According to the United States Department of Labor, 4,383 workers were killed on the job in 2012 which means that, on average, more than 84 employees died per week, or 12 per day.
Of the 4,383 fatalities, 708 of the victims were hispanic or latino while 16 percent of fatal work injuries involved contractors.
Out of 3,945 private industry worker fatalities in 2012, 775 were in construction with the leading cause being attributed to falls, followed by being struck by an object, electrocution and being caught between objects. There types of accidents are responsible for nearly three out of five construction worker deaths in 2012.
- Falls – 278 out of 775 total deaths in construction in 2012 (36%)
- Struck by Object – 78 (10%)
- Electrocutions – 66 (9%)
- Caught-in/between – 13 (2%)
The 10 most violated standards thus far in 2013 have been:
- Fall protection, construction
- Hazard communication standard, general industry
- Scaffolding, general requirements, construction
- Respiratory protection, general industry
- Electrical, wiring methods, components and equipment, general industry
- Powered industrial trucks, general industry
- Ladders, construction
- Control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), general industry
- Electrical systems design, general requirements, general industry
- Machinery and Machine Guarding, general requirements
Fatal falls, slips or trips accounted for 668 fatalities in 2012 with falls causing 81 percent of the deaths. Of those cases, about one in four occurred after of fall of 10 feet or less and another one-fourth took place in distances of over 30 feet.
Fatal injuries among government workers decreased 13 percent from 2011 to 2012 (438 deaths), making it the lowest fatal work injury total since the time work-injury data began to be recorded. State and local government totals are responsible for the decline as federal government injuries have remained steady.
The rate of nonfatal occupational injury and illness cases requiring days away from work to recuperate was 117 cases per 10,000 full-time workers in 2011, statistically unchanged from 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total number of private industry, state government, and local government cases with days away from work remained statistically unchanged at 1,181,290. The median days away from work–a key measure of severity of injuries and illnesses–was 8 days, the same as the previous year.
Occupational injuries and illnesses to workers in five occupations accounted for nearly 20 percent of the days-away-from-work cases in 2011: laborers; nursing aides and orderlies and attendants; janitors and cleaners; heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers; and police officers and sheriff’s patrol officers. Police officers had an incidence rate per 10,000 full-time workers that was five times greater than for all occupations; the rate for laborers was three times greater than the rate for all workers.
The proportion of injuries and illnesses was highest among workers age 45-54–accounting for 26 percent of the total cases in 2011. In private industry, workers in this age group had decreases in case counts and incidence rates, as did workers age 16-19 and 65 and over. Injuries and illnesses to workers age 55-64 in manufacturing increased 6 percent to 21,660 cases; workers age 20-24 had a 13 percent increase in the same industry.
Among private industry workers, injuries and illnesses to workers with 1-5 years of service with an employer accounted for 35 percent of the cases despite an 11 percent decrease. However, the number of days-away-from-work cases increased for workers with fewer than 3 months-of-service and 3-11 months-of-service. In the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry, there was a 32 percent increase in the number of cases for workers with 3-11 months-of-service.
Transportation incidents accounted for more than two out of every five fatal work injuries in 2012. Of the 1,789 transportation injuries, 1,044 cases were roadway incidents. Non-roadway incidents, such as tractor overturn, accounted for another 13 percent of fatal transportation injuries. Another 16 percent included injured pedestrians, 65 of which occurred in work zones.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2012, 375 workers were killed in shootings while on the job. Robbers are credited with 33 percent of those homicides while coworkers accounted for 13 percent. Further, from 1992 to 2012, 140 government workers were shot and killed by a coworker while on the job. Overall, 767 workers were killed as a result of violence and other injuries caused by people and animals including 463 homicides and 225 suicides. The work-related suicide total declined by 10 percent from 2011 to 2012 .