Workplace Fatalities Declined in 2017

There were fewer workplace fatalities in 2017 than the previous year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2017 (CFOI) report released in December. ( https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf ) The fatal injury rate decreased from 3.6 percent in 2016 to 3.5 percent in 2017.

Crane-related workplace fatalities, and fatal occupational injuries in manufacturing and wholesale trade reached their lowest points since the CFOI started in 1992. The number of unintentional overdoses due to the nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol while at work increased by 25 percent – the fifth consecutive year that overdose deaths rose by at least 25 percent. See OSHA's statement on the report. ( https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/trade/12182018 )