Are you most likely to have a fatal accident at work?
As an engineer, I love numbers. As an attorney, I love facts. As both, I love numerical facts. The US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics website reports each fatal accident at work in Texas. It is hard reading because each piece of information about the 534 people who died in 2017 working in Texas is a real person who is no longer with us anymore. However, the more we know about who is most at risk, the more we can do to reduce that number.
Some statistics about workplace fatalities such as approximately 90% men and 90% wage/salary workers, did not surprise me. Other statistics did. It is not surprising that the majority of fatalities were workers 25 to 54 years old. However, the age group of 55-64 was one fatality shy of being the highest age group. I observed the labor pool, with regards to hazardous jobs at that age, to be greatly reduced compared to 25 to 34, 35 to 44, and 45 to 54. However, for the fatalities to be so high makes me wonder if there is an identifiable risk particular to that group.
Interestingly, transportation incidents accounted for around half of the workplace fatalities in 2017. In other words, 25 percent of the workplace fatalities in Texas for 2017 were due to transportation incidents involving males, aged 55-64. That is a narrow category to make up 25% of the workplace fatalities in Texas. These numbers are pretty consistent in 2015 and 2016. After further digging, I determined these numbers are in line with the national trends. It will be interesting to see if 2018 continues the trend but unfortunately, the bureau has not released the statistics. Further research would be warranted as to what makes this demographic such a high risk and what can be done to reduce the fatalities and save lives.
Information for this article was sourced through the following sites:
https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/tgs/2017/iiffw48.htm
https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/tgs/2016/iiffw48.htm