Truckers, among workers in all occupations, suffer the greatest number of injuries and illnesses resulting in lost work time, according to Labor Department statistics released in April.
The statistics showed that in 2000 there were 1.7 million injuries and illnesses requiring time off from work in private industry.
Truckers sustained 136,000 of those lost-time injuries and illnesses, down from 141,000 in 1999 but still 49,000 more than non-construction laborers, the group with the second largest number.
At nine days, truckers also had the highest median number of days away from work.
As in the previous six years, more than 40 percent of lost-time injuries and illnesses in 2000 were sprains or strains, most often involving the back. The trunk, including the back, was the body part most affected by disabling work incidents in almost every major industries, including trucking. Also, for almost all major industry, overexertion while maneuvering objects and contact with objects and equipment led all other disabling events or exposures.
