January 25, 2001 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Animal attacks and on-the-job fatalities

Between 1992 and 1997, animal attacks and venomous stings and bites accounted for 227 on-the-job fatalities.

Occupational fatalities involving animal attacks or venomous stings and bites, 1992-97
[Chart data—TXT]

The 227 incidents are divided into two main categories: (1) animal attacks, such as being gored by a bull or thrown from a horse carriage by a spooked horse; and (2) venomous stings and bites. In the 1992-97 period, there were 186 job fatalities due to animal attacks and 41 due to venomous stings and bites.

Cattle accounted for over half of the animal attacks leading to work-related fatalities. Attacks involving horses were the next most common.

These data are from the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. Read more in "Are Animals Occupational Hazards?" (PDF 86K), by Dino Drudi, Compensation and Working Conditions, Fall 2000.