April 18, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Highest risk of falls in construction

Workers in the construction industry faced the highest risk for fatal workplace falls in 1997. The incidence rate for fatal workplace falls in the construction industry was 4.9 cases per 100,000 workers, about 10 times the overall rate of 0.5.

[Chart data—TXT]

Workers in agriculture, forestry, and fishing experienced the second highest risk for fatal falls at 1.8, and mining workers, the third highest at 0.8.

The risk of fatal falls increased in construction, and in agriculture, forestry, and fishing between 1992 and 1997. During this period, the incidence rate for fatal falls increased from 4.2 to 4.9 in construction, and from 1.4 to 1.8 in agriculture, forestry, and fishing. The overall rate held steady at 0.5 cases per 100,000 workers.

These data are products of the BLS Safety and Health Statistics program. Learn more in "Workplace Falls" (PDF 86K), by Timothy Webster in the Spring 2000 issue of Compensation and Working Conditions.