December 27, 2004—U.S. workplaces again saw a drop in injury rates in 2003, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting 4.4 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses in private industry last year, resulting in a rate of 5.0 cases per 100 full-time workers.
The rate of injuries and illnesses declined from 5.3 cases per 100 full-time workers in 2002.
Recordkeeping changes prevent truly accurate year-to-year comparisons prior to 2002—still, the total case rate has declined dramatically in the past 30 years, from 11.0 in 1973 to 5.0 in 2003.
BLS attributed the drop from 2002 to 2003 to a 7.1 percent decrease in the number of cases reported and a 0.7 percent decrease in the number of hours worked.
The total case rate in manufacturing industries was 6.8 in 2003. Construction industries also had 6.8 cases per 100 full-time workers.
Nursing and residential care facilities had double the cases of private industry—10.1 cases per 100 full-time workers.
Small businesses, with 1 to 10 employees, had a rate of 2.0. Businesses with 11 to 49 employees had a rate of 4.3. The case rate jumped to 6.2 in facilities with 50 to 249 workers.
Private industry’s lost-time case rate was 2.6 in 2003. For manufacturing it was 3.8, and in construction it was 3.6.
For more information, contact the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
