January 04, 2005 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

On-the-job fatalities at road construction sites

From the beginning of 1995 through 2002, a total of 844 workers were killed while working at road construction sites.

[Chart data—TXT]

More than half of these fatalities were attributable to a worker being struck by a vehicle or mobile equipment. The range of these fatal occupational injuries was a low of 93 in 1996 and a high of 124 in 1999, as shown in the chart.

Fatal workplace injuries at road construction sites were first identified as a separate category in the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 1995. Since that time, workplace fatalities have generally declined overall, but fatalities at road construction sites have fluctuated, staying in the low 100s since 1998. Workplace fatalities at road construction sites typically account for 1.5 percent to 2.0 percent of all workplace fatalities.

These data are from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, which is part of the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. For additional information, see "Fatal occupational injuries at road construction sites," by Stephen Pegula, Monthly Labor Review, December 2004.