Deaths on the road head work fatalities
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Transportation-related injuries remain the most common source of workplace fatalities, according to an analysis published last week by the Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC's April 6 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said that about 43% of fatal work-related injuries stemmed from transportation incidents in 2005, the last year for which data is available.
It noted that highway incidents were the leading cause of fatal occupational injury during the period 1992 to 2005.
"To reduce the number of workplace deaths, transportation measures targeting workers (e.g. truck safety and highway work-zone safety) should be enhanced by state and local transportation agencies and coordinated with highway-safety measures for the general public," the CDC recommended.
The report notes the transportation incidents resulted in the highest rate of fatal workplace injuries in six of eight occupational sectors studied by the CDC.
The exceptions were construction, where falls resulted in the highest rate of occupational fatalities, and manufacturing, where contact "with objects and equipment" caused the highest rate of workplace fatalities in that sector.
The report also pointed out that while the number of deaths resulting from "highway incidents, falls and being struck by an object" has increased since the Bureau of Labor Statistics introduced its census of fatal occupational injuries in 1992, the number of workplace homicides has decreased.
