Approximately 3.8 million (94.8 percent) of the 4 million nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in 2007 were injuries — of which 2.6 million (69.6 percent) occurred in service-providing industries which employed 79.5 percent of the private industry workforce covered by the 2007 workplace injury and illness survey released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The remaining 1.2 million injuries (30.3 percent) occurred in goods-producing industries which accounted for 20.5 percent of private industry employment in 2007.

Workplace illnesses accounted for fewer than 6 percent of the 4 million injury and illness cases. Private industry employers reported 21,700 fewer illness cases in 2007 — down to 206,300 cases compared to 228,000 in 2006. This resulted in a decline in the rate of workplace illnesses in 2007 from 24.6 to 21.8 cases per 10,000 full-time workers.