and recommendations for safety research

James C. Cawley*, Gerald T. Homce

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Pittsburgh Research Laboratory, P.O. Box 18070, Pittsburgh, PA 15236, USA

Abstract

Problem: CFOI and SOII data show that 2,287 U.S. workers died and 32,807 workers sustained days away from work due to electrica

shock or electrical burn injuries between 1992 and 1998. Method: The narrative, work activity, job title, source of injury, location, and

industry for each fatal electrical accident were examined. A primary causal factor was identified for each fatality. Results: Electrical fatalitie

were categorized into five major groups. Overall, 44% of electrical fatalities occurred in the construction industry. Contact with overhead

power lines caused 41% of all electrical fatalities. Discussion: Electrical shock caused 99% of fatal and 62% of nonfatal electrical accidents

Comprising about 7% of the U.S. workforce, construction workers sustain 44% of electrical fatalities. Power line contact by mobile

equipment occurs in many industries and should be the subject of focused research. Other problem areas are identified and opportunities fo

research are proposed. Impact on Industry: Improvements in electrical safety in one industry often have application in other industries.

 

Keywords: Electrical; Injury; Fatality; Electrocution; Shock; Electrical burn

1. Introduction

On-the-job accidents in the United States are a serious

occupational problem. No one expects to be injured, much

less killed on the job. Yet each calendar day on average in

the United States, more than 15,000 workers sustain on-thejob injuries or illnesses and 17 are killed. Electrical incidents cause an average of 13 days away from work injuries1

and nearly one fatality every day.

1.1. Data sources

The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics

(BLS) compiles the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries

(CFOI) from death certificates and other information for U.S.

workers killed on the job.2 The 1992 –1998 CFOI database

contains information on 43,921 occupational fatalities from

all injury-related causes.3 Such information includes inciden

narratives, the source of injury, victim’s occupation, location

of the incident, work activity at the time of death, and othe

details. By analyzing such objective information, a reason

able understanding of most incidents can be achieved

Analogous to CFOI, BLS’s Survey of Occupational Illnesses

and Injuries (SOII) provides an estimate of the more than five

million nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses tha

occur in the United States each year. A statistical estimate

based on a stratified sample,4 the SOII does not contain

narrative or work activity information on individual nonfata

incidents. Recent upgrades to the BLS’s online search

capability for both CFOI and SOII allow improved limited

public access to selected U.S. occupational injury and illness

information.5 The SOII information presented in this pape

 

1 
was obtained from this publicly available source. The CFOI

information was obtained from direct access to the CFOI

database through special arrangement between the National

Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and

BLS. The combination of CFOI and SOII data can provide a

useful glimpse into the details of occupational electrical

injury in the United States.

1.2. Selecting data for analysis

Occupational incidents often involve several events that

cascade into a fatality. Consider the case where a worker is

nonfatally shocked, causing a fall with a resulting fatal head

injury. As a result, BLS established rules for selecting how

occupational injuries and illness are classified, which are

detailed in the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification

System (OIICS) Manual.6 In general, a case is coded

according to the most serious nature of injury. As an

example, a case in which electric shock causes a worker to

fall and suffer a fatal head injury is coded as: nature =

intracranial injury; part = brain; source = floor; event = fall;

secondary source = electric wire or apparatus that caused the

electric shock. In addition, the following events take precedence over other events or exposures: assaults and violent

acts, transportation incidents, and fires and explosions. Event

code counts have been used in this paper except where noted.

When event codes are used to select CFOI narratives,

2,267 electrical injuries can be isolated for the period from

1992 to 1998. When sorted by nature of injury codes 0930

(electrocution, electrical shock) and 0520 (electrical burns),

2,287 cases can be found. These additional electrical fatalities stem mainly from burns resulting from electrical explosions and electrocutions from an overhead power line after a

vehicular incident. The SOII shows that private industry

recorded 32,309 nonfatal electrical injuries by event code

and 32,807 by nature of injury codes 0930 (electrocution,

electrical shock) and 0520 (electrical burns). An analysis of

electrical injuries by either event or nature of injury data does

not produce significantly different results.

1.3. Significance of including fatal and nonfatal injury data

Two previous studies (Cawley, 2001; Homce, Cawley,

Yenchek, & Sacks, 2001) of fatal and nonfatal electrical

incidents in the mining industry using data from the U.S.

Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration

(MSHA) showed that both fatal and nonfatal occupational

incidents must be studied to obtain an accurate picture of the

circumstances that surround mine electrical incidents.

Similarly, CFOI data show that 98.5% of the 2,287

occupational electrical fatalities selected by nature of injury

code that occurred between 1992 and 1998 were attributed to

6 A detailed description of how BLS classifies incident data is

available on its website at http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshoiics.htm.

Fig. 1. Number of nonfatal electrical injuries in each major industrial sector that resulted in days away from work between 1992 and 1998 (some of the data

were not available for some years).
32,807 nonfatal occupational electrical injuries were classified as electrocution, electric shock and 38% as electrical

burns. Fig. 1 shows that the ratio of nonfatal electrocution,

electric shock to electrical burn injuries varies substantially

among the nine industrial sectors tracked by BLS.

Thus, analysis based solely on fatal or nonfatal electrical

incidents could lead to an inaccurate overall picture of the

interventions needed to provide the greatest impact in a

particular industry. Remediations that address electrical burns

will have more impact on nonfatal injuries, while those that

address electrical shock will primarily affect fatal injuries.

2. Electrical incident data

2.1. Background data

The top 10 CFOI event code categories for occupational

fatalities from all causes from 1992 to 1998 are shown in

descending order in Table 1. Fatal incidents involving

electricity rank sixth among all causes of occupational

fatality in the United States, totaling 2,267 (5.2%) during

the study period. The number of fatal electrical incidents by

CFOI event code is shown in Table 2. The event code with

the most fatalities is code 3130, contact with overhead

power lines, with 933 fatal cases. Contact with overhead

power lines caused 41% of all occupational electrical

fatalities.

The number of private industry nonfatal electrical incidents that caused days away from work between 1992 and

1998 is shown in Table 3. The two event codes with the

highest number of days away injuries are code 3110, contact

with electric current of a machine, tool, appliance, or light

fixture, with 12,189 cases (38%) and code 3120, contact with

wiring, transformers, or other electrical components, with

10,782 cases (33%). These data imply that nonfatal electrical

injury occurs most often to those who work with machines or

tools and around electrical wiring other than power lines.

Median days away for nonfatal electrical incidents are shown

in Table 4.

Table 1

Rank of top 10 CFOI causal categories by event code

CFOI event

code range

Description No. of

incidents

Percentage

of incidents

4000 – 4330 Transportation

(except railway)

14,713 33.5

6000 – 6390 Violent acts 8,447 19.2

1000 – 1900 Falls 4,643 10.6

0100 – 0290 Struck by, against 4,043 9.2

0300 – 0490 Caught in 2,909 6.6

3100 – 3190 Electricity 2,267 5.2

4600 – 4690 Aircraft 2,163 4.9

3200 – 3900 Exposure to

(except electricity)

1,838 4.2

4500 – 4590 Water craft 749 1.7

5200 – 5290 Explosions 702 1.6

All other

causes

1,447 3.3

Total fatal

incidents

43,921

Year Event code

3100 3110 3120 3130 3140 3150 3190 Total

1992 32 60 66 140 X 15 19 334

1993 32 44 100 115 5 16 12 324

1994 23 63 98 132 6 15 11 348

1995 32 55 94 139 5 17 6 348

1996 22 46 70 116 5 18 X 281

1997 14 41 71 138 5 22 7 298

1998 10 51 84 153 9 21 6 334

Total 165 360 583 933 37 124 65 2,267

X means no data or insufficient data available for this year.

Event code descriptions are as follows:

3100—Contact with electric current, unspecified

3110—Contact with electric current of machine, tool, appliance, or light

fixture

3120—Contact with wiring, transformers, or other electrical components

3130—Contact with overhead power lines

3140—Contact with underground, buried power lines

3150—Struck by lightning

3190—Contact with electric current, n.e.c.

Row may not sum to total.

Source: BLS, CFOI 1992 – 1998.

Table 3

Nonfatal electrical incidents involving days away, private industry, by event

code, 1992 – 1998

Year Event code

3100 3110 3120 3130 3140 3150 3190 Total

1992 507 1,795 1,614 174 36 170 509 4,806

1993 453 2,111 1,531 133 74 71 620 4,995

1994 506 2,966 1,607 273 38 214 415 6,018

1995 769 1,506 1,571 155 47 172 522 4,744

1996 405 1,037 1,751 92 153 223 465 4,126

1997 365 1,413 1,390 79 52 X 386 3,710

1998 506 1,361 1,318 314 40 50 322 3,910

Total 3,511 12,189 10,782 1,220 440 900 3,239 32,309

X means no data or insufficient data available for this year.

Event code descriptions are as follows:

3100—Contact with electric current, unspecified

3110—Contact with electric current of machine, tool, appliance, or light

fixture

3120—Contact with wiring, transformers, or other electrical components

3130—Contact with overhead power lines

3140—Contact with underground, buried power lines

3150—Struck by lightning

3190—Contact with electric current, n.e.c.

Rows may not sum to total.

Source: BLS website: http://www.bls.gov/iif/.
2.2. Occupational electrical incidents are disproportionately fatal

Electrical incidents, although a small portion of total

incidents, are disproportionately fatal when they occur.

During 1997, for example, there were 6.1 million nonfatal

injuries and illnesses reported from all causes. Of those,

1.83 million injuries (30%) caused one or more days away.

There were 3,710 days away electrical injuries reported

during 1997, comprising only 0.2% of the total days away

injuries reported from all causes. However, of the 6,238 fatal

incidents reported from all causes during 1997, 298 (4.8%)

were attributed to electricity. During 1997, approximately 1

in 494 days away injuries and illnesses were caused by

electricity, but nearly 1 in 20 occupational fatalities were

from electrical causes.

2.3. Voltage data

CFOI reported voltages in 623 (27%) of the electrical

narratives studied. The following tallies were compiled for

nominal voltage categories:

 0 –600 V—198 cases (32%) including:

480 V—50 cases

440 V—18 cases

277 V—24 cases

220/240 V—36 cases

110/120 V—42 cases;

 601 –5000 V—50 cases (8%);

 5001 –10,000 V—215 cases (35%) including:

7200 V—149 cases;

12,000 V—35 cases; and

 15,001 and over—79 cases (13%).

Incident voltage was 15,000 V or less in 87% of reported

cases.

3. CFOI narrative analysis

The objective of analyzing occupational electrical incidents is to identify problem areas and to develop strategies

and techniques to reduce their frequency and severity. Many

aspects of the circumstances surrounding fatal incidents are

available directly from the CFOI database, such as victim,

location, and activity information. It is useful, however, to

attribute a primary ‘‘cause’’ to each incident. This is feasible

for fatal electrical incidents because CFOI supplies a brief

narrative description of each case. Researchers familiar with

electrical safety issues in commercial/industrial work environments initially attempted to create a uniform and comprehensive analysis structure with which to assess each

narrative, but this approach proved too cumbersome. Ultimately, a more subjective approach was used wherein each

narrative was read and a primary cause assigned that may

have been related to the work activity, personnel, or the

equipment involved. This process in some cases required

inference and engineering judgment by the authors, but

from it emerged groupings that efficiently categorized and

described the incidents under study. Fatal electrical incident

narratives were divided into those incidents that occurred in

the construction industry (about 44% of all fatal electrical

incidents) and those that occurred in the nonconstruction

industries. Additionally, the review identified each incident

that occurred during ‘‘electrical work,’’ regardless of the

cause, and those incidents that occurred during nonelectrical

work. These preconditions created a useful framework for

the analysis due to the large number and high rate of

electrical incidents in the construction industry and the

disparity between circumstances surrounding incidents that

occurred during electrical installation/maintenance work and

those that occurred during other activities.

There were 43,921 fatal occupational incidents in the

United States between 1992 and 1998. After selection by

nature ofinjury codes for 0930 (electrocution, electrical shock)

and 0520 (electrical burns), 2,287 fatal electrical incidents

remained. Based on the review of CFOI narratives for these

incidents, 91% of fatal occupational electrical injuries were

classified into one of the following five categories:

 Installation and maintenance of electrical systems and

equipment (excluding overhead or buried power transmission/distribution lines) (506 incidents, 22%). This

group includes residential, commercial, and industrial

environments, as well as personnel of varying backgrounds, and so will encompass a seemingly wide range

Nonfatal electrical injuries, median days away by event code, private

industry, 1992 – 1998

Year Event code

3100 3110 3120 3130 3140 3150 3190 Total

1992 13 3 7 33 21 6 2 5

1993 10 3 8 8 2 3 5 4

1994 4 5 4 30 15 14 6 5

1995 3 2 5 13 10 2 2 3

1996 3 4 22 5 2 3 12 7

1997 1 4 4 60 14 X 8 4

1998 10 4 6 14 137 3 2 5

X means no data or insufficient data available for this year.

Event code descriptions are as follows:

3100—Contact with electric current, unspecified

3110—Contact with electric current of machine, tool, appliance, or

light fixture

3120—Contact with wiring, transformers, or other electrical components

3130—Contact with overhead power lines

3140—Contact with underground, buried power lines

3150—Struck by lightning

3190—Contact with electric current, n.e.c.

Source: BLS website: http://www.bls.gov/iif/.
however is that work was being performed on or adjacent

to live circuits of which the worker may or may not have

been aware. The activities most frequently cited were

installation or maintenance of power system components

(e.g., cables, transformers, and breakers), lighting

fixtures, and heating, ventilating, and air conditioning

(HVAC) equipment.

 Contact with an overhead electric power line through a

handheld object during activities other than electrical

system installation and maintenance (495 incidents,

22%). These incidents involved workers contacting overhead power lines with long, conductive, handheld items

while performing work activities unrelated to electrical

systems or components. The most common object in use

was a ladder, but construction materials, tools, and scaffold members were also mentioned in numerous accounts.

 Contact with an overhead electric power line indirectly

through a piece of high-reaching mobile equipment

during activities other than electrical system installation

and maintenance (387 incidents, 17%). In these

incidents, mobile equipment contacted a line and was

either simultaneously or subsequently contacted by

workers who unintentionally completed the circuit to

ground. These were incidental contacts in that work

underway at the time was unrelated to the power lines.

The types of equipment most commonly involved were

cranes, boom trucks (light cranes on flatbed truck

chasses), dumpbed trucks, and drill rigs.

 Incidental contact with energized circuits (excluding

overhead or buried power transmission/distribution

lines) (424 incidents, 19%). This category by definition

covers work activities other than electrical system installation and maintenance. The electrocutions most frequently resulted from contacting bare wires and faulty or

inappropriate power tools (including equipment with

ineffective grounding).

 Installation/construction and maintenance of overhead or

buried power transmission/distribution lines (253 incidents, 11%). This is a relatively narrowly defined category

and includes some of the most inherently hazardous

activities. In most cases, personnel were working on or

adjacent to overhead high-voltage circuits from a pole/

tower or elevated platform (bucket truck).

Of the remaining occupational electrical fatalities

recorded in CFOI, approximately 5% were due to lightning

strikes and the remainder could not be classified with the

information provided.

4. Prior NIOSH research that addressed electrical

hazards

NIOSH Alerts briefly present information about occupational illnesses, injuries, and deaths. Alerts urgently request

identified occupational hazards. Alerts ask workers,

employers, and safety and health professionals to take

immediate action to reduce risks and implement controls.

A number of NIOSH Alerts have studied various electrical problem areas (U.S. Department of Health and Human

Services [US DHHS], 1984, 1986a, 1986b, 1986c, 1987,

1989). Some of the recommendations made in these NIOSH

Alerts include:

 The use of ground fault circuit interrupters to prevent

electrocutions among fast food restaurant workers;

 Improved training and signage to prevent grain auger

electrocutions;

 Improved training in hazard recognition and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to prevent fatalities among

those workers who contact electrical energy;

 Improved hazard recognition training, use of personal

protective equipment (PPE), and improved work procedures for power line workers;

 Strict adherence to Occupational Safety and Health

Administration (OSHA) regulations and improved training in hazard recognition and work practices to prevent

electrocutions with ladders and, in the case of scaffolds,

recommendations for nonconductive scaffolding and

improved signage;

 Strict adherence to OSHA and American National

Standards Institute (ANSI) regulations and improved

safety and CPR training to prevent electrocutions during

tree-trimming operations;

 Strict adherence to OSHA regulations and improved

inspection of equipment by a ‘‘competent person’’ to

ensure that the insulation characteristics of aerial bucket

trucks are adequate;

 Strict adherence to OSHA and ANSI regulations,

improved hazard recognition training, use of utility

services to deenergize lines, and encouragement of

private industry to improve equipment to prevent

electrocution of crane operators and ground crews by

overhead power lines;

 Strict adherence to child labor laws, parental involvement, and improved hazard recognition training to

protect adolescent workers against electrocution;

 Strict adherence to OSHA regulations, improved signage,

deenergization, lockout–tagout, and grounding of electrical systems prior to beginning work on electrical

systems to protect all workers from uncontrolled releases

of electrical energy.

NIOSH’s Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation

(FACE) program is a research program designed to identify

and study fatal occupational injuries. The goal of the FACE

program is to prevent occupational fatalities across the nation

by identifying and investigating work situations at high risk

for injury and then formulating and disseminating prevention

strategies to those who can intervene in the workplace.
compliance with state or federal occupational safety and

health standards nor do they determine fault or blame.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (UD

DHHS, 1998) examined 224 occupational electrical incidents that resulted in 244 fatalities between 1982 and 1994

using NIOSH’s FACE reports and made recommendations to

reduce the number of electrical incidents. Recommendations

included improvements to training procedures, adherence to

existing OSHA regulations, and improved warning signage.

One logical extension of past NIOSH electrical safety

studies is research to develop effective engineering control

solutions to address the recommended interventions. This

could include work to adapt existing successful solutions

from one industry to another, as well as research to conceptualize, build, and test prototype electrical safety devices.

5. Mine electrical safety research by the U.S. Bureau of

Mines

The U.S. Bureau of Mines began an extensive mine

electrical safety research program in response to the 1969

Coal Mine Safety and Health Act. A wide variety of

electrical safety topics were addressed that were relevant

not only to mining, but other industries as well. The bureau

emphasized an engineering approach to electrical safety

problems, working to produce, test, and document a wide

variety of practical solutions for identified mine electrical

hazards. Electrical system studies, trailing cable splicing

improvements, mine trailing cable life studies, electrical

maintenance practices, grounding practices, arcing fault

detection, explosion-proof enclosure and intrinsic safety

research, mitigating overhead power line hazards, and

system and personnel protection devices were some of the

areas studied. The interested reader can find a searchable

archive of Bureau of Mines’ research at the Common

Information Service System (CISS) Website maintained by

NIOSH.7 This research continued until the bureau was

closed in 1996. Shortly thereafter, the former bureau’s mine

safety and health research functions, as well as some of its

remaining resources, were assumed by NIOSH.

6. Research opportunities

As the analysis in this study revealed, occupational

electrical injuries occur in many industries, under widely

varying circumstances, and involve nearly all occupations.

This suggests that research directed toward reducing electrical injuries should include an equally diverse array of

complimentary intervention concepts, each targeting a

well-defined aspect of the problem, suitable for practical

Ideally, efforts should focus on the most prevalent accident

scenarios, represent different approaches for reducing electrocutions, and draw on the expertise of researchers from

different disciplines. No single ‘‘silver bullet’’ approach will

solve the problem of electrical death and traumatic injury, but

innovative ideas for engineering controls, workplace management, and training can combine to have a positive impact.

With the acquisition of the facilities and personnel of the

former Bureau of Mines’ Pittsburgh Research Center, NIOSH

now has additional resources for electrical safety research,

especially in the area of engineering controls. Indeed, the

bureau’s history of focused practical solutions for specific

safety problems compliments the analysis and identification

of hazards that typify much past NIOSH research.

To decrease the number and severity of nonfatal electrical

burn injuries, direct worker exposure to electrical arc energy

must be reduced. One possible approach to this problem

involves engineering hazards out of electrical systems;

studying and improving (where needed) management controls over electrical work; developing improved electrical

hazard recognition and avoidance training focused on the

injury potential of electrical arcing; implementing and evaluating such training; and identifying PPE appropriate to

recognized arcing hazards and communicating its benefits

to affected workers, especially in the mining industry.

While it comprises only about 7% of the U.S. workforce,

the construction industry accounted for 44% of all fatal

electrical injuries. Approximately one in eight construction

fatalities involved electricity. As shown in Fig. 1, 25% of all

nonfatal electrical injuries between 1992 and 1998 occurred

in the construction industry. Of fatal incidents, 56% involved

power lines. Significant effort should be expended to improve the electrical safety of construction workers, especially

in the area of overhead power line hazards. About 45% of

electrical fatalities in nonconstruction industries also involved power lines. Such research would have a synergistic

effect in other industrial sectors as well, principally in mining

where 20% of electrical fatalities during the 1990s involved

cranes, trucks, and drill rigs contacting power lines (Cawley,

2001). Contact with high-reaching mobile equipment was a

significant cause of electrical fatalities involving power

lines. Construction industry incidents usually involved

cranes, boom trucks, and drill rigs. Nonconstruction industry

incidents most often involved boom trucks. Engineering

control research that builds on past work in this area is

needed. Research to develop a warning device to alert

ground crews and equipment operators of accidental power

line contact was conducted at NIOSH’s Pittsburgh research

laboratory. Several simple modifications to vehicles and

associated equipment could significantly reduce the number

of incidents in this category. For example, boom truck

operator electrical safety could be improved by the increased

use of remotely controlled hoisting devices or by moving the

manual hoisting controls to a position that requires the

operator to stand on the truck to operate them. 7 http://outside.cdc.gov:8000/ciss/Welcome.html.
handheld object was another significant cause of occupa

tional electrical fatalities. Construction industry incidents

usually involved ladders, scaffolds, metallic pipes, rods, and

poles, and siding, gutters, and sheet metal. Nonconstruction

industry incidents typically involved landscaping and treetrimming operations often associated with utility contractors

conducting tree-trimming operations. The need to exercise

safe work practices (maintenance of safe work distances, the

use of insulating blankets, the use of nonconducting handheld poles/handles, ladders, etc.) must continue to be

reinforced with hazard recognition and avoidance training.

Engineering control research should be undertaken to provide additional protection for workers using ladders and

scaffolds. Improved methods for safely handling long conductive objects (poles, antennas, pipes, etc.) in the presence

of power lines also needs closer examination.

Installation, maintenance, and repair of electrical equipment were the leading causes of occupational fatality

incidents that did not involve power lines. The activities

most frequently cited were installation or maintenance of

power system components (e.g., cables, transformers, and

breakers), lighting fixtures, and HVAC equipment. Improved maintenance work practices and engineering control

devices to remove hazards, where practical, are needed.

Supplemental research into improved electrical lockout–

tagout procedures is one potential research area. Research

into arc-detecting circuit breaker technology, now emerging

in residential and industrial applications for fire protection,

could be more fully explored for its possible application to

high-energy arcing faults. Application of sensitive ground

fault protection on light fixtures could save lives of nonelectrical personnel who change bulbs and fixtures in

commercial establishments.

Another approach to protecting electrical maintenance

workers is to limit their exposure to hazardous circuits,

where possible. The use of computerized motor control

center maintenance interfaces, as described by Blair, Doan,

Jensen, and Kim (2001), precludes the need for a worker to

open a motor control center in order to perform routine

electrical maintenance. Similar maintenance techniques

could be investigated for their potential to reduce exposure

to electrical hazards during routine maintenance.

7. Summary

This report has presented the results of an analysis of

CFOI and SOII data revealing that electricity is a serious

occupational injury problem. Noteworthy among the findings is that although electrical shocks and burns do not

occur as frequently as many other types of occupational

injuries, they are disproportionately fatal. Analysis also

concluded that the causes of most fatal electrical incidents

fall into one of five categories: (a) installation and maintenance not involving power lines; (b) incidental contact of an

contact of an overhead power line through mobile equip

ment; (d) incidental contact with energized circuits other

than overhead or buried power lines; and (e) power line

installation and maintenance work. Past electrical safety

research by NIOSH and by the former U.S. Bureau of

Mines was briefly reviewed, and recommendations for

future electrical safety research were outlined.

8. Notes

NIOSH Alerts are available via the Internet at http://

www.cdc.gov/niosh/alerts2.html or by contacting: National

Institute for Occupational Safety and health, Publications

Dissemination, 4676 Columbia Parkway, Cincinnati, OH

45226-1998, USA. Tel.: 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-

4674); fax: + 1-513-533-8573. E-mail: pubstaft@cdc.gov.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of

Janice Windau, Epidemiologist, and William McCarthy,

Supervisory Statistician, and their respective staffs for their

assistance in providing and helping to interpret CFOI and

SOII data, respectively. Both are with the U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics, Washington, DC. Without their efforts, this

work would not have been possible.

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