The number of work-related deaths in Colorado increased almost 10 percent last year, the third straight year the total has risen, according to a report today by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The number of work-related deaths in Colorado increased from 125 in 2005 to 137 in 2006, according to the 2006 Colorado Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
The report identifies transportation fatalities, primarily highway crashes, as the major cause of work-related deaths.
The 137 fatalities in the state equates to 5.4 deaths per 100,000 workers. The national average for 2006 was 3.9 deaths per 100,000 workers.
The three leading causes of work-related deaths in Colorado in 2006 were:
“Fatal injuries in 2006 were most likely to occur on a Thursday, with a total of 26 deaths,” said Debra Tuenge, coordinator of the fatality report. “The time of day at which the most fatal injuries occurred was between 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., with a total of 16 fatalities during those hours.”
In the past 13 years, Colorado’s occupational fatality rate has been higher than the national average nine times.
In 2006, transportation deaths continued to be the leading cause of work-related deaths.
Of Colorado’s 60 transportation-related occupational deaths in 2006, 42 were highway fatalities, and nine resulted from aircraft accidents. Five workers were struck by vehicles while at work.
The second leading cause of occupational deaths was assault and violent acts, which resulted in 30 deaths, compared with eight in 2005.
Alyson Shupe, chief of health statistics at the state health department, called the eight deaths in 2005 an anomaly. She said there were 23 deaths in that category in 2003 and 25 in 2004. Among the types of incidents in the category are work-related suicides and attacks on agricultural and forestry workers by animals, Shupe said.
The third leading category of occupational deaths was contact with objects and equipment, which led to 23 deaths in 2006.
Thirteen workers were struck by an object; four were caught in or compressed by equipment or objects; and four were caught in or crushed in collapsing material.
Shupe said that in the major categories, her department doesn’t release figures where there are less than three events — which leads to the apparent inconsistency of the figures in the first and third categories.
Shupe was at a loss to explain why Colorado has had a higher occupational fatality rate than the U.S. average.
“I really can’t answer that,” she said. “There is nothing I can point to.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
