^[1]Fatal events are categorized into several major groupings including transportation incidents, assaults and violent acts, and falls, among others. These major groups are further broken down into more detailed groups. See the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) Manual at www.bls.gov/iif/oshoiics.htm for detailed information on the categories of fatalities used in the census.

Table A. Fatal occupational injuries in Washington by selected event, 1992-2009

Year	Total Fatalities	Homicides		Highway incidents		Struck by object or equipment		Suicides
		Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
1992	97	11	11	16	16	18	19	-	-
1993	112	7	6	20	18	20	18	-	-
1994	118	17	14	23	19	23	19	-	-
1995	109	11	10	18	17	14	13	3	3
1996	128	9	7	26	20	21	16	3	2
1997	112	10	9	24	21	11	10	5	4
1998	113	8	7	29	26	10	9	-	-
1999	88	5	6	25	28	12	14	3	3
2000	75	5	7	20	27	11	15	5	7
2001	102	6	6	22	22	13	13	3	3
2002	86	6	7	22	26	14	16	-	-
2003	83	5	6	9	11	8	10	4	5
2004	98	12	12	22	22	17	17	-	-
2005	85	4	5	23	27	15	18	-	-
2006	87	4	5	15	17	10	11	-	-
2007	90	4	4	15	17	14	16	-	-
2008(1)	84	8	10	17	20	12	14	8	10
2009(2)	75	14	19	13	17	12	16	8	11
Footnotes: (1) Since the initial release of 2008 data, 1 additional job-related fatality was identified in Washington bringing the 2008 total job-related fatality count to 84. (2) Totals for 2009 are preliminary.

Key characteristics of fatal work injuries in Washington

• Men accounted for 88 percent (66) of the work-related fatalities in Washington in 2009. Transportation incidents, which include highway, nonhighway, pedestrian, air, water, rail fatalities, and fatalities resulting from being struck by a vehicle, accounted for 29 percent of deaths among male workers. Contact with objects and equipment made up 26 percent of male work-related fatalities. (See table 2.)

• Eighty-one percent of those who died from a workplace injury in Washington were white, non-Hispanic (61) and 8 percent were Hispanic or Latino (6). (Some worker fatalities were not identified by race or ethnic origin.) Transportation incidents were the most frequent type of fatality for white, non-Hispanic workers. (See table 2.)

• Workers 25-54 years old—the prime working age group?made up 64 percent or 48 of the State’s work-related fatalities in 2009. (See table 2.)

• Seventy-three percent of workers killed on the job worked for wages and salaries (55), with the remaining 27 percent being self-employed. The leading fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents (17). (See table 2.)

• Two industry sectors accounted for 35 percent of the workplace fatalities in the State – agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (17) and construction (9). (See table 3.)

• From an occupational perspective, transportation and material moving occupations jobs had the highest number of workplace fatalities (16), followed by farming, fishing, and forestry jobs (12). Combined, these two occupational groups accounted for 37 percent of the fatal work injuries in Washington. Transportation incidents were among the most frequent cause of on-the-job fatalities for both occupational groups. (See table 4.)

U.S. Workplace Fatalities

Nationwide, a total of 4,340 fatal work injuries were reported in 2009, a decrease of 17 percent from the revised total of 5,214 recorded in 2008. This preliminary figure represents the smallest annual total since the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program was first conducted in 1992. (See table B.) Economic factors played a major role in the national fatal work injury decrease as total hours worked declined during the year. Similarly, some industries that historically have accounted for a significant share of fatal work injuries, such as construction, experienced even larger declines in employment or hours worked.

Highway incidents in 2009 continued to lead all other events in the frequency of on-the-job fatalities, a position held since the program’s inception in 1992. Still, the 2009 count of 882 fatal injuries from highway incidents was down 27 percent from the 2008 count of 1,215 fatal injuries.

Workplace homicides (521) declined 1 percent in 2009. Falls to a lower level decreased 13 percent (from 593 in 2008 to 518 in 2009). Around half of all fatal falls to a lower level occur in construction, so the decline in construction employment may account for the lower number of fatal work injuries due to falls to a lower level.

Workplace suicides (237) were down 10 percent nationwide in 2009 from the series high of 263 in 2008. However, the 2009 preliminary count of workplace suicides is the second highest annual total reported by the fatality census.

Thirty-seven states reported lower numbers of fatal work injuries in 2009 than in 2008, while 13 states and the District of Columbia reported higher numbers.

Table B. Fatal occupational injuries in the United States by selected event, 1992-2009

Year	Total Fatalities	Highway incidents		Homicides		Falls to a lower level		Struck by object or equipment
		Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
1992	6,217	1,158	19	1,044	17	507	8	557	9
1993	6,331	1,242	20	1,074	17	534	8	565	9
1994	6,632	1,343	20	1,080	16	580	9	591	9
1995	6,275	1,346	21	1,036	17	578	9	547	9
1996	6,202	1,346	22	927	15	610	10	582	9
1997	6,238	1,393	22	860	14	653	10	579	9
1998	6,055	1,442	24	714	12	625	10	520	9
1999	6,054	1,496	25	651	11	634	10	585	10
2000	5,920	1,365	23	677	11	659	11	571	10
2001(1)	5,915	1,409	24	643	11	700	12	553	9
2002	5,534	1,373	25	609	11	638	12	505	9
2003	5,575	1,353	24	632	11	604	11	531	10
2004	5,764	1,398	24	559	10	738	13	602	10
2005	5,734	1,437	25	567	10	664	12	607	11
2006	5,840	1,356	23	540	9	738	13	589	10
2007	5,657	1,414	25	628	11	746	13	504	9
2008(2)	5,214	1,215	23	526	10	593	11	520	10
2009(3)	4,340	882	20	521	12	518	12	414	10
Footnotes: (1) Totals for 2001 exclude fatalities due to September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. (2) Totals for 2008 are revised and final. The BLS national news release issued August 20, 2009, reported a total of 5,071 fatal work injuries for calendar year 2008. Since then, an additional 143 job-related fatalities were identified bringing the total job-related fatality count for 2008 to 5,214. (3) Data for 2009 are preliminary. Revised and final 2009 data are scheduled to be released April 2011.

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, federal, and independent data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. This assures counts are as complete and accurate as possible.

For technical information about the CFOI program, please go to the BLS Handbook of Methods on the BLS web site here: www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch9_a1.htm. The technical information and definitions for the CFOI Program are in Chapter 9, Part III of the BLS Handbook of Methods.

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.

Acknowledgements

BLS thanks the Washington Department of Labor & Industries for their efforts in collecting accurate, comprehensive, and useful data on fatal work injuries. BLS also appreciates the efforts of all federal, State, local, and private sector entities 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 Federal Railroad Administration; 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.

Detailed statistics on fatal occupational injuries in Washington can be obtained from tables at www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/tgs/2009/iiffi53.htm

 

Last Modified Date: December 23, 2010