1999 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries — 2000-08-17

The number of fatal work injuries that occurred during 1999 was 6,023, nearly the same as the previous year's total despite an increase in employment, according to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Decreases in job-related deaths from homicides and electrocutions in 1999 were offset by increases from workers struck by falling objects or caught in running machinery. Homicides fell from the second-leading cause of fatal work injuries to the third, behind highway fatalities and falls. Construction reported the largest number of fatal work injuries for any industry and accounted for one-fifth of the fatality total. Highway crashes continued as the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities during 1999, accounting for one-fourth of the fatal work injury total. (See table 1 and chart 1.) The number of these fatalities increased slightly over 1998 to reach the highest level since the BLS fatality census began in 1992.