The Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2006. The report shows that there were 5,703 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2006, down slightly from the revised total of 5,734 fatalities in 2005. The rate of fatal work injuries in 2006 was 3.9 per 100,000 workers, down from a rate of 4.0 per 100,000 in 2005. These numbers are preliminary and will be updated in April 2008.

Key findings of the 2006 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries:

• The overall fatal work injury rate for the United States in 2006 was lower than the rate for any year since the fatality census was first conducted in 1992.
• Coal mining industry fatalities more than doubled in 2006 because of the Sago Mine disaster and other multiple-fatality coal mining incidents.
• The number of workplace homicides in 2006 was a series low and reflected a decline of over 50 percent from the high reported in 1994.
• Fatalities among workers under 25 years of age fell 9 percent, and the rate of fatal injury among these workers was down significantly.
• The 937 fatal work injuries involving Hispanic or Latino workers in 2006 was a series high, but the overall fatality rate for Hispanic or Latino workers was lower than in 2005.
• Fatalities among self-employed workers declined 11 percent and reached a series low in 2006.

Of the 5,703 fatal work injuries in 2006, 5,202 occurred in private industry. Service-providing industries in the private sector accounted for 47 percent, while private goods-producing industries accounted for 44 percent. Government workers accounted for 9 percent of fatalities in 2006. The fatality rate for goods-producing industries was unchanged in 2006, while the fatality rate for service-providing industries and for government were both lower in 2006.

Construction accounted for 1,226 fatal work injuries, the most of any industry sector. The total for construction represented an increase of 3 percent over the 2005 total. Fatalities among specialty trade contractors rose 6 percent (from 677 fatalities in 2005 to 721 in 2006),primarily because of higher numbers of fatal work injuries among building finishing contractors and roofing contractors. Fatalities in building construction and in heavy and civil engineering construction decreased in 2006.

Twenty-seven states reported higher numbers of fatalities in 2006, and 23 states and the District of Columbia had lower totals. Texas recorded the highest number of fatalities of any state (486), followed by California (448), and Florida (355).

For more information, see the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2006.