Occupational Fatality Rate Lowest in Recorded OSHA History

Preliminary results released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that a total of 5,488 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2007, a decrease of 6 percent from the revised total of 5,840 fatal work injuries reported for 2006. This figure represents the smallest annual preliminary total since the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program was first conducted in 1992.

In response to the report, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao issued the following statement, “This is continued evidence that the initiatives and programs to protect workers’ safety and health, designed by and implemented in this administration, are indeed working. In addition to a decline in the overall number of fatalities, the rate for 2007 declined to 3.7 fatalities per 100,000 workers. This is the lowest fatality rate in recorded OSHA history.”

The BLS will release the final results for 2007 in April 2009.

Based on these preliminary counts, the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers in 2007 was 3.7 fatal work injuries per 100,000 workers, down from the final rate of 4.0 per 100,000 workers in 2006, and the lowest annual fatality rate ever reported by the fatality census.

Key findings of the 2007 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries:

• The number of fatal falls in 2007 rose to a series high of 835--a 39 percent increase since 1992 when the CFOI program was first conducted.
• Transportation incidents, which typically account for two-fifths of all workplace fatalities, fell to a series low of 2,234 cases in 2007.
• Workplace homicides rose 13 percent to 610 in 2007 after reaching a series low of 540 in 2006.
• The number of fatal workplace injuries among protective service occupations rose 19 percent in 2007 to 337, led by an increase in the number of police officers fatally injured on the job
• Fatal occupational injuries incurred by non-Hispanic Black or African American workers were at the highest level since 1999, but fatal work injuries among Hispanic workers were lower by 8 percent in 2007.

(Submitted Aug. 26, 2008)

Reprinted with permission. © CCH

 “This is continued evidence that the initiatives and programs to protect workers’ safety and health, designed by and implemented in this administration, are indeed working," according to a statement issued by U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.