Careful on those ladders!
The latest report on Oregon workplace deaths was just released by the Oregon Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE), a federally funded program at Oregon Health Sciences University. The report tracks occupational fatalities from 2007. FACE culls the death information not only from such government agencies as Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Mine Safety & Health Administration (MSHA), and other entities, such as military organizations or police agencies, but it also investigates other sources, such as small-town newspaper obituary sections.
Falls were the top cause of workplace death in 2007. Five people died falling from ladders, four fell from roofs or other elevated areas, two died as a result of a hole in a roof or floor, and one fell to his death from a tree. Death by violence tripled in 2007, rising to nine deaths compared to three the previous year. Violence includes both homicide and suicide. Five of the deaths involved a firearm.
The report is full of other information, too, such as worker fatalities by race/ethnicity and by gender. The report tracks the deaths by month, by occupation, by industry, by location, and much more. It also provides abstracts detailing how the deaths took place and what exactly occurred. It’s a really fascinating report and a good way to educate oneself about where one should exercise extreme caution.
This was posted
on Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 and is filed in the Public Safety categories.
