Statistics from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities Program

Statistics from the IIF (Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities) program

The IIF Statistics sections of the ocouha website (on most of the occupation information pages) contain on-the-job worker fatality data: fatal occupational injuries by occupation, and the number by specific event or exposure (e.g., transportation incidents, assaults and violent acts, contact with objects and equipment, falls, etc.). Note that "Transportation incidents" includes highway, nonhighway, air, water, rail fatalities, and fatalities resulting from being struck by a vehicle. "Assaults and violent acts" includes violence by persons, self-inflicted injury, and attacks by animals. These data come from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program at the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) produces comprehensive, accurate, and timely counts of fatal work injuries. CFOI is a Federal-State cooperative program that has been implemented in all 50 States and the District of Columbia since 1992. To compile counts that are as complete as possible, the census uses multiple sources to identify, verify, and profile fatal worker injuries. Information about each workplace fatality--occupation and other worker characteristics, equipment involved, and circumstances of the event--is obtained by cross referencing the source records, such as death certificates, workers' compensation reports, and Federal and State agency administrative reports. To ensure that fatalities are work-related, cases are substantiated with two or more independent source documents, or a source document and a follow-up questionnaire. Data compiled by the CFOI program are issued annually for the preceding calendar year.

When considering fatal occupational injury data for a given occupation, it is useful to keep that occupation's total employment in mind. For example, there are several hundred fatal occupational injuries among truck drivers and driver/sales workers, and these account for a large percentage of total fatal occupational injuries. There are only about one hundred fatal occupational injuries among aircraft pilots and flight engineers. However, there are over three million of the truck drivers and a little over one hundred thousand of the pilots and flight engineers. Therefore the rate of fatal occupational injuries for the truck drivers workers is much lower than that of pilots and flight engineers. The truck drivers experience about 27 fatal occupational injuries per hundred thousand workers, while the rate for the pilots and flight engineers is nearly 100 per hundred thousand workers. For more information, see the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries press release PDF file.

Rate of fatal occupational injuries for selected occupations, 2004 (fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 employed)

Occupation	Fatal occupational injuries rate
Logging workers (see Forest, conservation, and logging workers)	92.4
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers	92.4
Fishers and related fishing workers (Fishers and fishing vessel operators)	86.4
Structural iron and steel workers (Structural and reinforcing iron and metal workers)	47.0
Refuse and recyclable material collectors (Material moving occupations)	43.2
Farmers and ranchers (Farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers)	37.5
Roofers	34.9
Electrical power- line installers and repairers	30.0
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers (Truck drivers and driver/sales workers)	27.6
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs	24.2
All workers fatality rate	4.1

Rate of fatal occupational injuries for selected occupations, 2003 (fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 employed)

Occupation	Fatal occupational injuries rate
Logging workers (see Forest, conservation, and logging workers)	131.6
Fishers and related fishing occupations (Fishers and fishing vessel operators)	115.0
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers	94.7
Farmers and ranchers (Farmers, ranchers, and agricultural managers)	39.3
Truck drivers and driver/sales workers	26.7
Construction laborers	25.1
Police and sheriff's patrol officers (Police and detectives)	20.9
Miscellaneous agricultural workers	16.5
Grounds maintenance workers	13.6
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand (Material moving occupations)	6.1
First-line supervisors/managers of retail (Sales worker supervisors)	3.7

Rate = (Fatal work injuries/Employment) x 100,000 workers. Employment data extracted from the 2003 Current Population Survey (CPS). The fatality rates were calculated using employment as the denominator; employment-based rates measure the risk for those employed during a given period of time, regardless of exposure hours. Source: US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2003.

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