U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao announced late last week that reported workplace injuries are on the decline in the United States, as the rate dropped to 5.7 injuries per 100 full-time employers in 2001. The number reflects an eight percent drop in cases from 2000.
“There were 500,000 fewer job related injuries in 2001 than the year before,” said Chao in a press statement released by OSHA on December 19. “Today’s announcement of continued decline in workplace injuries and illnesses is good news for America’s working men and women, their families and their employers,” said Chao, who also reported, “a 10 percent reduction in repeated trauma injuries, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and other musculoskeletal disorders.”
According to OSHA, this is the ninth consecutive year that workplace injury rates have dropped. Chao cautioned that while the numbers for 2001 continue to reflect a positive downward trend, there is still work to be done with regard to reducing workplace injuries. “[W]e are asking our partners