Fatal work injuries totaled 104 in Louisiana in 2010, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that while the 2010 count was preliminary, the number of work-related fatalities in Louisiana fell by 36 from one year earlier. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 187 in 1994 to a low of 95 in 2003; the 2010 count was the fourth-lowest on record for the state. (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 recorded 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 were the most frequent type of workplace fatality in Louisiana in 2010, accounting for 24 deaths. (See table 2.) The number of work-related highway deaths in 2010 was slightly higher than a year earlier (20), but was well below the counts for 2008 and 2007, at 41 and 42, respectively. In 2010, there were 11 work-related fatalities due to homicides, about the same as the 2009 count of 12. The number of fatal injuries resulting from being struck by an object or equipment declined from 17 in 2009 to 9 in 2010. Worker fatalities from falls to a lower level also declined, from 14 to 9 over the year.

In 2010, fires and explosions recorded its second largest count in Louisiana since the series began, with 15 fatalities, 11 of them from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion. Conversely, a number of notable declines were recorded in several fatal events – water vehicle accidents (from 20 in 2009 to 3 in 2010), aircraft incidents (from 10 to 3), and contact with electric current (from 11 to 6).

In the United States, highway incidents were also the most frequent fatal workplace event, accounting for 21 percent of fatal work injuries. In Louisiana, highway incidents accounted for a somewhat larger share of work-related fatalities, 23 percent. Nationwide, homicides were the next most frequent type of event, with 11 percent of total worker fatalities, matching the Louisiana share. Falls to a lower level also accounted for 11 percent of on-the-job fatal injuries nationwide, while being struck by an object or equipment accounted for 9 percent of U.S. work-related deaths, matching the state share. Although fatalities resulting from fires and explosions climbed sharply nationwide, they were responsible for a much smaller share of total fatalities than in Louisiana (4 and 15 percent, respectively).

Additional key characteristics:

• Men accounted for 103 of the 104 work-related fatalities in the state. (See table 3.) Transportation incidents, which include highway, nonhighway, pedestrian, air, water, and rail, made up 38 percent of these fatalities.
• In Louisiana, 75 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 78, or 75 percent, of the State’s work-related fatalities in 2010. Nationally, workers in this group accounted for 60 percent of on-the-job fatalities.
• Of the 104 occupational fatalities in Louisiana, 91 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remaining fatalities were among the self-employed. The leading cause of death for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents which accounted for 40 percent of fatal injuries in the State, about the same as the U.S share of 41 percent.
• The transportation and warehousing sector had the largest number of fatalities, 20, followed by mining with 19. In the transportation and warehousing industry, transportation incidents were responsible for 13 fatal injuries. In the mining industry, the most prevalent cause of workplace deaths was fires and explosions, accounting for 12 of the 19 fatalities in this industry.
• Transportation and material moving occupations had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 41, of which heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 15. Workers in construction and extraction jobs had the second-highest fatality count at 31, followed by those in production jobs at 9.

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data are available on the BLS Internet site at www.bls.gov/iif/ and detailed data may be accessed from http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/outside.jsp?survey=fi. Further information on the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries program, as well as other Bureau programs, is available on the Southwest Information Office web site at www.bls.gov/ro6/ or by contacting us at 972-850-4800 from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. CT.

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. during the 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 at 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.

Acknowledgments.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics thanks the Louisiana Workforce Commission 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.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries in Louisiana by selected event groups, 1992-2010

Year	Total fatalities	Highway incidents		Homicides		Struck by object or equipment		Falls to lower level
		Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent	Number	Percent
1992	153	28	18	25	16	20	13	10	7
1993	171	27	16	19	11	10	6	17	10
1994	187	23	12	25	13	19	10	17	9
1995	139	19	14	22	16	21	15	17	12
1996	134	24	18	15	11	19	14	12	9
1997	137	26	19	12	9	15	11	15	11
1998	159	34	21	17	11	12	8	10	6
1999	141	33	23	10	7	27	19	11	8
2000	143	39	27	9	6	13	9	17	12
2001	117	30	26	9	8	13	11	13	11
2002	103	25	24	4	4	5	5	16	16
2003	95	19	20	9	9	17	18	5	5
2004	121	21	17	20	17	10	8	10	8
2005	111	22	20	12	11	10	9	10	9
2006	118	19	16	13	11	15	13	11	9
2007	139	42	30	13	9	7	5	14	10
2008	135	41	30	9	7	13	10	11	8
2009(1)	140	20	14	12	9	17	12	14	10
2010(2)	104	24	23	11	11	9	9	9	9
Footnotes: (1) Since the initial release of 2009 data, 2 additional job-related fatalities were identified in Louisiana bringing the 2009 total job-related fatality count to 140. (2) Totals for 2010 are preliminary.

 

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Louisiana, 2009-2010

Event or exposure(1)	2009	2010
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	140	104	100
Transportation incidents	62	40	38
Highway	20	24	23
Collision between vehicles, mobile equipment	13	14	13
Moving in opposite directions, oncoming	5	7	7
Moving in intersection	3	4	4
Vehicle struck object on side of road	3	6	6
Noncollision	4	4	4
Jack-knifed or overturned-no collision	4	3	3
Overturned	3	--	--
Nonhighway (farm, industrial premises)	4	--	--
Worker struck by a vehicle	5	7	7
Railway accident	3	--	--
Water vehicle accident	20	3	3
Aircraft accident	10	3	3
Assaults and violent acts	13	12	12
Homicides	12	11	11
Shooting	7	9	9
Stabbing	4	--	--
Contact with objects and equipment	30	14	13
Struck by object or equipment	17	9	9
Struck by falling object or equipment	14	6	6
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	8	4	4
Caught in running equipment or machinery	4	--	--
Caught in or crushed in collapsing materials	5	--	--
Falls	15	11	11
Fall to lower level	14	9	9
Fall from scaffold, staging	5	3	3
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	16	12	12
Contact with electric current	11	6	6
Contact with overhead power lines	5	3	3
Fires and explosions	3	15	14
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. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

 

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by worker characteristics, Louisiana, 2009-2010

Worker characteristics	2009	2010
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	140	104	100
Employee Status
Wage and salary workers(1)	123	95	91
Self-employed(2)	17	9	9
Gender
Men	136	103	99
Women	4	--	--
Age(3)
20 to 24 years	14	6	6
25 to 34 years	30	26	25
35 to 44 years	30	20	19
45 to 54 years	36	32	31
55 to 64 years	20	11	11
65 years and over	7	8	8
Race or Ethnic Origin(4)
White, non-Hispanic	98	78	75
Black, non-Hispanic	26	17	16
Hispanic or Latino	11	7	7
Asian	4	--	--
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. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, in cooperation with state and federal agencies, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

 

Last Modified Date: September 30, 2011