October 21, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Rate of occupational injuries and illnesses in construction drops by 38 percent in 1976-97
The overall
incidence rate of occupational injuries and illnesses in the construction
industry has declined 38 percent over the past two decades, from 15.3
cases per 100 workers in 1976 to 9.5 in 1997.
[Chart data—TXT]
For the most serious type of cases (those involving days away from
work), the 1997 incidence rate in construction was 3.6 cases per 100
workers, down 33 percent from 1976. For the least severe cases (those
without lost workdays), the rate for construction was 5.0 cases per 100
full-time workers, down 49 percent from 1976.
Those cases involving restricted work activity only (in between the
most and least severe) were the only case type to show an increase in
incidence from 1976 to 1997. In construction, the rate for such cases in
1997 was 0.8 case per 100 workers, up from 0.1 in 1976.
These data are a product of the BLS Safety
and Health Statistics program.
Additional information is available from "Work-related Injuries,
Illnesses, and Fatalities in Manufacturing and Construction" (PDF
53K), by
Timothy Webster, Compensation and Working Conditions, Fall 1999.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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