2000 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries — 2001-08-14

A total of 5,915 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2000, a decline of about 2 percent from 1999, according to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. The decline occurred even though overall employment increased in 2000. The number of job-related deaths from highway incidents, the most frequent fatal work injury, declined for the first time since the fatality census was first conducted in 1992. Fatalities resulting from electrocutions, fires and explosions, and contact with objects or equipment also were down in 2000. Fatal job-related falls and homicides both increased. Although the number of fatal highway incidents was down about 9 percent from 1999 levels, highway crashes continued to be the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities in 2000, accounting for nearly a quarter of the fatal work injury total.