Chapter 4 • High-Risk Industries and Occupations
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducts comprehensive surveillance and research programs focused on selected high-risk industrial sectors such as agriculture, mining, and construction. Historically, workers in these industries have suffered the highest rates of fatal injury. The most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) reveal that fatal injury rates in these high-risk industries range from 3.0 to 5.6 times the private industry rate of 4.2 per 100,000 workers (Figure 4–1) [BLS 2003a]. Except for mining, these high-risk industries also have elevated rates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses, as shown by data from the BLS annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) (Figure 4–2).
This chapter provides data on nonfatal and fatal injuries and illnesses in the mining* and construction industries as well as associated occupations. Similar data for the agriculture industry are provided in Chapter 3.
 | Figure 4-1 Fatal occupational injury rates by industry division, 2002. Fatal occupational injury rates in 2002 were highest in mining (23.5 per 100,000 workers), agriculture, forestry, and fishing (22.7), construction (12.2), and transportation and public utilities (11.3). The rate for all private industry was 4.2 per 100,000 workers. (Source: BLS [2003a].) |
 | Figure 4-2 Incidence rates of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses in private industry and in high-risk industrial sectors, 1992-2001. During 1992-2001, the rates of total recordable injuries and illnesses in construction and agriculture exceeded those for all private industry by an average of 37% and 22%, respectively. However, the rates all decreased by similar percentages during this period-36% for all private industry, 40% for construction, and 37% for agriculture, forestry, and fishing. (Source: BLS [2002a].) |
*The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) provides BLS with
data conforming to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) definitions for “mining operators in coal, metal, and nonmetal
mining.” Readers should note the following within the BLS data:
(1) mining includes oil and gas extraction, and (2) independent mining
contractors are excluded from the coal, metal, and nonmetal mining industries.
