A preliminary total of 4,547 worker fatalities were recorded in the United States in 2010, about the same as the final count of 4,551 fatal work injuries in 2009, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, during the last 3 years, increases in the published counts based on information received after the release of preliminary data have averaged 174 worker fatalities per year or about 3% of revised totals. Final 2010 worker fatalities will be released in spring 2012.
Because of the way data are gathered it is difficult to directly tally automaker fatalities. In Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, all heavily dependent on the auto industry, more than 350 workers died in manufacturing related positions; motor vehicle or parts dealers were involved in 49 fatalities across the U.S. And this doesn’t include trucking, warehousing or other transportation injuries, which could be auto related.
Total hours worked were up slightly in 2010 in contrast to the declines recorded in both 2008 and 2009, but some historically high-risk industries continued to experience declines or slow growth in total hours worked.
“An average 12 workers die on the job every day, and that reality continues to drive the work of the Labor Department. When the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed in 1970, the National Safety Council estimated that 14,000 workers died each year on the job. Now, with a workforce that has doubled in size, the annual number of fatalities has dropped significantly,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis in a statement.
Key preliminary findings of the 2010 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries:
• The number of fatal work injuries among the self-employed declined by 6 percent to 999 fatalities, more than the decline in their hours worked. The number of fatal injuries among wage and salary workers increased by 2 percent in 2010.
• Fatal work injuries in the private mining industry rose from 99 in 2009 to 172 in 2010, an increase of 74 percent. The fatal work injury rate for mining increased from 12.4 per 100,000 FTEs in 2009 to 19.9 per 100,000 in 2010. The multiple-fatality incidents at the Upper Big Branch Mine and the Deepwater Horizon oil rig are included in these figures.
• Fatal work injuries in the private construction sector declined by 10 percent from 2009 to 2010 and are down nearly 40 percent since 2006.
• Work-related fatalities resulting from fires more than doubled from 53 in 2009 to 109 in 2010–the highest count since 2003.
• Workplace homicides declined 7 percent in 2010 to the lowest total ever recorded by the fatality census, but workplace homicides involving women increased by 13 percent.
• Fatal work injuries among non-Hispanic black or African-American workers declined by 9 percent in 2010 while fatalities among non-Hispanic white workers were higher by 2 percent. Fatal work injuries involving Hispanic or Latino workers were down 4 percent in 2010.
• The number of fatal workplace injuries among police officers increased by 40 percent, from 96 in 2009 to 134 in 2010.
