October 03, 2002 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Work-related fatalities up in construction industry

The construction industry continued to report the largest number of fatal work injuries of any industry. Fatalities increased 6 percent in 2001 in construction to their highest level since the fatality census was first conducted in 1992.

[Chart data—TXT]

Fatal work injuries in manufacturing decreased 10 percent from 2000 to their lowest recorded level. Other industries showing decreases in work-related fatalities were transportation and public utilities, wholesale trade, and retail trade. Fatalities to workers in services remained relatively unchanged, while fatalities in agriculture, finance, insurance, and real estate, and mining increased.

These data are from the BLS Safety and Health Statistics program. The above data are for private industry.  Additional information is available from "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2001," news release USDL 02-541. 

Note: The data in this article do not include the 2,886 fatal work injuries resulting from the September 11th attacks. The bulk of those fatalities were in the finance, insurance, and real estate and government industry divisions. More information on worker fatalities resulting from the attacks is available from the news release mentioned above and the TED article listed below. 

Related TED article: 

• September 11 raises fatal injury toll in 2001