Economic News Release

TECHNICAL NOTES

Identification and verification of work-related fatalities

	In 2008, there were 27 cases included for which work relationship could not be independently verified; 
however, the information on the initiating source document for these cases was sufficient to determine that the 
incident was likely to be job-related.  Data for these fatalities are included in the Census of Fatal 
Occupational Injuries counts.  An additional 78 fatalities submitted by States were not included because the 
source documents had insufficient information to determine work relationship and could not be verified by either 
an independent source document or a follow-up questionnaire.

	States may identify additional fatal work injuries after data collection closeout for a reference year.  
In addition, other fatalities excluded from the published count because of insufficient information to determine 
work relationship may subsequently be verified as work related.  States have up to seven months from this release 
to update their initial published State counts.  This procedure ensures that fatality data are disseminated as 
quickly as possible and that legitimate cases are not excluded from the final counts.  Thus, each year's initial 
release of data should be considered preliminary.  Final data are released in the Spring of the following year.  
Revised counts for 2008 will be available in April 2010.

	Over the last 5 years, increases in the published counts based on additional information have 
averaged 83 fatalities per year or less than 1.5 percent of the revised total.  There was a larger-than-normal update 
last year.  The BLS news release issued August 20, 2008 reported a total of 5,488 fatal work injuries for 2007.  
With the April 2009 release of final data, an additional 169 net fatal work injuries were added, bringing the total 
for 2007 to 5,657.

Federal/State agency coverage

	The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries includes data for all fatal work injuries, whether the decedent 
was working in a job covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or other federal or State 
agencies or was outside the scope of regulatory coverage.  Thus, any comparison between the BLS fatality census 
counts and those released by other agencies should take into account the different coverage requirements and 
definitions being used by each agency.

	Several federal and State agencies have jurisdiction over workplace safety and health.  OSHA and affiliated 
agencies in States with approved safety programs cover the largest portion of the nation's workers.  However, injuries 
and illnesses occurring in certain industries or activities, such as coal, metal, and nonmetal mining, and highway, 
water, rail, and air transportation, are excluded from OSHA coverage because they are covered by other 
federal agencies, such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration and various agencies within the Department of 
Transportation.

Acknowledgements

	BLS thanks the participating States, New York City, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the 
Virgin Islands for their efforts in collecting accurate, comprehensive, and useful data on fatal work injuries.  
BLS also appreciates the efforts of all federal, State, local, and private sector entities that submitted source 
documents used to identify fatal work injuries.  Among these agencies are the Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration; the National Transportation Safety Board; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Mine Safety and Health 
Administration; the Employment Standards Administration (Federal Employees' Compensation and Longshore and Harbor 
Workers' divisions); the Federal Railroad Administration; the Department of Energy; State vital statistics registrars, 
coroners, and medical examiners; State departments of health, labor and industries, and workers' compensation 
agencies; State and local police departments; and State farm bureaus.