Tracking Work-Related Fatal Injuries in Louisiana (2015–2016)

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lackovic M ; Lewis J
• Description:
  Purpose: Louisiana recently had the lowest non-fatal work-related injury rate in the country, yet consistently has a work-related fatality rate almost twice that of the national average. This report characterizes work-related fatal injuries occurring in Louisiana from 2015 through 2016 by summarizing a multisource work-related fatality surveillance system developed by the Louisiana Department of Health. The purpose of this report is to bring awareness to the public of some of the hazards faced by workers in Louisiana's high-risk industries and to provide a breakdown of the ways in which they have died while on the job. Methods: Data are obtained primarily from death certificates and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Fatalities and Catastrophes reports, with supplementary data from publicly available sources, i.e., news articles, obituaries, police websites. Only civilian fatalities are included in this report. Each fatality was characterized using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS) categories for Industry and Event/exposure. Categories include: Contact with objects and equipment; Exposure to harmful substances or environments; Falls, slips and trips; Fires and Explosions; Suicide on Jobsite; Transportation incidents; Violence and other injuries by persons or animals. Work-related deaths with no publicly available data are included in the overall analyses but are not included in the more detailed incident descriptions. Findings: Although work-related fatalities in Louisiana decreased by 17% from 2008 to 2015, Louisiana experienced minimal rate fluctuations from 2010 to 2015. Most fatalities in 2015 and 2016 in Louisiana occurred among workers age 25 to 54, which is consistent with how employment is spread among the age groups. Workers over the age of 65 accounted for 16% of the fatalities in 2016, although they make up approximately 6% of the employed population. Most notably, males accounted for 93-97% of all fatalities within the two years, despite similar employment rates among males and females. The racial and ethnicity distribution for fatalities generally mirrors employment numbers, with a slight increase in Hispanic fatalities. The greatest number of fatalities occurred in the transportation, construction, and oil and gas industries. The types of event/exposure that resulted in the greatest number of fatalities were transportation, exposure to harmful substances or environments, and contact with objects and equipment. Conclusion: While workers in the United States have experienced a sustained decline in the rate of fatal occupational injury over the past decades, there are marked differences in fatal injury rates and trends among regions, states, and industries. In 2015, Louisiana's rate exceeded the national rate by almost 41%, it was the 6th highest rate in the country, and the second highest rate in the southern region of the US. These findings underscore the need for accurate, timely, and informative data on occupational health conditions faced by Louisiana's workers. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Construction Industry Epidemiology Mortality Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Oil And Gas Industry Public Health Safety Transportation
• Keywords:
  Construction Workers Fatalities Mortality Rates Occupational Hazards Oil Industry Public Health Surveillance
• Publisher:
  Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-19
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066191
• Citation:
  Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public Health, 2017 Jul; :1-19
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  Louisiana State Office of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20150720
• Source Full Name:
  Tracking work-related fatal injuries in Louisiana (2015-2016)
• End Date:
  20260630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6be56e1e4a08f86faacca8acf785a875838c1568049d02fb47d0c22ad335cdaafbbed723796a8e06a2c36e239d8ca7e47662e6652f426d35a36470dfc8e33a23
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212688/cdc_212688_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.36 MB ]