October 24, 2008 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Injury and illness rate down again in 2007

Nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses among private industry workplaces in 2007 occurred at a rate of 4.2 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers—a decline from 4.4 cases in 2006.

[Chart data—TXT]

Similarly, the number of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses reported in 2007 declined to 4 million cases, compared to 4.1 million cases in 2006.

The total recordable case injury and illness incidence rate among private industry employers has declined significantly—by 0.2 cases per 100 workers—each year since 2003, when estimates from the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) were first published using the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

These data are from the BLS Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities program. Additional information is available from "Workplace Injuries and Illnesses in 2007," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1498.