2004 Workplace Injuries and Illnesses — 2005-11-17

A total of 4.3 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses were reported in private industry workplaces during 2004, down from 4.4 million in 2003. These cases occurred at a rate of 4.8 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers, according to the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor. This was a decline from the rate of 5.0 cases per 100 equivalent full-time workers reported by BLS for 2003 and resulted from a 2.5 percent decrease in the number of cases reported combined with a 1.6 percent increase in the number of hours worked. This release is the second in a series of three releases from the BLS covering occupational safety and health statistics in 2004. The first release, in August 2005, covered work-related fatalities from the 2004 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.