Oregon Reports 37 Workplace Deaths in 2006

The Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services announced its 2006 figures for workplace safety. According to its data, 37 people covered by the state workers’ compensation system died on the job.

The largest concentration of deaths occurred in logging (seven deaths) and truck transportation (six deaths). Motor vehicle accidents caused 32 percent of the deaths.

“Motor vehicle accidents have been the leading cause of workplace deaths in Oregon in four of the past five years,” said Michael Wood, administrator of Oregon OSHA. “At Oregon OSHA, we are increasing our efforts to help employers develop effective driver safety programs, which can prevent many of these accidents.”

Overall, the 2006 total was the third-lowest number of compensable workplace deaths in the state’s history. Thirty-one people died on the job in 2005, and there was an average of 55 deaths per year in the 1990s, and an average of 81 deaths per year in the 1980s.

DCBS compiles fatality statistics from records of death claim benefits paid by Oregon workers’ comp insurers during the calendar year. The data reported may exclude workplace fatalities involving self-employed individuals, city of Portland police and fire employees, federal employees, and incidents occurring in Oregon to individuals with out-of-state employers. Those workers are not subject to the state’s workers’ comp coverage requirements or are covered by other comp systems.

For more information, visit www.dcbs.oregon.gov.

Source: DCBS