After reaching a record low in 2002, North Carolina workplace fatalities rose from 169 to 182 in 2003. Officials said an explosion at a plant in Kinston, which killed six people, and a Charlotte airplane crash, which killed 21, accounted, in large part, for the increase.
After reaching a record low in 2002, North Carolina workplace fatalities rose from 169 to 182 in 2003. Officials said an explosion at a plant in Kinston, which killed six people, and a Charlotte airplane crash, which killed 21, accounted, in large part, for the increase.
Despite the rise in fatalities, 2003 statistics show a marked improvement from 2001, when 203 workplace deaths were recorded. The figures are compiled annually by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We do not see specific trends in the fatality numbers of the past several years,” said Allen McNeely, the director of occupational safety and health in North Carolina. “North Carolina has experienced a period of decline in the number of workplace deaths overall, which includes many events unrelated to workplace safety.”
None of the deaths took place at Duke, but University officials independently revamped the University’s workers’ compensation policies July 1. The preventative measure, it is hoped, will bolster the school’s already solid commitment to safety in the workplace.
“We’ve done well in terms of safety,” said Paul Grantham, director of communications for human resources. “But we definitely want to do a better job to make sure we have a safe environment.”
Under the new program, a staff member must report accidents in the workplace immediately. A supervisor must then investigate the claim and submit a “Report Work-Related Injury or Illness” form within 24 hours of the incident.
The first priority at Duke, Grantham said, is to provide for the health and safety of the employee. The second priority is to address the root cause of the problem, ensuring that the problem will not persist. The twofold approach, Grantham said, will provide a safer work environment for everyone.
Over the past few years, the North Carolina Department of Labor has focused attention and resources on high-risk sectors of industry, including construction, long-term care facilities, logging and lumber products manufacturing. These efforts, officials said, have proven effective. The number of deaths in construction-related areas remained constant—a statistic that demonstrates the department’s successful outreach program to contractors and subcontractors, McNeely said.
But there is still room for improvement. North Carolina had the ninth most workplace fatalities in the country last year, and Durham had the third most in the state. Transportation and construction incidents continue to be the leading causes of death in the workplace, and a vast majority of these victims are Caucasian males.
“My heart goes out to the families of these victims,” said Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry in a Sept. 22 release from the department. “So we’re not ever going to say we’re satisfied with any figure because one fatality is one too many.”
Hispanic deaths accounted for 11.5 percent of all North Carolina work-related fatalities in 2003—a 3.3 percent decrease from the previous year. Hispanics comprise 4.7 percent of the population in the state.
“With this population of workers booming in North Carolina, and with so many of them filling our high-risk jobs in construction, agriculture and manufacturing, we are especially pleased to see this decline and consider it a step in the right direction,” McNeely said.
Berry has taken active steps to work with the Hispanic population of North Carolina. In 2001, she created the Hispanic Task Force. Labor One, a training unit of the Hispanic Task Force, prints safety materials in Spanish on construction sites and farm fields throughout the state. In addition, the department plans to hire two Hispanic outreach safety consultants.
More men than women died in the workplace in 2003. One hundred sixty-seven men and 15 women died, compared to 159 men and 10 women the year before. The most afflicted age demographic rose from 35- to 44-year-olds in 2002 to 45- to 54-year-olds in 2003.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics fatality numbers released Sept. 22 are a vital part of North Carolina Labor policymaking, McNeely said. The figures are used to identify and address the causes of worker deaths.
“We dissect and study these annual numbers in order to put our resources to best use,” she said.
Officials are waiting for the numbers from 2004 to see whether the rise in workplace fatalities in 2003 is a portent of things to come or a mere hiccup on an otherwise improving climate of workplace safety in North Carolina.
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