Florida residents may be interested to learn that the number of work-related fatalities in the U.S. went up slightly from 2017 to 2018. According to a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that was released on Dec. 17, there was a 2-percent rise overall in work-related deaths last year. There were more dramatic increases in some specific types of fatal workplace accidents.
Forty percent of workplace fatalities last year were caused by transportation accidents, with truckers and driving sales people accounting for most of the deaths. Another type of accident that caused a lot of workplace deaths was accidental overdoses of drugs or alcohol. This type of accident has increased for six years running. The number of work-related suicides went up by 11 percent last year.
Referring to the BLS report, the National Safety Council said that workplace deaths should never be considered a cost of operating a business. The NSC said that employers should do more to create safety policies, train workers and assess potential risks on the job. Some experts say that ‘culture management” can help to make a workplace safer, and employers need to work on creating a culture of safety.
In the event that a worker dies on the job, the deceased worker’s family members may be able to claim financial compensation for the loss of income. An attorney may be able to help a family that has lost their main income provider to file a workers’ compensation claim. If the deceased worker’s employer is claiming the death was not work-related, an attorney may help the family by gathering supporting evidence for the claim.
