Oregon Workplaces Claim 29 People In 2013

State workplace safety officials say 29 people died on the job in Oregon during 2013.

The statistics released last week by the Department of Consumer and Business Services show a slight decrease from 2012’s figure of 30 deaths.

The largest number of deaths – seven workers – occurred in construction. Logging resulted in six deaths.

Oregon’s on-the-job fatalities have been on the decline in recent decades.

In the 1980s, the state averaged 81 deaths, while in the 1990s the average was 55 deaths. Over the past five years, it was 27 deaths.

Workplace injuries and illnesses also decreased more than 50 percent since the late 1980s.

The agency’s statistics don’t cover all workplaces in Oregon. They don’t, for example, include fatalities among self-employed people, federal employees, Portland police and fire employees, and people who work for out-of-state employers.