2008 Fatals...

Good for us – The number of workplace fatalities decreased in 2008 over 2007. While the 2008 results are preliminary, this figure represents the smallest annual preliminary total since the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program was first conducted in 1992.

Key findings of the 2008 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries were:

• Fatal work injuries in the private construction sector in 2008 declined by 20 percent from the updated 2007 total, twice the all-worker decline of 10 percent.
• Fatal workplace falls, which had risen to a series high in 2007, also declined by 20 percent in 2008.
• Workplace suicides were up 28 percent to a series high of 251 cases in 2008, but workplace homicides declined 18 percent in 2008.
• The number and rate of fatal work injuries among 16 to 17 year-old workers were higher in 2008.
• Fatal occupational injuries involving Hispanic or Latino workers in 2008 were 17 percent lower than in 2007. Fatalities among non-Hispanic Black or African American workers were down 16 percent.
• The number of fatal workplace injuries in farming, fishing, and forestry occupations rose 6 percent in 2008 after declining in 2007.
• Transportation incidents, which accounted for approximately two-fifths of all the workplace fatalities in 2008, fell 13 percent from the previous series low of 2,351 cases reported in 2007.

To see the full news release, please visit: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm