Work-related deaths in Washington State, 1998–2002

Abstract

Introduction

In Washington State, 87 workers are killed each year, on average, while in work status. To understand these incidents and to assist in focusing on and development of potential prevention measures, they must be well characterized.

Methods

Work-related fatalities between the years 1998 and 2002 are described by the demographics of the victims, types of incidents, the victims' occupations, and industries and location in which they worked.

Results

Motor vehicle- and machinery-related incidents accounted for nearly 33% and 14% of the incidents, respectively. Agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, and mining (n = 87), and construction (n = 83) had the most fatalities. Fatality rates per 100,000 workers for these industries were 25.7 and 8.7, respectively, compared to the state-wide average of 3.1 fatalities/100,000 workers.

Discussion

These data indicate numerous areas for prevention of work-related traumatic injuries and fatalities.

Introduction

In 2002, an average of 15 U.S. workers died each day due to traumatic injuries related to their work (United States Bureau of Labor Statistics [USBLS], 2003a). For the same year in Washington State, on average, one worker died every 5 days (Washington State Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries [WA CFOI], 2003). When these values are compared to the 215 logging fatalities in Washington in 1923 (Prouty, 1985), the situation seems greatly improved, but most if not all of the work-related deaths in 2002 could have been prevented.

Nationwide, in 2002, 5,524 workers died from work–related injuries (USBLS, 2003a). Twenty percent of those workers were in construction, 16% in transportation and public utilities, and 14% in agriculture, forestry and fishing. Forty-three percent of the deaths were due to transportation incidents, 16% due to contact with objects or equipment, and 15% due to assaults and violent acts. Truck drivers, farming and sales occupations, and construction laborers accounted for 35% of these fatalities. Each industry, incident type, and occupation had different situations leading up to the incidents. The better we understand the specifics and generalities, the better we can prevent future incidents from occurring.

A number of studies have looked more closely at fatality patterns in some of these industries and occupations. Different incident types and hazards have also been studied in a variety of countries and regions in the United States. Fatalities in logging (Paulozzi, 1987, Marshall et al., 1994), construction (Buskin and Paulozzi, 1987, Pollack et al., 1996), fishing (Thomas, Lincoln, Husberg, & Conway, 2001), agriculture (Conroy and Sciortino, 1997, Myers and Hard, 1995), electric utilities (Loomis, Dufort, Kleckner, & Savitz, 1999), manufacturing, (Jeong, 1999), and retail (Peek-Asa, Erickson, & Kraus, 1999) are described in the literature.

Fatality rates have been found to vary greatly by industry and occupation in various locations. Table 1 summarizes the fatality rates for select industries and occupations. These rates vary from 430 deaths/100,000 workers for pilots in Alaska to 3 deaths/100,000 retail workers in the United States.

Victim demographics have been studied to help determine if various sub-populations have elevated risks and exposures to hazards. The three most commonly studied factors are age (young and old; Agnew and Suruda, 1993, Suruda et al., 2003, Windau et al., 1999), sex (Ore, 1998, Jenkins, 1994), and race (Loomis & Richardson, 1998). It should be noted that these factors may not be causative or protective factors, but may be acting as surrogates for the types of jobs these individuals perform.

Surveillance for workplace fatalities has been conducted in the United States in select industry sectors since the early 1900s (National Research Council [NRC], 1987) and in Washington since 1912 (Prouty, 1985). The early surveillance systems did not cover all industry sectors or all workers. Currently in Washington, there are two surveillance systems for work-related fatalities, the WA Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) Program and the WA Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. The CFOI Program has the objective of collecting comprehensive information on fatal occupational injuries (Austin, 1995). The WA FACE Program's goals are for the prevention of work-related fatalities through identification of these incidents and investigation into their root causes with direct dissemination of this information to affected industries and policy makers (Higgins, Casini, Bost, Johnson, & Rautiainen, 2001).

This article describes and characterizes the Washington State FACE Program's surveillance system, characterizes the fatalities in Washington between 1998 and 2002, and describes how the data have driven a number of prevention activities.