Fatal Injuries Among Grounds Maintenance Workers – United States, 2003–2008

Details

• Journal Article:
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Personal Author:
  Pegula, Stephen M. ; Utterback, David F.
• Description:
  A total of 1,142 grounds maintenance workers (GMWs) were fatally injured at work during 2003-2008, an average of 190 each year. GMWs accounted for 3.4% of all occupational fatalities, and 31% of those GMWs were Hispanic or Latino. Approximately 83% of the Hispanic or Latino GMWs who died were born outside the United States. In 2008, approximately 1.52 million persons were employed as GMWs, constituting 1.0% of the U.S. workforce. During 2003-2007, an average of 13.3 per 100,000 employed GMWs died each year, compared with an overall rate of 4.0 fatalities per 100,000 U.S. workers. The rate of on-the-job fatal injuries among GMWs has remained elevated relative to other workers for >20 years. This report characterizes events leading to GMW fatalities and differences in fatality characteristics across demographic groups among GMWs, based on an evaluation of 2003-2008 data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program. The report also identifies workplace interventions that might reduce the incidence of fatal injuries. Major events leading to GMW occupational fatalities included transportation incidents (31%), contact with objects and equipment (25%), falls (23%), and traumatic acute exposures to harmful substances or environments (e.g., electrocution and drowning) (16%). To reduce the incidence of such fatalities, employers, trade and worker associations, and policy makers should focus on effective, targeted workplace safety interventions such as frequent hazard identification and training for specific hazards. Diversity among the populations of workers requires use of culture- and language-appropriate training techniques as part of comprehensive injury and illness prevention programs. Annual data for 2003-2008 on occupational fatalities resulting from traumatic injuries were obtained from CFOI, a national surveillance system for work-related traumatic injury deaths maintained by BLS. Occupations in CFOI were classified using the 2000 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. Cases were defined as all fatalities among persons classified as either GMWs (SOC 37-301) or first-line supervisors/managers of landscaping, lawn service, and groundskeeping workers (SOC 37-1012).* Case characteristics, such as events, were coded by CFOI using the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System. Industries were classified by CFOI using the 2002 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). The CFOI program uses multiple source documents, an average of almost four unique documents per case, to identify and describe all fatal occupational injuries in the United States. Common source documents include death certificates, media reports, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports, coroner/medical examiner reports, and workers' compensation reports. For a fatality to be included in CFOI, the decedent must have been employed at the time of the event, engaged in a legal work activity, and present at the site of the incident as a job requirement. Fatalities that occur during a person's normal commute to or from work are excluded from CFOI counts. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Accidents, Occupational Demography Electric Injuries Maintenance Mortality Occupational Health Race Factors Safety Transportation
• Keywords:
  Accident-rates Demographic-characteristics Electrocutions Groundskeeping-workers Information-retrieval-systems Injuries Ladders Landscape-services-workers Lawn-and-garden-equipment Maintenance-workers Mortality-data Mortality-rates Racial-factors Statistical-analysis Surveillance-programs Transportation-workers Traumatic-injuries

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• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Publisher:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (U.S.)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  6 pdf pages
• Volume:
  60
• Issue:
  17
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20038721
• Citation:
  MMWR 2011 May; 60(17):542-546
• Email:
  dutterback@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2011
• NORA Priority Area:
  Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  56173 - Landscaping Services - (NAICS) ; 71391 - Golf Courses and Country Clubs - (NAICS)
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c88d24dccacd1f9ed4e2510eba504bb2ea382dc794a47393f3bc1c62f764b639035cab9efa488b3a81e46737708a6b456addf94b7ecc3c676e627b492e153553
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/183095/cdc_183095_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 212.30 KB ]