October 18, 1999 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Working in manufacturing safer over the past two decades
Although the
manufacturing industry reported the highest risk of occupational injuries
and illnesses among industries in 1997, the overall incidence rate in
manufacturing declined from 13.2 cases per 100 full-time workers in 1976
to 10.3 cases in 1997.
![Incidence rates for nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in manufacturing by type of case, 1976 and 1997](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20120925013253im_/http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/images/1999/Oct/wk3/art01.gif)
[Chart data—TXT]
For the most serious type of cases (those involving days away from
work), the 1997 incidence rate in manufacturing was 2.4 cases per 100
workers, down 46 percent from 1976. For the least severe cases (those
without lost workdays), the rate for manufacturing was 5.4 cases per 100
full-time workers, down 36 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. However, the increase in such cases occurred
across all industry divisions, not just in manufacturing.
These data are a product of the BLS Safety
and Health Statistics Program
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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Read more »