A total of 5,915 U.S. workers were fatally injured on the job during 2000, a decline of about 2 percent from 1999, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). On average, about 16 workers were fatally injured each day during 2000.

Construction and transportation workers were fatally injured on the job more often than any other industrial sector in 2000, according to the BLS' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.

Construction again recorded the highest number of fatal work injuries (1,154) of any industry, although the total for the industry was down about 3 percent in 2000-the first decline for construction fatalities since 1996. Construction equipment operators, fabricators, and laborers recorded the largest number of fatal work injuries (2,118) of any occupational group in 2000, accounting for more than one out of every three fatalities. Deaths in some specific construction-related occupations included, laborers (288), carpenters (91), electricians (89), roofers (65) and metal workers (47). 

Among the protective services, 142 police officers and 43 firefighters died on the job. 

Highway crashes continued to be the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities in 2000, with 1,405 deaths accounting for nearly a quarter of the fatal work injury total. By occupation, 852 truck drivers died on the job, while 130 airplane pilots and navigators were killed. Taxi drivers and chauffeurs accounted for 70 deaths.

Deaths resulting from falls increased slightly to 734 in 2000--the largest annual total of fall-related deaths ever recorded by the fatality census.

Fewer workers (256) were killed by electrocution than in any year since the fatality census was first conducted. The number of fatal injuries resulting from fires or explosions in 2000 fell from its highest annual total of 216 in 1999 to 177, its lowest annual total since 1992. The number of workers who were fatally injured through contact with objects or equipment also was down from the previous year, but still accounted for nearly one out of every six fatal work injuries in 2000.

Not all on-the-job fatalities are accidental. A total of 677 job-related deaths were ruled homicides in 2000, up from 651 in 1999. The highest number of workplace homicides occurred in 1994, when 1,080 deaths were reported. In incidents where a motive was determined, 291 workplace homicides involved robbery during 2000. 

Of the 677 workplace homicides reported in 2000, 533 deaths resulted from shootings, 66 from stabbing and 78 from other causes, including bombings. An additional 220 non-accidental work place deaths resulted from self-inflicted injuries.

This is the ninth year that the fatality census has been conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The BLS fatality census is a federal/state cooperative venture in which costs are shared equally. 

Data compiled in the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries is based on deaths resulting from traumatic occupational injuries only. The data does not include reports of deaths due to natural causes or work-related fatal illnesses.

Another BLS program, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, profiles worker and case characteristics of nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses that result in lost work-time and presents frequency counts and incidence rates by industry. Copies of the 1999 news release on nonfatal injuries and illnesses are available from BLS by calling (202) 691-6179 or by accessing the website listed below. Incidence rates for 2000 by industry will be published in December 2001, and information on 2000 worker and case characteristics will be available in April 2002. For additional data, access the BLS Internet site: http://www.bls.gov/oshhome.htm.