On-the-Job Injuries Reach Record Low in ’98

The rate of job-related illnesses and injuries in private workplaces reached a record low of 5.9 million last year, or about 6.7 workers out of every 100, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said. The rate in 1997 was 7.1, the lowest since the agency started keeping track in 1973. It was the sixth consecutive year of declines in the illness and injury rate, a statistic that counts nonfatal afflictions caused in private workplaces. Repetitive stress disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome and noise-induced hearing loss accounted for 4% of the total workplace illnesses and injuries in 1998. Fewer than half--2.8 million--of the illnesses and injuries suffered by workers in 1998 resulted in time away from the job, either because workers had to stay home or restrict their duties at work.