August 15, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Fatal work injuries in 2000

A total of 5,915 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2000, a decline of about 2 percent from 1999.

[Chart data—TXT]

The decline in fatal work injuries occurred even though overall employment increased in 2000. The number of job-related deaths from highway incidents, the most frequent fatal work injury, declined for the first time since the fatality census was first conducted in 1992. Fatalities resulting from electrocutions, fires and explosions, and contact with objects or equipment also were down in 2000. Fatal job-related falls and homicides both increased.

These data are a product of the BLS Safety and Health Statistics Program. Additional information is available from "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2000," news release USDL 01-261.