Fatal work injuries totaled 69 in 2010 for Maryland, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that while the 2010 count is preliminary, the number of work-related fatalities in Maryland increased by four from one year earlier. Still, the 2010 total was the 4th lowest in the 19-year history of the series. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 106 in 2006 to a low of 60 in 2008. (See table 1 and chart 1.)

Nationwide, a preliminary total of 4,547 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2010, about the same as the final count of 4,551 fatal work injuries in 2009, according to results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program. Final 2010 CFOI data will be released in Spring 2012.

Highway incidents and homicides were tied as the most frequent type of workplace fatality in Maryland in 2010, each accounting for 11 deaths. (See table 2.) The highway incident figure is the fourth lowest, and the homicide count the third lowest, since 1992 when the fatality data were first reported. Workers being struck by vehicles resulted in 10 fatalities in 2010, up from 6 in 2009. Work-related fatalities resulting from falls to a lower level decreased from 10 to 9 over the year.

Maryland’s shares of on-the-job fatalities due to highway incidents and homicides were both 16 percent in 2010. In the United States, highway incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event, accounting for 21 percent of fatal work injuries, while homicides accounted for 11 percent of workplace deaths. Workers being struck by vehicles resulted in 14 percent of Maryland’s occupational fatalities; this event accounted for 6 percent of worker deaths nationally. Falls to a lower level accounted for 13 percent of work-related fatalities in Maryland, while the United States as a whole had an 11-percent share in this category.

Additional key characteristics:

• Men accounted for 99 percent of the work-related fatalities in the state. Transportation incidents, which include highway, nonhighway, pedestrian, air, water, and rail, accounted for nearly one-third of the fatalities among men, followed by assaults and violent acts with just below one-fourth. (See table 3.)
• In Maryland, 61 percent of those who died from a workplace injury were white non-Hispanics. Nationwide, this group accounted for 72 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25-54 years old—the prime working age group—accounted for 45, or 65 percent, of the state’s work-related fatalities 2010. Nationally, workers in this group accounted for 60 percent of on-the-job fatalities.
• Of the 69 occupational fatalities in Maryland, 78 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remaining workers were self-employed. The leading cause of death for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents, while falls was the leading cause for the self-employed.
• The construction sector had the largest number of fatalities, 18, followed by government with 10 and transportation and warehousing with 9. Contact with objects and equipment was the most frequent fatal event with six fatalities in the construction industry, while transportation incidents accounted for six fatal injuries in government and five in transportation and warehousing.
• Transportation and material moving occupations had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 16, half of which were heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. Workers in the construction and extraction occupations had the second-highest fatality count at 14, followed by those in installation, maintenance and repair jobs at 10.
• Among Maryland’s metropolitan areas, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. registered the highest number of work-related fatalities at 64, followed by Baltimore-Towson, Md. at 40. (See chart 2.)

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data are available on the BLS Internet site at www.bls.gov/iif. For personal assistance or further information on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Information on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and other programs and surveys are available on our Web site at www.bls.gov/ro3.

Technical Note

Background of the program. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), part of the BLS Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS) program, compiles a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year. The CFOI 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 and definitions for 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.

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.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation 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 Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (Federal Employees' Compensation and Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation divisions); the Federal Railroad Administration; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; 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.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries in Maryland by selected event groups, 1992–2010

Year	Total fatalities	Highway incidents		Homicides		Pedestrian incidents		Falls to a lower level
		Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
1992	103	19	18	24	23	4	4	12	12
1993	82	10	12	12	15	9	11	7	9
1994	80	13	16	17	21	8	10	11	14
1995	86	18	21	28	33	5	6	7	8
1996	82	16	20	20	24	3	4	5	6
1997	82	14	17	20	24	6	7	8	10
1998	78	19	24	15	19	8	10	7	9
1999	82	20	24	20	24	6	7	6	7
2000	84	19	23	14	17	3	4	18	21
2001	64	14	22	15	23	--	--	6	9
2002	102	22	22	22	22	7	7	12	12
2003	92	23	25	13	14	8	9	14	15
2004	81	22	27	6	7	8	10	7	9
2005	95	18	19	15	16	10	11	16	17
2006	106	20	19	21	20	8	8	19	18
2007	82	15	18	17	21	15	18	12	15
2008	60	7	12	9	15	5	8	9	15
2009	65	9	14	14	22	6	9	10	15
2010	69	11	16	11	16	10	14	9	13
NOTE: Data for 2010 are preliminary. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Maryland, 2009–2010

Event or exposure(1)	2009	2010
	Number		Percent
Total	65	69	100
Transportation incidents	23	22	32
Highway	9	11	16
Collision between vehicles, mobile equipment	3	4	6
Vehicle struck object on side of road	5	7	10
Nonhighway (farm, industrial premises)	3	--	--
Worker struck by a vehicle	6	10	14
Assaults and violent acts	17	17	25
Homicides	14	11	16
Shooting	11	9	13
Self-inflicted injuries	3	6	9
Contact with objects and equipment	9	12	17
Struck by object or equipment	4	8	12
Struck by falling object or equipment	--	7	10
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	4	3	4
Falls	10	12	17
Fall to lower level	10	9	13
Fall from roof	3	4	6
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	4	3	4
Contact with electric current	3	--	--
Footnotes: (1) Based on the 2007 BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification Manual. Includes other events and exposures, such as bodily reaction, in addition to those shown separately.
NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do meet publication criteria. Data for 2010 are preliminary. SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by worker characteristics, Maryland, 2009–2010

Worker characteristics	2009	2010
	Number		Percent
Total	65	69	100
Employee Status
Wage and salary workers(1)	49	54	78
Self-employed(2)	16	15	22
Gender
Men	63	68	99
Women	--	--	--
Age(3)
20 to 24 years	4	6	9
25 to 34 years	7	13	19
35 to 44 years	16	12	17
45 to 54 years	20	20	29
55 to 64 years	16	12	17
65 years and over	--	5	7
Race or Ethnic Origin(4)
White, non-Hispanic	46	42	61
Black, non-Hispanic	13	13	19
Hispanic or Latino	3	12	17
Asian	3	--	--
Footnotes: (1) May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation. (2) Includes self-employed workers, owners of unincorporated businesses and farms, paid and unpaid family workers, and may include some owners of incorporated businesses or members of partnerships. (3) Because there may have been no incidents reported for some ages or because the data do not meet publication criteria, information is not available for all age groups. In addition, some fatalities may have had insufficient information with which to determine the age of the decedents. (4) Persons identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The race categories shown exclude Hispanic and Latino workers.
NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do meet publication criteria. Data for 2010 are preliminary. SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

 

Last Modified Date: October 17, 2011