This is a “good news, bad news” story. The total number of on-the-job deaths declined in 2010. That’s good, but part of the reason is that fewer people are working construction jobs these days, and that’s bad. Here are more details:
Reporting from its Washington Bureau, Business Journals cited “preliminary numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics” revealing 4,547 deadly work injuries in the US in 2010. The number is slightly less than 2009 but “the bad news is that the weak economy played a role in keeping occupational fatalities down — some high-risk industries, such as construction, saw continued declines in the number of hours worked.” Mining industry fatalities increased by 74 percent, in part due to the Deepwater Horizon and Upper Big Branch mine explosions. Labor secretary Hilda Solis “noted that the number of workplace fatalities is down significantly from the 14,000 estimated deaths in 1970, when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was founded,” but said, “One worker killed or injured on the job is one too many.”
