a

Chart 1. Occupations of workers fatally struck by objects, 1996

(n=579)
Percent
4»
L
Other
abe 1% S
Other
| Truckdrivers: 8%
8%
@ | [Machine operators,
assemblers, and ‘Other
Timber cutting
| | inspectors 7% and logging 5%
Construction "16% Construction
ol laborers trades
7% 8%
| | Material moving Farm operators Mechanics and ariel
equipment ‘and managers repairers
operators 7% 9% 7%
0
Operators, Farming, Precision All
fabricators, forestry, production, craft, other
and laborers and fishing and repair occupations

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, National Census of Fatal Occupational injuries,
1996.

Chart 2. Primary sources of fatal and lost-worktime injuries due to objects striking workers

a *
Scrap, waste, Furniture,
debris fixtures
Fatal work Lost work-time
injuries in. 1996 injuries in.1995
(n= 579) (n = 270,369)

SOURCE: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries,
1996 and Survey of Occupational Injuries and llinesses, 1995

Compensation and Working Conditions Spring 1998

72


‘Table 7. Ten occupations with the largest number of lost-worktime injuries due to objects striking workers, by chance of
Injury and leading objects producing the injury, private industry, 1995

Lost-

Miscellaneous food preparers
Cooks... 5,443

worktime Chance of Leading sources of injury (percent)
injuries wry
270,369 | 1 in 352
20,132 | 1 in 62 | Building materials (17), wood or lumber (8)
15,635 | 1 in 189 | Building materials (13), containers (12)
8.292 | 1 in 147 | Building materials (12), fasteners (11)
8,128 | 1 in 87 | Buildingmaterials (23)
7,823. | 1 in 114 | Handtools (38), nails (13)
6335 | 1 in 89 | Building materials (24), metal chips (13)
6,234 | 1 in 231 | Doors (10), particles (8)
5,756 | 1 in 181 | Boxes (20), knives (14)
647 | 1 in 86 | Knives (20), carts (12)
1

in 330 | Knives (63)

‘The chance of occupational injury was caiculated as N/E,
where:

N= The number of cases involving days away from work that
were due to objects striking workers in a given occu-
ational classification.

Fatal and disabling event categories discussed through-
out this article are described in detail in the 1992 BLS
Occupational Injury and Illness Classification Manual
listed. under “Documentation” at the aforementioned site
on the Internet. “Struck by object” is one of several cat-
egories within “contact with objects and equipment,” one
of seven specifically defined divisions within the event and
exposure structure in the Manual.

‘The occupations of injured workers are coded from job
titles usually indicated on the death certificate or other
source documents in the case of fatalities, or, as in days-
away-from-work cases, supplied by the employer. The 1990
Occupational Classification System, developed by the Cen-
sus Bureau, was used to determine the appropriate indi-
vidual occupational category.

There is more than one method of calculating fatality
rates that measure the incidence of fatal work injuries for
occupations. An hours-based rate measures the risk of

E = The number of wage and salaried employees, excluding
private household workers, based on the Current
Population Survey, unpublished 1995 annual averages
{or individual occupations.

NOTE: Lost-worktime injuries are cases involving days away from
‘work beyond the day of the incident. All occupations had at least 5,000
lost work-time injuries due to objects striking workers in 1995.

fatality per standardized length of exposure; an employ-
ment-based rate measures the risk to those employed dur-
ing a given period of time, regardless of exposure time.
Therefore, the employment-based rate does not account for
differences between part-time and full-time workers because
of the part-time workers’ reduced exposure time. Hours-
based measurements are especially useful in industry and
occupational comparisons in which, during particular time
periods, the number of workers at risk can vary. They do,
however, include those hours when the worker is engaged
in hazardous activities (e.g., felling trees) as well as those
hours when relatively safe work is performed. The occupa-
tional fatality rates in this report were calculated using the
employment estimates from the Current Population Survey
(CPS)—a household survey. The CPS annual average em-
ployment estimates are based on the number of workers
over 15 years old employed during the week of the 12" of
the month.

—ENDNOTES—

* “Struck by object” includes unintentional injuries produced by forcible
contact or impact between the injured person and the source of the injury
‘when the motion producing the contact is primarily that of the source of the
injury rather than the person. Injuries to vehicle occupants, and
other nonpassengers are excluded from this classification if they resulted from
being hit or run over by a vehicle or mobile equipment during its normal
operation (highway and other transportation incidents); stabbings, shootings,
and other violence (where contact is intentional or of unknown intent); and

71 Compensation and Working Conditions Spring 1998

other “impact” injuries, such as workers falling on, striking against, or being
caught in, compressed by, or crushed in equipment or objects.

2 Based on data from the 1995 BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses, which covered wage and salaried workers in private industries, ex-
cluding farms with fewer than 11 employees and private households. Dis-
abling injuries are cases that resulted in days away from work, beyond the
day of the incident.


Safety and Health

Serious Injuries
Befall Workers

Struck by Objects

BY MARTIN E. PERSONICK

Falling, flying, swinging, and rolling objects can result
in deadly and disabling injuries in the workplace. In 1996,
there were 579 work-related fatalities due to objects strik-
ing workers.' Some of the workers killed in this way in-
cluded loggers and farmers struck while clearing trees, con-
struction workers hit by beams and other building materials,
and mechanics struck when vehicles slipped off jacks or
repair racks. Although most workers survive being struck
by objects, these contacts commonly incur injuries that in-
volve days away from work. In 1995, the latest year for
which such data are available, injuries of this type num-
bered about 270,00 in the private sector? Workers struck
seriously enough to miss work included food service work-
ers cut by knives, material movers hit by containers of goods,
and fabricators struck by nails, metal and wood chips, or
other particles. This article summarizes some of the char-
acteristics of fatal and lost-worktime injuries resulting from
workers being struck by objects.

Fatal work injuries

A worker struck and killed by an object was one of the
leading circumstances surrounding death in the workplace.
Table 1 lists 9 events and exposures, each accounting for at
least 5 percent of the 6,112 fatal work injuries counted in
the BLS nationwide Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries
for calendar year 1996. Objects striking workers ranked
fourth among fatal events and exposures, with roughly the
same share (10 percent) of total fatalities as workers who
fell to their death from-heights, which ranked third.

An object falling on a worker was, by far, the most com-
mon way to be struck and killed on the job, accounting for
almost 70 percent of the 579 fatal incidents of that type in
1996. Next in frequency were the deaths of workers who
were struck by a flying object or a rolling object, each cat-
egory representing about 10 percent of the case total.. In

Martin E. Personick is an economist formerly with the Office of Safety,
Health and Working Conditions, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Telephone (202)
606-6168.

Table 1. Number and percent of fatal work Injuries by event or
exposure, 1996

Percent of
Fatal work
Event or exposure inure total fatal
or Injunes | work injuries
6,112 100
1,324 22
912 15
607 10
579 9
369 6
349 6
a 329 5
Caught in, or compressed by,
equipment or object .... 283 5
Contact with electric current .. 279 5
All other events, exposures 1,081 18

Table 2. Number and percent of fatal work injuries resutting

from being struck by objects, 1996
Percent of
Event Fatal work | total fatal
injuries | work ‘injuries
579 100
402 69
58 10
28 5
24 4
flying a 6 1
‘Struck by swinging or slipping object 36 6
Slipping handheld object 12 2
Other or unspecified swingi 9.
or slipping object 24 4
Struck by rolling, sliding
floor or ground level 54 9
Other or unspecified 29 5

1996, the number of fatalities from falling objects (402)
was at its highest level since 1992, when the BLS nation-
wide fatality census was initiated. By contrast, that same
year, all fatal work injuries declined to a 5-year low. Table
2 provides more details on the various ways in which ob-
jects struck workers and their percentage share of the total.

Compensation and Working Conditions Spring 1998 68


Table 3. Occupations at “high risk” of being fatally struck by
objects, 1996

Table 4. Primary source of fatal and: disabling injuries to
workers struck by objects, 1995-96

Fatalities | Fatalities

Occupation (Over age ment 100,000

18) |(thousands)| workers
Total, struck by object 579 | 127,997 05
Timber cutting and fogging 90 75 120.0
Farmers, except horticultural 44 1,112 40
Truckdrivers ...... 44 3,019 15
‘Construction laborers 39 809 48
Nonconstruction taborers .. 29 1,334 22

Fatalities by occupation. In 1996, two major occupational
categories each accounted for approximately a third of the
workers struck and killed by objects: The first category was
operators, fabricators, and laborers, and the second was
farming, forestry, and fishing. (See chart I.) Most of the
remaining fatalities occurred in the precision production,
craft, and repair category. Among individual occupations,
timber cutters and loggers had an especially high risk of
being struck and killed by objects. Their count of 90 deaths
was more than double the number reported for either farm-
ers, truckdrivers, or construction laborers, 3 other occupa-
tions with relatively high-risk rates.

Table 3 shows individual occupations with 5 percent or
more of the 1996 fatal injuries resulting from objects strik-
ing workers. Employees in these occupations face ahigher-
than-average risk of these fatal injuries, as measured by the
number of fatalities per 100,000 workers.

Fatalities by source (object). Trees and logs in their natu-
ral or unprocessed condition were the primary source of
injury for 29 percent of all fatalities resulting from objects
striking workers. Although most of the 167 workers struck
and killed by falling trees or logs in 1996 were classified in
timber cutting and logging occupations, several dozen tree-
Felated deaths also occurred to workers who did not cut or
clear trees on a daily basis, such as farmers, groundskeepers,
truckdrivers, laborers, and carpenters.

‘Together, machinery, building materials, and vehicles
accounted for nearly 40 percent of the primary objects cited
when workers were fatally struck. Within these broad cat-
egories of objects, some specific sources included cranes
and other material handling machinery, metal pipes, steel
beams, dimensional lumber (e.g., 2x4’s), trucks, and trac-
tors. Other objects included: Containers, such as bales of
hay, warehoused crates, and storage tanks; parts and mate-
tials unattached to machines and vehicles at the time of the
incident, including pulleys, saw and fan blades, and tires;
building structures, such as walls and gates; handtools; and
bullets accidentally discharged in handling and cleaning
guns, (See table 4 and chart 2.)

Lost-worktime injuries
Being struck and disabled by an object ranked second

69 Compensation and Working Conditions Spring 1998

Percent distribution Median‘
Primary source of injury' FataP | Disabling? |iost from a
injuries injuries | | disabling
{n=579) |(N=270,369)| injury
100 100 4
8 16 4
13 7 5
5 2 5
- 22 25 4
Building materials-solid
elements .. 12 " 4
i 4 2 5
5 4 4
Wood, lumber ..... ve 2 3 3
Machine, tool, and electric
parts... - 4 3 4
Vehicle and mobile equipment
parts.. ... lee 3 3 5
31 4 4
29 1 6
4 6 5
4 22 3
13 5 4
6 1 4
2 @ -
metal chips). . 3 7 2
All other and nonciassifiable

SOUrceS .... 0) 7 -

| Identifies the object that directly produced or inflicted the injury.

? Based on data from the 1996 BLS Census of Fatal Occupational injuries,
which covered all workers in the private and public sectors: Wage and sala-
tied, ‘and family members.

* Based on data from the 1995 BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and
Illnesses, which covered just wage and salaried workers in private industries,
‘excluding farms with fewer than 11 employees and private households. Dis-
bling injuries are cases that resulted in days away from work, beyond the day
of the incident,

+ Median workdays lost is the point at which haif the injuries involved more
and hait involved fewer days. Dashes indicate that medians were not com-
puted.

® Less than 0.5 percent.

NOTE: Totals for major categories may include data for subcategories not
shown separately. Because of rounding, percentages may not add to 100 per-
cent.

behind overexertion among the ways in which private in-
dustry workers incurred injuries and illnesses involving days
away from work. As estimated by the 1995 BLS nation-
wide Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, table 5
shows the six most prevalent events and exposures. Each
made up at least 5 percent of the 2 million cases resulting
in missed workdays beyond the day of the incident. Ob-
jects striking workers was cited for approximately 13 per-
cent of all lost-worktime cases.

Two types of disabling contacts with objects stood out,
falling objects and swinging or slipping objects. Together,
they were two-thirds of the 270,000 lost-worktime cases
resulting from objects striking workers in 1995. Flying
objects accounted for another tenth. Table 6 includes more
specifics on how the object struck the worker, based on the


Table 5. Number and percent of disabling injuries to workers by
event and exposure, 1995,

Percent of
Lost | total lost
Event or exposure workday
cases cases
Total cases with days away from

work 100
a7
Struck by object 13
Fall on same level 224,244 1
‘Struck against object 143,458 7
Fall to a lower level 104,801 5
oo 94,582 5
All other events, exposures 643,537 Ks

documentation of disabling incidents provided by employ-
ers participating in the BLS survey.

Nonfatal injuries by occupation. The occupational category
of operators, fabricators, and laborers accounted for nearly
half of the 270,000 lost-worktime cases in 1995 resulting
from workers being struck by objects. Next in frequency
was the precision production, craft, and repair category, with
a fifth of the total, followed by the technical, sales and ad-
ministrative support category and services category, each
with approximately an eighth of the total.

The 10 occupations with the most lost-worktime inju-
Ties resulting from objects striking workers are shown in
table 7. Together, they accounted for a third of the 270,000
total for such incidents. Individually, each occupation was
cited in at least 5,000 cases of this type, the minimum used
for this analysis. In addition, for each occupation, the table
shows the chance of being struck and disabled by an object.
For example, the chance of this type of injury is 1 out of

_ 159 truckdrivers, double the national ratio for all occupa-
tions (1 in 352). Each occupation shown had a greater
chance of injury than the national ratio, with non-construc-
tion laborers reporting the greatest chance (1 in 62).

Nonfatal injuries by source (object). Parts and materials
and tools, instruments, and equipment categories were the
two major sources of injury, accounting for nearly half of
the lost-worktime injuries due to workers being struck by
objects. (See table 4.) Within these broad categories, the
most frequently cited individual objects included knives
(21,800 cases); bars, metal panels, beams, and other struc-
tural metal materials (12,000 cases); fasteners, ropes, and
ties (10,300 cases); wood and lumber (8,600 cases); vehicle
and mobile equipment parts (7,900 cases); and machine,
tool, and electric parts (7,200 cases). Containers, in par-
ticular, boxes, crates, and cartons accounted for another sixth
of the injuries associated with objects striking workers.
Many of the remaining objects that struck and disabled
workers were classified in various categories: Machinery

Tabie 6. Number and percent of disabling Injuries to workers
struck by objects, 1995

Percent of
Struck
Event joa” | total stuck
cases | Py Object
cases
Total, struck by object cases 270,369 100
‘Struck by falling object... 104,820 39
‘Struck by swinging or slipping object 73,637 27
Slipping handheld object ( 52,570 19
Swinging door of gate .. 13,068 5
7,999 3
30,912 W
14,587 5
Decharged ying objector ‘Substance
(e.g., staple from staple gun) i 7,593 3
Other or unspecified flying object
or substance ...... 8,732 3
‘Struck by rolling, sliding object on
floor or ground level .. 7,832 3
Other or unspecified 53,168 20

(jacks and refrigerators, for example); structures and sur-
faces (especially doors); and vehicles (particularly carts,
dollies, and handtrucks).

Objects striking workers resulted in workers missing a
median of 4 workdays, the average for all injuries. Al-
though a wide variety of objects struck and disabled work-
ers, the resulting absence from work typically varied little
by the offending source of injury.

Scope and method

The national Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries
(CFOD) and the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Tl-
nesses (SOI) differ markedly with regard to methods of
data collection and worker coverage. CFOI uses diverse
data sources to identify, verify, and profile all fatal work
injuries. It obtains information about each workplace fa-
tality (occupation and other worker characteristics, equip-
ment being used, and circumstances of the event) by cross-
referencing source documents, such as death certificates,
workers’ compensation records, and reports to Federal and
State agencies. This method assures counts are as com-
plete and accurate as possible.

SOII collects information from a random sample of about
250,000 establishments representing most of private indus-
try. Unlike the fatality census, the survey excludes the pub-
lic sector, the self employed, private households, and farms
with fewer than 11 employees. In addition, worker and
case characteristics are collected only for those workers
sustaining injuries and illnesses that require missed work-
days, beyond the day of the incident.

For more information on either the census or the survey,
access the BLS Internet site at http://www.bls.gov/
oshhome.htm or e-mail cfoistaff@bls.gov with your re-
quest.

Compensation and Working Conditions Spring 1998 70