The most severe workplace injuries and illnesses - requiring time away from work - dropped 7.6 percent drop in 2001, with musculoskeletal injury and illness lost-workday cases falling 9.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
A total of 1.5 million injuries and illnesses in private industry required recuperation away from work beyond the day of the incident in 2001. The rate has steadily dropped since 1992, as have workplace injuries and illnesses in general.