Overall Findings
According to a report, more American workers died on the job in 2015 than any other year since 2008.
“These numbers underscore the urgent need for employers to provide a safe workplace for their employees as the law requires,” said the former Labor Secretary Tom Perez. “We have a moral responsibility to make sure that workers who showed up to work today are still alive to punch the clock tomorrow.”
This report shows the rate of fatal workplace injuries in 2015 was down slightly, to 3.38 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, from a rate of 3.43 in 2014.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics in their report “National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries” reported that in 2015, there were 4,826 workers killed on the job in the United States. This is most job-related deaths since the 5,214 workplace fatalities which occurred in 2008. This is an increase over the number of workplace deaths in 2014 of 4,821.
Some Sectors Death Rates Decline
According to a United States Department of Labor report issues on December 16, 2016, oil and gas extraction saw a decline of deaths in 2015. The number of deaths in oil and gas extraction dropped by approximately 34%, from 183 in 2014 to 120 in 2015. The 120 deaths is the lowest number of deaths in this industry since 2009.
The mining industry also dropped in 2015. There were 38 deaths in 2014 and only 28 in 2015.
Fatal injuries involving pedestrians were also lower in 2015, as were rail and water based transportation incidents.
Transportation Related Deaths Increase
The number of workplace deaths involving transportation related incidents, however, increased to become the most frequent type of worker fatality in 2015.
Incidents involving transportation were up approximately 9% to 1,264 in 2015. This number accounts for approximately one-quarter of all workplace deaths, according to the annual National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries published by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Of the 1264 deaths in 2015, just under half involved heavy trucks, semis, tractor-trailers, or tanker trucks.
Construction Deaths Up Slightly
In the construction industry, deaths rose 4% in 2015 to 937, up from 899 in 2014. The 2015 total for construction was the also the highest since 2008. The greatest increase was seen in the specialty trade contractors. The specialty trade contractors experiencing the greatest number of deaths involved foundation, structure and building exterior workers. The increase in these specialties for fatalities rose 27% to 231 in 2015.