Workplace fatalities

Arlington, VA — The Mine Safety and Health Administration is seeking input on technologies that may help reduce incidents involving mobile equipment at surface mines, as well as belt conveyors at surface and underground mines, according to a Request for Information published in the June 26 Federal Register.

Quincy, MA — Sixty firefighters were killed on the job in 2017 – the fewest since NFPA began reporting on-duty firefighter fatalities in 1977 – according to an annual report from the National Fire Protection Association.

Honolulu — Four workers in Hawaii were killed and seven were seriously injured during a 20-day span in May, according to the state’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, prompting further investigation from the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division.

Morgantown, WV — Falls are the second-leading cause of work-related deaths in the United States, representing 14 percent of all worker fatalities over an 11-year period, according to a recent study from NIOSH.

Washington — Fatal motor vehicle crashes among law enforcement officers are on course for their lowest total since the 1980s, according to an analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis.

Londonderry, NH — Fatalities among tree care workers dipped nearly 22 percent in 2017, while incidents decreased about 16 percent, according to a recent analysis from the Tree Care Industry Association.

Silver Spring, MD — Caught-in or caught-between incidents resulted in 275 construction worker deaths from 2011 to 2015 – the most of any major industry – according to a recent report from the Center for Construction Research and Training (also known as CPWR).

Chicago — Opioid-related overdoses claimed the lives of nearly 1,000 Midwest construction workers in 2015 – part of an opioid crisis that cost the region’s industry more than $5 billion in health care expenses and lost time and production, according to a recent report from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute.

Lexington, KY — In response to an uptick in trench-related deaths among construction workers, the Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program has released a hazard alert warning of the dangers of trench work.

New York — Construction worker fatalities continue to rise in New York state amid rampant safety violations, according to an annual report released by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, an advocacy group.