THE WORKPLACE

The number of workers killed on the job annually dropped to a new low in 2007, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.

The number of worker deaths dropped to 5,488 last year – the fewest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began keeping track in 1992. That’s down 6 percent from the 5,840 deaths reported in 2006.

Still, the government found significant increases in some types of fatal injuries: A record number of workers died from falls and the number of workplace homicides increased 13 percent.

The nation’s most dangerous jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics?

•Fishers and related fishing workers (with a rate of 111.8 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers)

•Logging workers (86.4)

•Aircraft pilots and flight engineers (66.7)

•Structural iron and steel workers (45.5)

In terms of sheer numbers, as opposed to the rate of deaths, construction continued to have the most deaths of any private sector industry: 1,178 in 2007. That’s a rate of 10.3 fatal work injuries for every 100,000 construction workers.

The number of construction deaths dropped from 1,239 in 2006, a 5 percent decrease.

The overall U.S. rate was 3.7 fatal injuries for every 100,000 workers, the lowest annual rate ever reported by the fatality census.

The number of fatal falls on the job rose to a record 835 in 2007, even though the number of deadly falls from roofs decreased.

Workplace homicides also increased 13 percent, to 610, in 2007 after officials recorded an all-time low in 2006.

Dose of stability: Smaller increases in health insurance costs helped give U.S. workers and their families a dose of stability last year, according to a new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

A total of 62.2 percent of people under age 65 had employment-based health benefits last year, the same percentage as 2006. In fact, last year’s figure falls in the neighborhood of 1994, when about 64 percent of the population was covered.

Associated Press