Workplace Fatalities Census

Pretty much every year one of the various federal agencies will conduct a survey to determine the number of individuals that are killed in accidents in the workplace. Last year, there were a total of 5,071 fatal work accidents/injuries that were recorded across the United States.

While the total may seem high, the 5,071 is a decrease of roughly 600 deaths from the previous year. In addition, this is the smallest preliminary total or report since the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, or CFOI, program was started in 1992.

The preliminary numbers from the CFOI program reveal that the United States has a fatal injury rate of 3.6 per 100,000 full-time workers in 2008. This is down .4 from the 4.0 fatal work injuries per 100,000 full-time workers in 2007.

There are a number of trends that can be discerned in the worker injury statistics from 2008. For starters, and this is good news, the number of fatal work injuries in the private construction industry declined by 20% from the 2007 total in 2008. This is double the all-sector, all-worker decline of 10%.

Workplace falls, which are always a problem and had risen to unprecedented levels in 2007, also saw a decrease of 20% in 2008. Unfortunately, workplace suicides were up 28% in 2008 from 2007’s levels. Fortunately, homicides in the workplace saw a decrease of 18% in 2008 from the number seen in 2007.

All of the numbers that have been released by the CFOI are preliminary. Final results for 2008 will be released in April of 2010.

Contact a Charleston Workers Comp Lawyer

If you have been injured at work and are having issues receiving appropriate workers’ compensation, contact the Charleston workers compensation lawyers of the Steinberg Law Firm at 843-720-2800.