Workers Comp Fatality Statistics – Solid Governmental Numbers
I have used the Workers Comp fatality statistics and accident rate numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) since the late 1990s for marketing purposes. The more dangerous the jobs, the more an employer needs to have assistance with their workers comp risk management.
The BLS’s accident and illness rates per 1,000 hours of work quickly became the gold standard for my marketing research and a few articles back in the early 2000s. One of the most-read articles on this website was from a BLS article in 2014.
I did not usually use the workers comp fatality statistics as a standalone number on safety. When I read Mark Wall’s (VP – Safety National) article on WorkCompCentral yesterday, I decided to follow his article to the source material. Yes, that method of following a press release to the article and then looking up the source material from the article is how I come up with many articles.
The BLS Press release can be found here.
Workers Comp Fatality Anomalies – Comparing 2020 to 2021
Chart 4 from the BLS press release breaks down the workers comp fatality rates by occupation. I usually look for any anomalies – largest differences from each year.
Fishing and Hunting Workers’ Rate Dropped Significantly
The Hunting and Fishing workers rate was reduced by 132.1 to 75.2 per 100,000 workers. (Table 4 in the BLS Press Release). One has to ask why there was such a significant drop in hunting and fishing employees’ fatal accidents between 2020 and 2021. Was the almost 50% drop due to the pandemic?
Looking at Table 2 in the same press release the numbers for the last five years are:
- 2017 41
- 2018 31
- 2019 44
- 2020 42
- 2021 23
The hunting and fishing numbers show that it is one of the most dangerous occupations. The average for the prior four years was 39.5, One only has to look at the numerous offshore fishing boat television shows such as Deadliest Catch to see the extreme conditions this type of industry operates in on a daily basis.
Bottom Line on These Somber Rates
Thanks to Mark Walls, Insurance Thought Leadership, WorkCompCentral, and the BLS for providing the material that I reviewed for this article. The BLS article is a five-minute read – totally worth it to review the workers comp fatality rates before and during the pandemic.
