September 13, 2007 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Railroad-related work fatalities

There were 460 fatal railroad-related work injuries within railroading and another 761 fatal railroad-related work injuries involving workers entirely outside railroading, for a total of 1,221 fatal railroad-related work injuries during 1993–2002.

[Chart data—TXT]

Railroading fatalities accounted for less than two-fifths of the 1,221 fatal railroad-related work injuries, while nonrailroading fatalities, such as those happening to workers in rail transportation occupations outside railroading or to truckdrivers in other industries who perish in at-grade crossing collisions with trains, accounted for more than three-fifths of railroad-related work fatalities.

Railroading workers are those who work in the railroad transportation industry itself and others who work in railroading, such as those who work in subways and on commuter trains, in contract railroad construction, or in rail-related transportation services.

These data are from the BLS Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. For more information, see "Railroad-related work injury fatalities," (PDF) by Dino Drudi, Monthly Labor Review, July/August 2007.