Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994                   TAG: 9408110067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

WRECKS, SLAYINGS TOP JOB-DEATH CAUSES

The Labor Department said there were 6,271 job-related deaths last year, up from 6,217 in 1992. Highway accidents caused 20 percent of those deaths, just topping homicides at 17 percent. Ninety-two percent of the 1993 fatalities were men, far more than their 55 percent share of the nation's employment.

The disproportion of deaths among men and women results from the differences in the industries and occupations in which they typically work.

``The workplace is still a dangerous environment,'' Labor Secretary Robert Reich said in an interview. ``Tragically, the more traditional accidents and many others were preventable.''

Saying the department has substantially increased enforcement of workplace safety laws, Reich pledged ``to use every tool of enforcement and training at our disposal to see that fewer of these accidents occur in the future.''

Highway accidents caused 1,232 job-related fatalities in 1993. Half of them involved collisions between two or more vehicles such as trucks and cars driven by salespeople. Ninety percent of the victims were men.

Highway accidents accounted for 18 percent of the fatalities in 1992.

Reich said the department plans to publish in the fall of 1995 a standard designed to prevent workplace motor vehicle deaths.

The 17 percent of on-the-job deaths caused last year by homicides was the same share as in 1992.

Besides the disproportionate difference between male and female deaths, the study found another anomaly: the self-employed and those working in family businesses accounted for 21 percent of the workplace fatalities - double their share of the nation's workers.

Keywords:
FATALITY