Issues

in Labor Statistics U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of Labor Statistics

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Summary 96-13

December 1996

 Highway travel claims more lives than

any other work-related activity. In 1995,

approximately 1,300 workers died in

highway traffic incidents, compared to

1,000 work-related homicides and about

550 deaths each, due to workers being

struck by objects or falling from heights.

Of the 6,210 fatalities documented in the

1995 BLS Census of Fatal Occupational

Injuries, highway incidents accounted for

a fifth of the total. Homicides numbered a

sixth of the fatalities, but no other deadly

circumstance made up more than a tenth

of the 1995 total.1 (This report also

discusses nonfatal highway incidents.)

 Although truckdrivers outnumbered,

by far, any other occupation involved in

highway fatalities, most victims of workrelated highway accidents did not operate

trucks or other motor vehicles for a

living. Rather, these casualties routinely

drove, or rode, to various locations to

perform work activities. They included

various types of workers: Nurses caring

for the infirm in their homes, sales

representatives visiting prospective

buyers and/or current clients, managers

and administrators attending meetings

and/or monitoring job sites, protective

service workers responding to fires or

other emergencies or investigating

crimes, and farmworkers driving tractors

on public roadways to travel to fields.

Based on the BLS fatality census,

truckdrivers (and others operating motor

vehicles as a profession) made up about

two-fifths of all highway fatalities, while

other types of workers accounted for

three-fifths of the total.

 Three types of incidents accounted for

a fifth each of all job-related highway

fatalities: Head-on collisions between two

or more vehicles; single-vehicle crashes

into stationary objects at the side of the

road, such as trees, utility poles, and

bridge abutments; and noncollision

incidents involving overturned or jackknifed vehicles. (See table.) Half the

1,329 workers killed in 1995 highway

vehicle incidents were driving (or riding)

in trucks—most often tractor trailer rigs,

and to a lesser extent, pickup trucks,—

 Deadly Highway Accidents Outnumber Other

Fatal Work Incidents

Fatal and disabling injuries resulting from highway accidents, 1994-95

Percent distribution

Fatal Disabling

injuries1 injuries2

(n=1,329) (n=50,800)

All highway accidents ............... 100 100 10 days

Collision between vehicles,

mobile equipment .......................... 48 71 10

Moving in opposite directions ...... 18 4 11

Moving in intersection .................. 7 10 8

Moving in same direction ............. 9 16 8

Moving and standing vehicle,

mobile equipment ....................... 3 12 7

In roadway ................................ 2 11 7

Side of road .............................. 1 1 10

Unspecified .................................. 7 23 14

Vehicle struck stationary object or

equipment (except another vehicle) 20 7 8

In roadway .................................... 1 2 5

Side of road .................................. 19 5 12

Noncollision incident ........................ 26 14 12

Jack-knifed or overturned ............ 20 6 14

Ran off highway ........................... 4 3 13

Sudden start or stop .................... 1 2 10

Other or unspecified ........................ 6 9 —

1 Based on data from the 1995 BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries,

which covered all workers in the private and public sectors: Wage and salaried, self-employed, and

family members.

2 Based on data from the 1994 BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and

Illnesses, which covered just wage and salaried workers in private industries.

Disabling highway incidents are those that result in lost worktime.

3 Median work days lost is the point at which half the injuries involved more lost days and half

involved fewer days. The dash indicates that a median was not computed.

 NOTE: Percentages may not add to overall or category totals, due to omission of miscellaneous

categories and/or because of rounding.

Median3 workdays

lost from

disablign

injuries

Type of highway accident

1

See chart for distribution of workplace fatalities

among six broad event or exposure categories. The

chart also depicts sub-categories within the major

categories. For example, the sub-category

“Highway” is designated within the event marked

“Transportation incidents.” Highway fatalities

include deaths of vehicle occupants, as well as

drivers, while on public roadways, shoulders, or

surrounding areas. Fatalities that occur during

commutes to or from work, however, are excluded.
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Bureau of Labor Statistics

Washington, DC 20212

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while another quarter were killed in

automobiles. Nearly 90 percent of the

workers involved in highway fatalities

had been operating vehicles at the time of

accident; the rest were passengers.

Nonfatal highway incidents

 Besides profiling highway fatalities,

BLS recently began compiling data on

the number of nonfatal highway incidents

in private workplaces that necessitate

injured wage and salary workers to miss

a day or more of work. For 1994 (the

latest year for which such data are

available), BLS estimated 51,000 injuries

from highway incidents, resulting in lost

worktime. These injuries caused

workers to miss a median of 10

workdays — twice the national median

for the 2-1/4 million injuries relating to

The manner in which workplace fatalities occurred, 1995 

0 10 20 30 40

Percent

Highway Nonhighway Worker struck

 by vehicle Other

Assaults and violent acts

 (n = 1,262) Homicide Suicide

Contact with objects

 and equipment

 (n = 915)

Struck by

 object Other

 Falls

(n = 643)

Electrocutions Other

Fires and explosions

 and other

 (n = 232)

 Exposures to harmful

substances/environments

 (n = 598)

Fires &

 explos.

Event or exposure

(Total fatalities = 6,210)

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

41%

20%

Transportation incidents

 (n= 2,560)

15%

10%

10%

4%

Fall to lower

 level

vehicles colliding into standing vehicles

(either parked or in traffic) were cited

more often for lost worktime than for

fatal injuries. By contrast, single-vehicle

crashes and jack-knifed or overturned

vehicles figured more prominently in

highway fatalities than in lost worktime.

(See table.)

 In highway incidents resulting in

injured survivors (along with fatalities),

the injuries effected relatively lengthy

absences from work. Injuries from

jackknifed or overturned vehicles caused

a median of 14 lost workdays; injuries

due to vehicles striking fixed objects

along roadsides recorded a 12-day

median; and injuries caused by head-on

collisions had an 11-day median. Additionally, those incidents involving out-ofcontrol vehicles running off highways,

resulted in a median of 13 lost workdays.

 Data for this report were derived from

the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational

Injuries and its companion Survey of

Occupational Injuries and Illnesses. For

more information on highway incidents,

contact the Bureau of Labor Statistics,

Office of Safety, Health, and Working

Conditions, Room 3180, 2 Massachusetts

Avenue, NE, Washington DC 20212.

Telephone: (202) 606-6175.

 Information in this report is available to

sensory-impaired individuals upon

request. Voice phone: (202) 606-7828;

TDD phone: (202) 606-5897; TDD

message referral phone: 1-800-326-2577.

This material is in the public domain and,

with appropriate credit, may be reproduced without permission.

The manner in which workplace fatalities occurred, 1995

all types of workplace incidents in 1994

that resulted in days away from work.

This severity pattern was also evident for

specific occupations. For example,

injuries to truckdrivers involved in

highway incidents (17,000 cases)

averaged 14 days of lost worktime, compared to an 8-day median for all truckdriver injuries (164,000 cases in 1994).

 Although nonfatal and fatal highway

accidents usually resulted from vehicles

colliding, the way these collisions

occurred accounted for differences in

injury severity. Collisions between

vehicles moving in the same direction

were generally cited for lost worktime

injuries, while fatal crashes typically

involved vehicles moving in opposite

(oncoming) directions. Additionally,

highway accidents involving moving