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Locations of fatal work injuries in the United States: 1980 to 1985.
J Occup Med 1989 Aug; 31(8):674-676
The possibility that coded locations in national death certificate data could be used to identify work related deaths was investigated using the NIOSH maintained National Traumatic Occupational Fatality (NTOF) data base for 1980 to 1985. Classification of the 404466 NTOF fatal work injury cases by location indicated: 10 percent farm; 4 percent mine and quarry; 16 percent industrial; 11 percent public building; 23 percent street and highway; 8 percent unspecified place; and 28 percent other specified places. Fifty seven percent of work related fatalities in agriculture, forestry, and fishing occurred on farms while 62 percent of mining fatalities occurred at mines and quarries. Thirty two percent of construction and of manufacturing fatalities occurred at industrially coded locations. The National Center for Health Statistics data indicated 2.35 times the NTOF number of deaths in other specified places. The National Safety Council and Bureau of Labor Statistics data on 1986 work deaths suggested that highway deaths may actually be closer to a third of all work related deaths; the National Safety council estimated 10 percent of highway fatalities were work related. The author concludes that work related fatalities cannot be identified by place with reasonable accuracy.
JOCMA7; NIOSH-Author; Humans; Agricultural-industry; Mortality-rates; Industrial-safety; Mining-industry; Occupational-accidents; Work-areas
Issue of Publication
Journal of Occupational Medicine
Page last reviewed: April 12, 2019
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Education and Information Division