General Information: (312) 353-1880 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Media Contact: Paul LaPorte Monday, October 22, 2007 (312) 353-1138 http://www.bls.gov/ro5 Data Tables SOUTH DAKOTA WORKPLACE FATALITIES, 2006 Fatal work injuries in South Dakota totaled 37 in 2006, an increase of 6 from the previous year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that the fatality count in South Dakota peaked in 1999 with 46 work-related deaths after reaching a low of 23 just two years earlier. (The fatality census has been conducted annually since 1992.) The most frequent types of fatal workplace events in the State in 2006 were highway crashes (11), nonhighway incidents (6), and being struck by objects (5). Taken together, these three events 1/ accounted for nearly three-fifths of the workplace fatalities in South Dakota. Highway incidents (referred to here as highway crashes, but includes non-collision incidents as well) accounted for more on-the-job fatalities than any other event in both South Dakota and the nation. The number of fatal injuries from highway crashes in the State in 2006, which was the same as in 2005, was the highest recorded for this event since the census' inception. A low of 4 fatal work injuries from this event occurred in 1994. (See table A.) Work-related deaths due to highway crashes accounted for 30 percent of the fatalities in South Dakota compared to 23 percent of the national total in 2006. Nonhighway incidents such as on a farm or industrial premises, was the second leading cause of work-related deaths in the State. The six fatalities accounted for 16 percent of all South Dakota's fatally injured on the job in 2006. Nonhighway incidents accounted for 6 percent of fatalities nationwide. The five workplace fatalities resulting from being struck by an object accounted for 14 percent of the State's fatality count. Nationwide, this event accounted for 10 percent of the total in 2006. Other work-related fatalities in South Dakota included caught in or compressed by equipment or objects (4) and assaults by animals (3). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Fatal events are categorized into several major groupings including transportation incidents, assaults and violent acts, and falls. These major groups are further broken down into more detailed groups. For example, transportation incidents includes highway incidents and aircraft incidents; assaults and violent acts includes homicides and suicides; and falls includes falls to a lower level (as from a roof or ladder) and falls on the same level (as from grease on a floor or ice on a sidewalk). Table A. Fatal occupational injuries in South Dakota by selected event groups, 1992-2006 ------------------------------------------------------------- | Total | Highway | Nonhighway | Struck Year |fatali- | crashes | incidents | by object | ties |-------------------------------------------- | |Number|Percent|Number|Percent|Number|Percent ------------------------------------------------------------- 1992 28 9 32 -- -- 5 18 1993 28 5 18 -- -- 4 14 1994 31 4 13 4 13 -- -- 1995 26 5 19 -- -- -- -- 1996 32 9 28 5 16 -- -- 1997 23 8 35 -- -- 6 26 1998 28 9 32 -- -- 3 11 1999 46 9 20 5 11 3 7 2000 35 7 20 6 17 5 14 2001 35 6 17 6 17 -- -- 2002 36 5 14 5 14 3 8 2003 28 5 18 4 14 6 21 2004 24 7 29 3 13 -- -- 2005 31 11 35 3 10 4 13 2006 37 11 30 6 16 5 14 ------------------------------------------------------------- -- Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. Nationwide, 5,703 fatal work injuries were reported in 2006, down slightly from the revised total of 5,734 fatal work injuries recorded in 2005. The count for 2006 was the third lowest annual total recorded by the fatality census, which has been conducted yearly since 1992. (See table B.) The 2006 count of 1,329 fatal highway crashes was the lowest annual total since 1993. Highway crashes in 2006 accounted for nearly one out of every four fatal work injuries and continued to lead all other events in the frequency of on-the-job fatalities. Fatal work injuries involving falls to a lower level increased 10 percent in 2006 after a sharp decrease in 2005. The 2006 total of 728 fatal falls to a lower level was the second highest since the fatality census began. The number of workers who were fatally injured from being struck by objects was lower in 2006, after increasing for the last three years. The 583 fatalities resulting from being struck by objects in 2006 represented a 4 percent decline from the 2005 total. Workplace homicides decreased 9 percent to 516 in 2006, the lowest annual total ever reported by the fatality census. Overall, workplace homicides have decreased more than 50 percent from the series high in 1994. Key characteristics of workplace fatalities in South Dakota in 2006: - Men accounted for 89 percent of the work-related fatalities in the State with 33 deaths. Transportation incidents, which include highway, nonhighway, pedestrian, air, water, and rail, accounted for almost one- half of these fatal injuries and contact with objects and equipment accounted for over one-fourth. (See table 2.) - In South Dakota, 92 percent of those who died from a workplace injury were white non-Hispanics. - Workers 25-54 years old-the prime working age group-accounted for 49 percent of the State's work-related fatalities in 2006; 46 percent were 55 years or older. Nationally, those 25 to 54 years accounted for 64 percent of the fatally injured and those 55 years and older, 27 percent. - Fifty-one percent of workers killed on the job in South Dakota worked for wages and salaries; the rest were self-employed. - The agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry sector had the largest number of fatalities (17) followed by transportation and warehousing (5), and construction (4). Contact with objects and equipment and transportation incidents were the most frequent types of fatal events in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry. Transportation incidents accounted for all of the fatalities in transportation and warehousing. (See table 3.) - The occupational group with the highest number of fatalities was management with 15 work-related deaths. Managers of farms and ranches accounted for 14 of the 15 fatally injured. Transportation and material moving occupations had six work-related deaths and construction and extraction jobs, five. Transportation incidents were the most frequent event resulting in death in all three of these occupational groups. (See table 4.) Table B. Fatal occupational injuries in the United States by selected event groups, 1992-2006 ------------------------------------------------------------- | Total | Highway | Struck | Nonhighway Year |fatali- | crashes | by object | incidents | ties |-------------------------------------------- | |Number|Percent|Number|Percent|Number|Percent ------------------------------------------------------------- 1992 6,217 1,158 19 557 9 436 7 1993 6,331 1,242 20 565 9 392 6 1994 6,632 1,343 20 591 9 409 6 1995 6,275 1,346 21 547 9 387 6 1996 6,202 1,346 22 582 9 374 6 1997 6,238 1,393 22 579 9 377 6 1998 6,055 1,442 24 520 9 388 6 1999 6,054 1,496 25 585 10 352 6 2000 5,920 1,365 23 571 10 399 7 2001 1/ 5,915 1,409 24 553 9 326 6 2002 5,534 1,373 25 505 9 323 6 2003 5,575 1,353 24 531 10 347 6 2004 5,764 1,398 24 602 10 338 6 2005 2/ 5,734 1,437 25 607 11 340 6 2006 5,703 1,329 23 583 10 342 6 ------------------------------------------------------------- 1/ Totals for 2001 exclude fatalities due to the events of September 11, 2001 which claimed the lives of 2,886 persons in work status. 2/ The BLS news release issued August 10, 2006, reported a total of 5,702 fatal work injuries for calendar year 2005. Since then, an additional 32 job-related fatalities were identified, bringing the total job-related fatality count for 2005 to 5,734. Additional data available Additional Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data are available from the BLS Web site at http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm. Data tables for 2006 are available for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and selected metropolitan areas. Detailed data may be accessed through the online query system located at http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/outside.jsp?survey=fi. For additional information or assistance, please contact the Midwest Information Office in Chicago at (312) 353-1880, menu option 0. TECHNICAL NOTE Background of the program The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, part of the BLS occupational safety and health statistics program, compiles a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. in each calendar year. The program uses diverse State and Federal data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. Information about each workplace fatality (industry, occupation, and other worker characteristics; equipment being used; and circumstances of the event) is obtained by cross-referencing source documents, such as death certificates, workers' compensation records, news accounts, and reports to Federal and State agencies. This method assures counts are as complete and accurate as possible. Definitions For a fatality to be included in the census, the decedent must have been employed (that is working for pay, compensation, or profit) at the time of the event, engaged in a legal work activity, or present at the site of the incident as a requirement of his or her job. Fatalities to volunteer and unpaid family workers who perform the same duties and functions as paid workers are also included in the counts. These criteria are generally broader than those used by Federal and State agencies administering specific laws and regulations. (Fatalities that occur during a person's normal commute to or from work are excluded from the census counts.) Data presented in this release include deaths occurring in 2006 that resulted from traumatic occupational injuries. An injury is defined as any wound or damage to the body resulting from acute exposure to energy, such as heat, electricity, or impact from a crash or fall, or from the absence of such essentials as heat or oxygen caused by a specific event or incident within a single workday or shift. Included are open wounds, intracranial and internal injuries, heatstroke, hypothermia, asphyxiation, acute poisonings resulting from short-term exposures limited to the worker's shift, suicides and homicides, and work injuries listed as underlying or contributory causes of death. Information on work-related fatal illnesses is not reported in the BLS census and is excluded from the attached tables because the latency period of many occupational illnesses and the difficulty of linking illnesses to work exposures make identification of a universe problematic. Measurement techniques and limitations Data for the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries are compiled from various Federal, State, and local administrative sources-including death certificates, workers' compensation reports and claims, reports to various regulatory agencies, medical examiner reports, and police reports-as well as news and other non-governmental reports. Diverse sources are used because studies have shown that no single source captures all job-related fatalities. Source documents are matched so that each fatality is counted only once. To ensure that a fatality occurred while the decedent was at work, information is verified from two or more independent source documents or from a source document and a follow-up questionnaire. Approximately 30 data elements are collected, coded, and tabulated, including information about the worker, the fatal incident, and the machinery or equipment involved. Federal/State agency coverage The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries includes data for all fatal work injuries, whether the decedent was working in a job covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or other Federal or State agencies or was outside the scope of regulatory coverage. Thus, any comparison between the BLS fatality census counts and those released by other agencies should take into account the different coverage requirements and definitions being used by each agency. Several Federal and State agencies have jurisdiction over workplace safety and health. OSHA and affiliated agencies in States with approved safety programs cover the largest portion of the nation's workers. However, injuries and illnesses occurring in certain industries or activities, such as coal, metal, and nonmetal mining and highway, water, rail, and air transportation, are excluded from OSHA coverage because they are covered by other Federal agencies, such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration and various agencies within the Department of Transportation. Fatalities occurring among several other groups of workers are generally not covered by any Federal or State agencies. These groups include self-employed and unpaid family workers, which accounted for about 18 percent of the fatalities; laborers on small farms, accounting for about 1 percent of the fatalities; and State and local government employees in States without OSHA-approved safety programs, which accounted for about 4 percent. (Approximately one-half of the States have approved OSHA safety programs, which cover State and local government employees.) Acknowledgments BLS appreciates the efforts of all Federal, State, local, and private sector agencies that submitted source documents used to identify fatal work injuries. Among these agencies are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the National Transportation Safety Board; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Mine Safety and Health Administration; the Employment Standards Administration (Federal Employees' Compensation and Longshore and Harbor Workers' divisions); the Department of Energy; State vital statistics registrars, coroners, and medical examiners; State departments of health, labor and industries and workers' compensation agencies; State and local police departments; and State farm bureaus.
Last Modified Date: October 23, 2007