Kansas Shows Decline in Workplace Injuries

Good news from the world of worker’s compensation insurance: labor officials in Kansas say non-fatal workplace were 12 percent lower than average in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics have been compiled.

The Department of Labor says the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses showed that the state’s rate of non-fatal workplace injuries was 4.1 cases per 100 full-time workers in that year, down from 4.5 cases per 100 the year before.

The sharpest drop, the survey says, was in the construction industry, which saw a decline of non-fatal injuries of 29 percent between 2008 and 2009.

The data from the survey also says that 26.1 percent of all injured and ill workers were between the ages of 45 and 54, while those aged from 35 to 44 represented 24.9 percent of total non-fatal workplace illnesses and injuries.

Karin Brownlee, the Kansas Labor Secretary, says the new data is encouraging.