Workplace fatalities decrease in Colorado
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Workplace fatalities decreased slightly in Colorado from 2016 to 2017, according to data released Friday by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
In 2017, the state recorded 77 workplace deaths, a decrease from the 81 reported in 2016. The fatal injury rate also decreased from 3.0 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2016 to 2.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2017. The state’s fatality report is based on federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Transportation-related deaths remained the most common cause of workplace fatality, accounting for nearly 50% of the total workplace deaths in 2017. Of those 38 deaths, 29 were roadway accidents.
Falls, slips and trips were the second-most common cause of workplace deaths, up to 14 fatalities in 2017 from eight in 2016. The other fatalities were attributed to violence and injuries by animals or people (11 deaths), contact with objects and equipment (eight) and other causes (six). Of the 2017 workplace fatalities, 19 occurred in trade, transportation and utilities; 19 in construction; 10 in the natural resources and mining industry; and five in the government sector.
Data also showed that workers between the ages of 45 to 54 incurred the greatest number of fatalities, 19, in 2017.
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