve shortened hours, a temporary job change, or temporary restrictions on certain duties (for example, no heavy lifting) of a worker’s regular job. In 1998, the rate in manufacturing for days-away-from-work cases was lower than the rate for restricted-activity-only cases — 2.3 for days-away-from-work cases and 2.5 for restricted-activity-only cases. In all other divisions, the rate for days-away-from-work cases was higher than the rate for restricted-activity-only cases.
Injury rates generally are higher for midsize establishments (those employing 50 to 249 workers) than for smaller or larger establishments, although this pattern does not hold within certain industry divisions. Eight industries, each having at least 100,000 injuries, accounted for about 1.5 million injuries, or 28% of the 5.5 million total. All but one of these industries were in the service sector.
There were about 392,000 newly reported cases of occupational illnesses in private industry in 1998. Manufacturing accounted for three-fifths of these cases.
Disorders associated with repeated trauma, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and noise-induced hearing loss, accounted for 4% of the 5.9 million workplace injuries and illnesses. They were, however, the dominant type of illness reported, making up 65% of the 392,000 total illness cases.
Seventy-one percent of the repeated trauma cases were in manufacturing industries.
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