Workplace fatalities: Where does your state rank?
August 26, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: construction safety, Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, New safety statistics
Previously, we looked at the causes of workplace fatalities in 2008 according to government figures. Now, let’s take a look at where the deaths are occurring.
Texas had the highest number of workplace deaths in 2008: 457. However, that’s a 13% decrease from 528 deaths in 2007. (Note: The decrease may turn out to be lower. These figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are preliminary and usually go up.)
California ranks second with 404 fatalities, also a decrease from the previous year. Florida is third with 290, once again, a decrease.
Overall, the number of workplace deaths nationwide fell from 5,657 in 2007 to 5,071 in 2008. However, 14 states had increases: Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Virginia.
Texas ranked first in deaths due to contact with objects and equipment, and falls. OSHA recently started a special emphasis program on construction in Texas to prevent the number of construction fatalities there.
Texas also ranked first in deaths due to fires and explosions. Georgia ranked second in 2008 due to the Imperial Sugar Co. explosion and fire that killed 14 employees.
California had the most deaths due to assaults and violent acts, and exposure to harmful substances or environments.
To find out more about how your state ranks, click here.
The Safety Insights You Need
Get the latest safety news, trends, and insights - delivered weekly.
Join over 334,000 safety pros:
Privacy policy
Tags: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Falls, workplace fatalities
Loading ...
August 31st, 2009 at 8:53 am
The presented data is useful if you are comparing a state to itself from one year to the next. However, there is no way to compare one state to another. Due to differences in the total number of persons employed in each state, it is an apples to oranges comparison. A more even comparison would list the number of workplace fatalities per 1000 persons employed in the state (or some similar rate). It could also be helpful to specify the type of work completed - rates would differ depending on whether the work involved manufacturing and construction jobs, sales, health care, tourism, etc.
September 14th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
I completely agree. If you have a state that has a population of two or three million compared to a state that has say 10 or 15 million then obviously you will have higher occupational accident rates as you will have more people working as the population rates go up. This is exactly what I was thinking as I was reading this article.