Kansas Workplace Injuries Drop by 12% in 2009

Kansas labor officials say nonfatal workplace injuries in Kansas fell by 12 percent in 2009, the most recent year the statistics are available.

The Department of Labor says the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses showed the state’s nonfatal workplace injury rate fell to 4.1 cases per 100 full-time workers. That’s down from 4.5 cases per 100 in 2008.

Among its findings, the report says the construction industry sector saw the sharpest drop with a 29 percent decline from 2008 to 2009.

It also says workers 45 to 54 years old accounted for 26.1 percent of all injured and ill workers, followed by the 35-to-44 age group at 24.9 percent.

Kansas Labor Secretary Karin Brownlee says she is encouraged by the new data.