Transportation Incidents Account for 41% of Work-Related Fatalities

05.16.2017
HR & Safety

According to the 2017 edition of Injury Facts, an annual National Safety Council publication detailing preventable deaths and injuries in the United States, transportation incidents now account for 41% of work-related fatalities.
The report also notes that 478,000 workplace injuries may involve fatigue or sleep problems.
Preventable deaths—commonly known as “accidents”—have reached an all-time high, with 146,571 Americans dying in 2015 from causes such as drug overdoses, motor vehicle crashes, falls, choking, and drowning.
The number of people killed in preventable incidents trails only heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease, and outpaces strokes, diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.
“Good data help us make good decisions, and Injury Facts gives us a roadmap for eliminating preventable deaths in our lifetime,” says Ken Kolosh, statistics manager and Injury Facts author at the National Safety Council.
“We hope government officials, business leaders, safety professionals, and anyone working to make the world a safer place will use Injury Facts to shape decision-making and inform injury prevention efforts.”

Other Key Statistics

Data highlighted in the report include:

  • Poisonings, including those from opioid prescription painkiller overdoses, were the leading cause of preventable death in 24 states and Washington, D.C. The drug overdose epidemic has directly driven the overall rise in preventable deaths.
  • Approximately 58,000 fewer people would have died in 2015 if the preventable death rate had kept pace with the improving overall fatality rate. Instead, Americans are increasingly surviving other common causes of death and dying from incidents that are proven to be avoidable.
  • The annual societal cost of preventable injuries is $886.4 billion—the equivalent of 52 cents for every dollar an American spends on food.
  • An American’s lifetime odds of dying from an opioid overdose are 1 in 98. The lifetime odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash are 1 in 112.
  • Weather-related deaths rose 24% in 2015
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