Philadelphia Area Workplace Fatalities, 2006 (PDF)

Fatal work injuries in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) totaled 89 in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Sheila Watkins noted that the 2006 fatality count was 17 percent higher than the 76 deaths recorded in 2005. Most work-related fatalities¹ in the Philadelphia area in 2006 were the result of homicides (22), falls to a lower level (17), and highway crashes (11), which together accounted for 56 percent of the total.

The Philadelphia area had the 4th-largest population nationally, and in terms of work-related fatalities, the area ranked 5th along with Dallas and Houston, which also had 89 fatalities each, among the 12 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. Not unexpectedly, the most populated area in the country, New York, also had the highest number of workplace fatalities in 2006 with 198. The three smallest metropolitan areas in this group--San Francisco, Boston, and Detroit--had the three lowest fatality counts (ranging from 38 to 56). (See table A.)

All of the 12 largest areas had a higher percentage of occupational fatalities resulting from homicides than the national share of 9.0 percent. In the Philadelphia metropolitan area, homicides were the most frequent fatal occupational injury; this was also true in Houston and San Francisco. In Philadelphia, workplace deaths attributable to homicides accounted for 24.7 percent of the city’s fatality count, the highest percentage among the 12 largest metropolitan areas. In Houston and San Francisco, this event accounted for 21.3 and 23.7 percent, respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, Boston recorded a share of 9.3 percent, close to that for the nation. (See chart A.)

Chart A. Homicides as a percent of fatal occupational injuries for the 12 largest metropolitan areas in 2006

Almost all of the 12 largest metropolitan areas had a lower-than-average percentage of occupational fatalities resulting from highway crashes. In fact, only Atlanta, with a 24.1-percent share, was above the 23.3 percent registered nationally in 2006. In Philadelphia, 12.4 percent of on-the-job fatalities were attributed to highway crashes and in two areas, Los Angeles and Boston, percentages were under 10.0 percent. (See chart C.) Nationwide, highway crashes were the most frequent fatal workplace event; this was also true in Dallas and Atlanta.

Chart B. Falls to a lower level as a percent of fatal occupational injuries for the 12 largest metropolitan areas in 2006

Chart C. Highway crashes as a percent of fatal occupational injuries for the 12 largest metropolitan areas in 2006

Key characteristics of workplace fatalities in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. metropolitan area in 2006:

• Sixty-three percent of those who died from a workplace injury were white, non-Hispanic (56), 17 percent were black, non-Hispanic (15), 9 percent were Hispanic or Latino (8), and 9 percent were Asian (8). The most frequent fatal event for white, non-Hispanic workers was transportation incidents; among non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanic or Latino workers, and Asians, it was assaults and violent acts. (See table 2.)

• Workers 25-54 years old--the prime working age group--made up 73 percent, or 65, of the work-related fatalities in Philadelphia in 2006; this was higher than the proportion of worker deaths for this age group at the national level, 64 percent. (See table 2.)

• Seventy-nine percent, or 70, of the workers killed on the job in the area worked for wages and salaries; the rest were self-employed. Transportation incidents accounted for the largest number of deaths, 20, among wage and salary workers; among the self-employed, assaults and violent acts and falls were the most frequent fatal events with 7 fatalities each. (See table 2.)

• The construction industry sector accounted for 25 percent of Philadelphia’s fatal workplace injuries with 22 deaths; fourteen of these were from falls. The accommodation and food services sector followed with 14 fatalities, 8 of which were attributable to assaults and violent acts, and the transportation and warehousing sector accounted for 10 fatalities, 5 of which were from transportation incidents. These three industry sectors combined to account for 52 percent of the total fatal work injuries. (See table 3.)

• Construction and extraction occupations had the highest number of on-the-job fatalities at 22, followed by transportation and material moving occupations with 21; combined, these two occupational groups accounted for 48 percent of all workplace fatalities in the Philadelphia area. Falls made up 59 percent of the fatal injuries among construction and extraction workers, while transportation incidents was the most frequent event among those with jobs in the transportation and material moving occupations. (See table 4.)

Additional Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data are available on the BLS Internet site at http://www.bls.gov/iif/. Data can be accessed in two ways, through Create Customized Tables, which allows quick access to particular items, or via the special request FTP service, which allows access to an extensive collection of flat text files. For personal assistance or further information on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Information on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and other programs and surveys are available on our Web site at http://www.bls.gov/ro3/.

TECHNICAL NOTES

Background of the program

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, part of the BLS occupational safety and health statistics program, compiles a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. in each calendar year. The program uses diverse State and Federal data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. Information about each workplace fatality (industry, occupation, and other worker characteristics; equipment being used; and circumstances of the event) is obtained by cross-referencing source documents, such as death certificates, workers’ compensation records, news accounts, and reports to Federal and State agencies. This method assures counts are as complete and accurate as possible.

Definitions

For a fatality to be included in the census, the decedent must have been employed (that is working for pay, compensation, or profit) at the time of the event, engaged in a legal work activity, or present at the site of the incident as a requirement of his or her job. Fatalities to volunteer and unpaid family workers who perform the same duties and functions as paid workers are also included in the counts. These criteria are generally broader than those used by Federal and State agencies administering specific laws and regulations. (Fatalities that occur during a person's normal commute to or from work are excluded from the census counts.)

Data presented in this release include deaths occurring in 2006 that resulted from traumatic occupational injuries. An injury is defined as any wound or damage to the body resulting from acute exposure to energy, such as heat, electricity, or impact from a crash or fall, or from the absence of such essentials as heat or oxygen caused by a specific event or incident within a single workday or shift. Included are open wounds, intracranial and internal injuries, heatstroke, hypothermia, asphyxiation, acute poisonings resulting from short-term exposures limited to the worker's shift, suicides and homicides, and work injuries listed as underlying or contributory causes of death.

Information on work-related fatal illnesses is not reported in the BLS census and is excluded from the attached tables because the latency period of many occupational illnesses and the difficulty of linking illnesses to work exposures make identification of a universe problematic.

Measurement techniques and limitations

Data for the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries are compiled from various Federal, State, and local administrative sources--including death certificates, workers' compensation reports and claims, reports to various regulatory agencies, medical examiner reports, and police reports--as well as news and other non-governmental reports. Diverse sources are used because studies have shown that no single source captures all job-related fatalities. Source documents are matched so that each fatality is counted only once. To ensure that a fatality occurred while the decedent was at work, information is verified from two or more independent source documents or from a source document and a follow-up questionnaire. Approximately 30 data elements are collected, coded, and tabulated, including information about the worker, the fatal incident, and the machinery or equipment involved.

Federal/State agency coverage

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries includes data for all fatal work injuries, whether the decedent was working in a job covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or other Federal or State agencies or was outside the scope of regulatory coverage. Thus, any comparison between the BLS fatality census counts and those released by other agencies should take into account the different coverage requirements and definitions being used by each agency.

Several Federal and State agencies have jurisdiction over workplace safety and health. OSHA and affiliated agencies in States with approved safety programs cover the largest portion of the nation's workers. However, injuries and illnesses occurring in certain industries or activities, such as coal, metal, and nonmetal mining and highway, water, rail, and air transportation, are excluded from OSHA coverage because they are covered by other Federal agencies, such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration and various agencies within the Department of Transportation.

Fatalities occurring among several other groups of workers are generally not covered by any Federal or State agencies. These groups include self-employed and unpaid family workers, which accounted for about 18 percent of the fatalities; laborers on small farms, accounting for about 1 percent of the fatalities; and State and local government employees in States without OSHA-approved safety programs, which accounted for about 4 percent. (Approximately one-half of the States have approved OSHA safety programs, which cover State and local government employees.)

Acknowledgments

BLS thanks the Pennsylvania Department of Health, New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services, Delaware Department of Labor and Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation for their efforts in collecting accurate, comprehensive, and useful data on fatal work injuries. BLS also appreciates the efforts of all Federal, State, local, and private sector agencies that submitted source documents used to identify fatal work injuries. Among these agencies are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the National Transportation Safety Board; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Mine Safety and Health Administration; the Employment Standards Administration (Federal Employees' Compensation and Longshore and Harbor Workers' divisions); the Department of Energy; State vital statistics registrars, coroners, and medical examiners; State departments of health, labor and industries, and workers' compensation agencies; State and local police departments; and State farm bureaus.

The Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) consists of the Camden, N.J. Metropolitan Division (MD); the Philadelphia, Pa. Metropolitan Division (MD); and the Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. Metropolitan Division (MD). The Camden, N.J. MD is composed of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester Counties in New Jersey. The Philadelphia, Pa. MD consists of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania. The Wilmington, Del.-Md.-N.J. MD consists of New Castle County in Delaware, Cecil County in Maryland, and Salem County in New Jersey.