February 06, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Insect bites, stings cause thousands of workplace injuries

Insects and arachnids inflicted 36,100 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving time away from work in the 1992-97 period. This was almost half of the total number of animal-related workplace injuries and illnesses.

[Chart data—TXT]

Outdoor workers, such as laborers, truck drivers, groundskeepers, and farm workers, were among the workers most frequently victims of nonfatal insect and arachnid injuries and illnesses. But so were some indoor workers, including machine operators, janitors, nurses aides and orderlies, and even cashiers.

Dogs were involved in 13,800 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses, or 18 percent of the total animal-related cases involving days away from work. Three quarters of this number were a result of attacks, while nearly all of the rest were from overexertion while lifting heavy dogs.

These data are from the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Arachnids include spiders, scorpions, and ticks. Read more in "Are Animals Occupational Hazards?" (PDF 86K), by Dino Drudi, Compensation and Working Conditions, Fall 2000.