General Information: (312) 353-1880 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Media Contact: Paul LaPorte Friday, October 19, 2007
(312) 353-1138
http://www.bls.gov/ro5
Data Tables
NORTH DAKOTA WORKPLACE FATALITIES, 2006
Fatal work injuries in North Dakota totaled 31 for 2006, up from
22 in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of
Labor Statistics. Regional Commissioner Jay A. Mousa noted that the
2006 fatality count was the State's highest since 2000 and its third-
highest since the Bureau began tracking workplace fatalities in 1992.
The most frequent types of workplace fatalities in the State in 2006
were highway crashes (8), nonhighway transportation incidents (7),
and falls to a lower level and workers being struck by an object (5
each). Taken together, these four events1 accounted for just over 80
percent of the work-related fatalities in North Dakota.
The number of fatal work injuries from highway crashes in the
State rose by five over the year-from three to eight, making it the
most frequent fatal event in 2006. (See table A.) Highway crashes
were also the leading cause of workplace fatalities nationwide. In
2006, highway crashes accounted for 26 percent of North Dakota's and
23 percent of the nation's on-the-job fatalities.
Nonhighway transportation incidents (excluding rail, air, and
water) were responsible for seven of the State's workplace
fatalities. This was the highest single-year total since the BLS
began recording data in 1992. The event's 23 percent share of North
Dakota's fatal injuries was also the highest on record. Nationally,
nonhighway transportation incidents accounted for 6 percent of total
workplace fatalities.
Five workers in North Dakota were fatally injured by being
struck by objects in 2006, up two cases over the year. Being struck
by an object accounted for 16 percent of the workplace fatalities in
North Dakota and 10 percent nationally.
The five on-the-job fatalities in North Dakota resulting from
falls to a lower level also accounted for 16 percent of the State's
total workplace deaths. The number of fatalities from this event
changed little from the previous year. Nationally, falls to a lower
level accounted for 13 percent of all workplace deaths.
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1 Fatal events are categorized into several major groupings including
transportation incidents, assaults and violent acts, and falls.
These major groups are further broken down into more detailed groups.
For example, transportation incidents includes highway incidents and
aircraft incidents; assaults and violent acts includes homicides and
suicides; and falls includes falls to a lower level (as from a roof
or ladder) and falls on the same level (as from grease on a floor or
ice on a sidewalk).
Table A. Fatal occupational injuries in North Dakota by selected event
groups, 1992-2006
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| Total | Highway | Nonhighway | Struck | Falls to
Year |fatali- | crashes | incidents | by object | lower level
| ties |------------------------------------------------------------
| |Number|Percent|Number|Percent|Number|Percent|Number|Percent
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 20 4 20 -- -- -- -- 3 15
1993 30 4 13 -- -- 9 30 6 20
1994 21 3 14 3 14 3 14 -- --
1995 28 3 11 -- -- 4 14 -- --
1996 23 5 22 3 13 5 22 -- --
1997 35 9 26 4 11 -- -- 9 26
1998 24 3 13 4 17 8 33 -- --
1999 22 -- -- -- -- 4 18 -- --
2000 34 3 9 4 12 5 15 4 12
2001 25 9 36 4 16 3 12 -- --
2002 25 8 32 4 16 -- -- 3 12
2003 26 10 38 -- -- 5 19 -- --
2004 24 3 13 -- -- 7 29 -- --
2005 22 3 14 -- -- 3 14 4 18
2006 31 8 26 7 23 5 16 5 16
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication
criteria.
Nationwide, a total of 5,703 fatal work injuries were reported
in 2006, down slightly from the revised total of 5,734 fatal work
injuries recorded in 2005. The count for 2006 was the third lowest
annual total recorded by the fatality census, which has been
conducted yearly since 1992. (See table B.) The 2006 count of 1,329
fatal highway crashes was the lowest annual total since 1993.
Highway crashes in 2006 accounted for nearly one out of every four
fatal work injuries and continued to lead all other events in the
frequency of on-the-job fatalities. Fatal work injuries involving
falls to a lower level increased 10 percent in 2006 after a sharp
decrease in 2005. The 2006 total of 728 fatal falls to a lower level
was the second highest since the fatality census began. The number
of workers who were fatally injured from being struck by objects was
lower in 2006, after increasing for the last three years. The 583
fatalities resulting from being struck by objects in 2006 represented
a 4-percent decline from the 2005 total.
Workplace homicides decreased 9 percent to 516 in 2006, the
lowest annual total ever reported by the fatality census. Overall,
workplace homicides have decreased more than 50 percent from the
series high in 1994.
Table B. Fatal occupational injuries in the United States by selected event
groups, 1992-2006
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Total | Highway | Nonhighway | Struck | Falls to
Year |fatali- | crashes | incidents | by object | lower level
| ties |------------------------------------------------------------
| |Number|Percent|Number|Percent|Number|Percent|Number|Percent
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1992 6,217 1,158 19 507 8 557 9 436 7
1993 6,331 1,242 20 534 8 565 9 392 6
1994 6,632 1,343 20 580 9 591 9 409 6
1995 6,275 1,346 21 578 9 547 9 387 6
1996 6,202 1,346 22 610 10 582 9 374 6
1997 6,238 1,393 22 653 10 579 9 377 6
1998 6,055 1,442 24 625 10 520 9 388 6
1999 6,054 1,496 25 634 10 585 10 352 6
2000 5,920 1,365 23 659 11 571 10 399 7
20011 5,915 1,409 24 700 12 553 9 326 6
2002 5,534 1,373 25 638 12 505 9 323 6
2003 5,575 1,353 24 604 11 531 10 347 6
2004 5,764 1,398 24 738 13 602 10 338 6
20052 5,734 1,437 25 664 12 607 11 340 6
2006 5,703 1,329 23 728 13 583 10 342 6
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1 Totals for 2001 exclude fatalities due to the events of
September 11, 2001 which claimed the lives of 2,886 persons in
work status.
2 The BLS news release issued August 10, 2006, reported a total
of 5,702 fatal work injuries for calendar year 2005. Since then,
an additional 32 job-related fatalities were identified, bringing
the total job-related fatality count for 2005 to 5,734.
Key characteristics of workplace fatalities in North Dakota in 2006:
- Men accounted for 97 percent of the work-related fatalities in
the State with 30 deaths. Transportation incidents, which include
highway, nonhighway, pedestrian, air, water, and rail, accounted for
more than half of these injuries.
- Ninety-seven percent or 30 of those who died from a workplace
injury were white non-Hispanics.
- Workers aged 55 and over accounted for 58 percent or 18 of the
State's workplace fatalities. Nationally, 27 percent
of worker deaths belonged to this age group.
- Nineteen wage and salary workers were on-the-job fatalities in
2006 representing 61 percent of North Dakota's fatality count; the
rest were self-employed.
- The agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry sector
had the largest number of fatalities with 15--almost one-half of the
State's fatal injuries. No other major industry had more than five.
In the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting sector,
transportation incidents accounted for two-thirds (10) of the
fatalities. In construction, falls were the most frequent event
resulting in three of the industry's fatalities.
- Workers in management (all farmers and ranchers) led all major
occupational groups with 11 worker fatalities, accounting for 35
percent of the State's total count. Those in construction and
extraction, and transportation and material moving accounted for
seven and six workplace fatalities, respectively. Transportation
incidents were the most prevalent cause of worker deaths in both the
management and transportation and material moving occupational
groups.
Additional data available
Additional Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries data are
available from the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm.
Data tables for 2006 are available for all 50 states, the District
of Columbia, and selected metropolitan areas. Detailed data may
be accessed through the online query system located at
http://data.bls.gov/PDQ/outside.jsp?survey=fi. For additional
information or assistance, please contact the Midwest Information
Office in Chicago at (312) 353-1880, menu option 0.
TECHNICAL NOTE
Background of the program
The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, part of the BLS
occupational safety and health statistics program, compiles a count
of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. in each calendar
year. The program uses diverse State and Federal data sources to
identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. Information
about each workplace fatality (industry, occupation, and other worker
characteristics; equipment being used; and circumstances of the
event) is obtained by cross-referencing source documents, such as
death certificates, workers' compensation records, news accounts, and
reports to Federal and State agencies. This method assures counts
are as complete and accurate as possible.
Definitions
For a fatality to be included in the census, the decedent must
have been employed (that is working for pay, compensation, or profit)
at the time of the event, engaged in a legal work activity, or
present at the site of the incident as a requirement of his or her
job. Fatalities to volunteer and unpaid family workers who perform
the same duties and functions as paid workers are also included in
the counts. These criteria are generally broader than those used by
Federal and State agencies administering specific laws and
regulations. (Fatalities that occur during a person's normal commute
to or from work are excluded from the census counts.)
Data presented in this release include deaths occurring in 2006
that resulted from traumatic occupational injuries. An injury is
defined as any wound or damage to the body resulting from acute
exposure to energy, such as heat, electricity, or impact from a crash
or fall, or from the absence of such essentials as heat or oxygen
caused by a specific event or incident within a single workday or
shift. Included are open wounds, intracranial and internal injuries,
heatstroke, hypothermia, asphyxiation, acute poisonings resulting
from short-term exposures limited to the worker's shift, suicides and
homicides, and work injuries listed as underlying or contributory
causes of death.
Information on work-related fatal illnesses is not reported in
the BLS census and is excluded from the attached tables because the
latency period of many occupational illnesses and the difficulty of
linking illnesses to work exposures make identification of a universe
problematic.
Measurement techniques and limitations
Data for the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries are compiled
from various Federal, State, and local administrative
sources-including death certificates, workers' compensation reports
and claims, reports to various regulatory agencies, medical examiner
reports, and police reports-as well as news and other non-
governmental reports. Diverse sources are used because studies have
shown that no single source captures all job-related fatalities.
Source documents are matched so that each fatality is counted only
once. To ensure that a fatality occurred while the decedent was at
work, information is verified from two or more independent source
documents or from a source document and a follow-up questionnaire.
Approximately 30 data elements are collected, coded, and tabulated,
including information about the worker, the fatal incident, and the
machinery or equipment involved.
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.
Fatalities occurring among several other groups of workers are
generally not covered by any Federal or State agencies. These groups
include self-employed and unpaid family workers, which accounted for
about 18 percent of the fatalities; laborers on small farms,
accounting for about 1 percent of the fatalities; and State and local
government employees in States without OSHA-approved safety programs,
which accounted for about 4 percent. (Approximately one-half of the
States have approved OSHA safety programs, which cover State and
local government employees.)
Acknowledgments
BLS thanks the efforts of all Federal, State, local, and
private sector agencies 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 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.
Last Modified Date: October 19, 2007
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