What is the Deadliest Industry in 2012?
In 2012, construction accounted for less than 4% of total employment in New York State, but with 38 construction deaths, or 19% of the 196 occupational fatalities reported, it was the state’s deadliest industry sector in that year.
Transportation, with 23 workplace fatalities, was the second most deadly industry in 2012.
Professional and business services, with 20 fatalities, ranked third.
Retail trade, with 18 deaths, ranked fourth.
Agriculture and forestry, with 16 fatalities, ranked fifth. 13 deaths in the public administration industry placed it in the sixth spot in 2012. With 12 fatalities, the educational and health services sector had the seventh most workplace fatalities in 2012.
Who Died on the Job in 2012?
According to NYCOSH, slightly more than 1/3 of occupational fatalities were people of color, and construction was the deadliest industry for Latinos.
- • 20% of fatalities were Latino, 9% were non-Latino Black/African American, and 6% were Asian.
- • 65% were white
- • 38% of the Latino workers who died on the job were working in construction at the time of the incident, making construction the deadliest industry for Latinos in 2012.
1/3 of all the workers who died were immigrants. Immigrant workers died while in construction.
- • Immigrant workers comprised half of construction deaths in 2012.
- • 21% of New York State’s population aged 18 and older are immigrants.
The workplace fatality rate was much higher for self-employed workers than for wage and salary workers.
- • Self-employed workers accounted for 28% of workplace fatalities in New York in 2012. Of these self-employed workers, 19% were in construction. OSHA has no authority to monitor the safety of the self-employed worker.
Many of those who died were older workers.
- • 35% of workers who died on the job were 55 years old or older. 18% were 65 or older. 10% of workers older than 65 who died were employed in construction.
75% of the deaths occurred in New York City
- • The workplace fatality rate may have been higher outside of New York City because of the hazardous nature of agricultural/forestry work and landscaping services.
- • 20% of construction fatalities occurred in New York City.
What Was The Main Cause of Construction Work Fatalities in 2012?
Slips, trips and falls accounted for nearly ¼ of all occupational fatalities.
- • Almost half of these deaths occurred in construction.
Transportation incidents accounted for 31% of the fatalities.
- • A significant portion of the transportation incidents occurred in waste collection, street and highway paving, grounds keeping, and construction work.
Contact with objects of equipment caused 16% of workplace deaths.
- • These 32 deaths occurred in a variety of industries, including 10 in agriculture and forestry, five in construction, and four among grounds maintenance workers.
To get more facts about workplace fatalities in New York State in 2012, visit NYCOSH.org
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