Fatal Work Injuries in the Washington, D.C. Area — 2014

 

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals and transportation incidents were the most frequent causes of workplace deaths in the Washington metropolitan area in 2014, each accounting for 16 fatalities. (See table 2.) Within the violence and other injuries by persons or animals category, homicides accounted for 10 fatalities and suicides accounted for 6. The share of total fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals in Washington (29 percent) was exceeded only in Atlanta (31 percent) and Boston (30 percent). (See table 1.) Within transportation incidents, 6 of the 16 work-related fatalities in the Washington area were roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles. Washington’s 29-percent share of total fatalities from transportation incidents ranked sixth among the 10 largest areas, higher than Miami (28 percent), Chicago (26 percent), Los Angeles (25 percent), and Houston (24 percent). (Note that roadway incident counts are expected to rise when updated 2014 data are released in the late spring of 2016 because key source documentation detailing specific transportation-related incidents has not yet been received.)

Contact with objects and equipment was the third-most frequent fatal event in the Washington area in 2014, responsible for 20 percent of all workplace fatalities. Eight of the 11 fatalities in this category were a result of being struck by an object or equipment. Washington’s share of total fatalities due to contact with objects and equipment ranked highest among the 10 largest metropolitan areas.

In the United States, transportation incidents was the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2014, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 3.) Nationally, falls, slips, or trips was the second-most frequent type of event, representing 17 percent of work-related fatalities. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 16 percent of the nation’s workplace fatalities and contact with objects and equipment accounted for 15 percent.

 

Additional highlights:

• Within private industry, the construction sector had the largest number of fatalities in the Washington area with 14 in 2014, compared with 21 in the previous year. (See table 3.) Falls, slips, or trips accounted for six of these worker deaths, followed by contact with objects and equipment with four fatalities.
• Retail trade had the second-highest fatality count in the private sector with eight, up from the five fatalities reported in 2013. All eight of the fatalities in this sector were a result of violence and other injuries by persons or animals.
• Construction and extraction occupations had the highest fatality count with 14, followed by transportation and material moving occupations with 13. (See table 4.) Four of the 14 fatalities in construction and extraction occupations were construction laborers. Within the transportation and material moving occupations, 7 of the 13 fatalities were heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.
• Men accounted for 95 percent of the work-related fatalities in the metropolitan area. (See table 5.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals and transportation incidents were each responsible for 28 percent of these fatalities. Nationally, men made up 92 percent of all fatalities.
• In the Washington metropolitan area, 55 percent of those who died from a workplace injury were white non-Hispanics; nationally, this group made up 68 percent. Black or African-American non-Hispanic workers accounted for 21 percent of the area’s fatal injuries; nationwide, the share was 10 percent.
• Workers 25-54 years old—the prime working age group—accounted for 57 percent of the area’s work-related fatalities in 2014. Nationally, workers in this group accounted for 58 percent of on-the-job fatalities. Thirty-eight percent of work-related fatalities in the Washington area were workers 55 years of age and over, similar to the 35-percent share nationwide.
• Of the 56 people who suffered fatal work injuries in the Washington area, 88 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents, while violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the most frequent fatal event for the self-employed.
• Half of the workplace fatalities in the Washington area in 2014 occurred on a Monday (20 percent) or a Friday (30 percent).
• In 2011, CFOI began identifying if a fatally-injured worker was working as a contractor and recording the industry of both the worker and the contracting firm. A contractor is defined as a worker employed by one firm but working at the behest of another firm that exercises overall responsibility for the operations at the site of the fatal injury. In 2014, the Washington area had 12 fatally-injured workers identified as fitting the contractor criteria; 7 of these were in the private residential building construction industry.