CALIF. EMPLOYEE DEATHS DECLINE

The downward trend continued last year: the number of California workers killed on the job was the lowest since 1992 when the Department of Industrial Relations’ Division of Labor Statistics and Research (DLSR) published its findings in the first U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics nationwide census which compiled comprehensive data on work-related fatalities. Preliminary figures for 2000, the latest numbers available, show 553 deaths attributed to work-related accidents—the total had been 644 in 1992. Workplace fatalities in 2000 by industry sector were: services, such as business services, auto repair services and garages, amusement and recreation services, 18.1 percent; construction and transportation/public utilities, each 17.2 percent; agriculture/forestry/fishing, 14.5 percent; retail trade, 10.8 percent; manufacturing, 7.4 percent; wholesale trade, 3.1 percent; finance/insurance/real estate, 1.4 percent; and mining, .7 percent. Leading the category of work-related fatalities by occupation in 2000 were operators, fabricators and laborers at 28.4 percent of the total-followed by precision production, craft and repair occupations at 20.8 percent; technical, sales and administrative support occupations at 15.6 percent; and farming, forestry and fishing occupations at 14.3 percent.