A preliminary report released August 19 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries(CGOI) indicates that the number of workplace fatalities declined in 2009 from the prior year. Specifically, the report shows that in 2009, 4,340 individuals died due to workplace injuries, down from the 5,214 such fatalities in 2008, representing a 16.7% decrease. Overall, the preliminary fatality rate for 2009 amounts to 3.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. According to the BLS, this number represents the smallest annual preliminary total since the CFOI program’s inception in 1992. This decline was due, in part, to reduced employment in industries that traditionally experience a greater incidence of fatal injuries, such as construction.

According to the BLS, highlights of the survey include the following:

• Workplace homicides declined 1 percent in 2009, in contrast to an overall decline of 17 percent for all fatal work injuries. The homicide total for 2009 includes the 13 victims of the November shooting at Fort Hood. Workplace suicides were down 10 percent in 2009 from the series high of 263 in 2008.
• Though wage and salary workers and self-employed workers experienced similar declines in total hours worked in 2009, fatal work injuries among wage and salary workers in 2009 declined by 20 percent while fatal injuries among self-employed workers were down 3 percent.
• The wholesale trade industry was one of the few major private industry sectors reporting higher numbers of fatal work injuries in 2009.
• Fatal work injuries in the private construction sector declined by 16 percent in 2009 following the decline of 19 percent in 2008.
• Fatalities among non-Hispanic black or African-American workers were down 24 percent. This worker group also experienced a slightly larger decline in total hours worked than non-Hispanic white or Hispanic workers.
• The number of fatal workplace injuries in building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations rose 6 percent, one of the few major occupation groups to record an increase in fatal work injuries in 2009.
• Transportation incidents, which accounted for nearly two-fifths of all the fatal work injuries in 2009, fell 21 percent from the 2,130 fatal work injuries reported in 2008.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said of the survey results: "While a decrease in the number of fatal work injuries is encouraging, we cannot – and will not – relent from our continued strong enforcement of workplace safety laws.”

Links to areas of the survey covering occupational fatalities by event or exposure; industry; occupation; selected worker characteristics; and by state can be found here.