Preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Labor shows 461 fatalities occurred in 2013 among private sector trucking jobs — an 8 percent drop from the previous year.
The DOL’s Sept. 11 report lists truck transportation as the largest subsector among private sector service transportation and warehousing jobs. The department reported 687 fatal work injuries for the entire sector in 2013, a 7 percent decrease from 2012.
Still, total number of fatalities for the entire category is expected to be higher when the DOL releases updated 2013 data next spring.
Significantly lower numbers of fatalities were reported among the other transportation subsectors. Last year’s fatalities, when compared to 2013, decreased for air transportation but remained about level for water and rail fatalities.
Transportation ranks second to construction among industries with the highest number of fatalities, according to the DOL’s Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Among the goods-producing industries, the private construction sector had 796 fatal work injuries during 2013, about the same as the year before.
The total 4,405 fatal work injuries recorded for 2013 nationwide is a drop from 4,628 deaths in this category for the previous year. The national fatal work injury rate was 3.2 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers for 2013, down from 3.4 per 100,000 for 2012.
