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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
The number and rate of nonfatal workplace injuries declined last year, with manufacturing employers helping to drive gains in safety, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.
Public and private sector employers recorded 3.75 million nonfatal workplace injuries in 2013, down from 3.77 million in 2012, the bureau said. Meanwhile, the incidence rate of recordable nonfatal work injuries declined to 3.5 per 100 full-time workers in 2013, down from 3.7 per 100 full-time workers in 2012.
While most of the safety record improvements came from the manufacturing, retail and utility sectors, the bureau said injury and illness rates were "statistically unchanged amonng all other private industry sectors" from 2012 to 2013.
Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, said in a statement Thursday that the BLS numbers represent a positive trend for U.S. workers.
"We are encouraged that the rates continue to decline over the past few years, even during this period of healthy economic growth when we would expect the rate of injuries to rise," the statement reads. "The decrease in the injury rate is a product of tireless work by those employers, unions, worker advocates and occupational safety and health professionals all coupled with the efforts of federal and state government organizations that make worker safety and health a high priority each and every day."