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

Fatal work injuries in 1999

The number of fatal work injuries that occurred during 1999 was 6,023, nearly the same as the previous year's total despite an increase in employment.

Fatal occupational injuries, 1992-99
[Chart data—TXT]

Decreases in job-related deaths from homicides and electrocutions in 1999 were offset by increases from workers struck by falling objects or caught in running machinery. Homicides fell from the second-leading cause of fatal work injuries to the third, behind highway fatalities and falls. Construction reported the largest number of fatal work injuries for any industry and accounted for one-fifth of the fatality total.

These data are a product of the BLS Safety and Health Statistics Program. Additional information is available from "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 1999," news release USDL 00-236.