The construction industry's jobsite injury rate dipped in 2008, its fifth-consecutive annual decline, the Labor Dept.'s Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported. Construction's rate of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses decreased last year to 4.7 cases per 100 full-time workers, from 5.4 in 2007.
BLS's latest annual workplace injuries and illnesses report, released Oct. 29, also shows that the overall rate for U.S. private industry fell in 2008, to 3.9 cases per 100 workers, compared with a 4.2 rate the year before.