April 04, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Sources of lost-worktime injuries and illnesses

Floors and other surfaces, worker motion or position, and containers were the sources of close to half of the occupational injuries and illnesses involving time away from work in 1999.

[Chart data—TXT]

Floors, walkways, and ground surfaces accounted for 16.0 percent of lost-worktime injuries and illnesses, and worker motion or position accounted for about the same proportion (15.7 percent). Containers were the source of 14.4 percent of the injuries and illnesses resulting in time away from work.

Among other sources of injury or illness were parts and material (11.3 percent), vehicles (8.1 percent), machinery (6.7 percent), and tools, equipment, and instruments (6.2 percent). The remaining sources each accounted for less than 5 percent of the total: health care patient (4.3 percent), furniture and fixtures (3.4 percent), and chemicals and chemical products (1.7 percent).

These data are a product of the BLS Safety and Health Statistics program. The source of an injury or illness is the object, substance, exposure, or bodily motion that directly produced or inflicted the disabling condition cited. Additional information is available from "Lost-Worktime Injuries and Illnesses: Characteristics and Resulting Time Away From Work, 1999", news release USDL 01-71.