The U.S. Department of Labor recently released the
2015 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. The government reported that a total of
4,836 fatal workplace injuries occurred in 2015 and it was
the highest since a tally of 5,214 fatal injuries in 2008.
Here are some of the top findings in the report:
- The overall rate of fatal work injury for workers in 2015, at 3.38 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, was lower than the 2014 rate of 3.43.
- Hispanic or Latino workers incurred 903 fatal injuries in 2015—the most since 937 fatalities in 2007.
- Workers age 65 years and older incurred 650 fatal injuries, the second-largest number for the group since the national census began in 1992, but decreased from the 2014 figure of 684.
- Roadway incident fatalities were up 9 percent from 2014 totals, accounting for over one-quarter of the fatal occupational injuries in 2015.
- Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers recorded 745 fatal injuries, the most of any occupation.
- The 937 fatal work injuries in the private construction industry in 2015 represented the highest total since 975 cases in 2008.
- Fatal injuries in the private oil and gas extraction industries were 38 percent lower in 2015 than 2014.
- Seventeen percent of decedents were contracted by and performing work for another business or government entity in 2015 rather than for their direct employer at the time of the incident.
Read the full U.S. Department of Labor report
here and learn more about
Safe Site Medical and how to keep work sites safe by
staffing preemptive onsite medical services, offering workplace training courses, offering new hire site orientation and more.
