Fatal work injuries in Connecticut increased for the second consecutive year in 2018, rising from 35 to 48, federal officials say.
A recent report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a unit of the U.S. Department of Labor, says the 37% spike in fatalities amounted to 2.8 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2018. That’s up from 1.9 deaths per 100,000 workers a year earlier.
Connecticut’s total workplace death toll in 2018 ranked 34th among all states. The state has averaged about 40 work-related deaths a year since 1992, state labor officials said last year.
Nationally, deaths due to workplace injuries rose 2% to 5,250 in 2018. The national fatality results translate to 3.5 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Labor officials say transportation incidents remained the most common cause of fatal injuries, accounting for 2,080, or 40%, of all work-related deaths nationally. Trailing were incidents involving contact with objects and equipment or machinery, and unintentional overdoses due to nonmedical use of drugs of alcohol.
The 2018 data was drawn from nearly 25,000 documents reviewed as part of BLS’ data collection process, it said.
In Connecticut, the construction industry has been on the frontlines of studying how to prevent workplace injuries by experimenting with wearable technology and the internet of things (IoT) to improve safety efforts.
As previously reported, a growing number of area construction firms are using trackable clips that can detect falls and help first responders locate injured workers, in addition to using hazard-and-fatigue-sensing smart helmets and bionic exoskeletons that absorb the burden of heavy lifting.
