Work-related truck driver fatalities rose to their highest level since 2008 last year, according to a report issued by the Department of Labor this week. About 725 heavy vehicle or tractor-trailer drivers died on the job last year, according to the report.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the preliminary results of fatal occupational injuries in 2014 last week. Occupations in transportation and material moving made up the largest share (28 percent) of fatal injuries of any occupation, the report notes.
According to the BLS, fatal work injuries in the transportation/material movement group rose 3 percent to 1,289 fatalities in 2014, the highest total since 2008.
Drivers/sales workers and truck drivers made up nearly two-thirds of the deaths in the group, 835 of the 1,289. Heavy vehicle and tractor-trailer drivers accounted for 725 of the 1,289 fatalities in the group. In the for-hire transportation business, 477 truck driver fatalities occurred, according to the report.
Fatal work injuries in transportation and warehousing accounted for 735 fatal work injuries in 2014, almost unchanged from the revised 2013 count of 733 fatalities.
The total of 4,679 fatal work injuries recorded for 2014 nationwide is an increase of 2 percent over the revised count of 4,585 fatal work injuries in 2013.
