August 11, 2006 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Fatal work injuries in 2005

A total of 5,702 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2005, down about 1 percent from the revised total of 5,764 fatal work injuries recorded in 2004.

[Chart data—TXT]

Of the 5,702 fatal work injuries recorded in 2005, 5,188 (or 91 percent) occurred in private industry. Service-providing industries in the private sector accounted for 48 percent of all fatal work injuries in 2005, while goods-producing industries accounted for 43 percent. Another 9 percent of the fatal work injuries in 2005 involved government workers.

The rate at which fatal work injuries occurred in 2005 was 4.0 per 100,000 workers, down slightly from a rate of 4.1 per 100,000 in 2004.

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, part of the BLS Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program, provides the most complete count of fatal work injuries available. For more information on fatal work injuries, see "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2005" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 06-1364. Data for 2005 are preliminary. The total for 2001 excludes work-related fatalities that resulted from the September 11 terrorist attacks, which were tabulated separately.