Traumatic occupational fatalities in South Carolina, 1989-90

Death certificates for South Carolina for 1989 and 1990 were examined to identify deaths resulting from injury incurred in the workplace. There were 277 deaths in that category in the 2-year period, an average yearly rate for traumatic occupational fatalities of 8.84 per 100,000 workers. The groups of industries with the highest fatality rates were transportation-communication-utilities, construction, and agriculture-fishing-forestry. The leading causes of death were injuries from motor vehicle crash, homicide, and falls. The traumatic occupational fatality rate for men was about 13 times greater than that for women; however, a much higher proportion of women died from homicide on the job. The findings in general reflect trends reported in other studies. The death rates for workers in South Carolina for 1989-90, however, were higher than national averages for 1980-88. National data for 1989-90 were not available for comparison. The data suggest that more effective injury prevention efforts need to be applied to such causes of on-the-job injury as motor vehicle crash, homicide, and falls. Those three categories accounted for more than 56 percent of all traumatic occupational fatalities in South Carolina in 1989 and 1990. Motor vehicle crash prevention efforts particularly are needed in the transportation-communication-utilities industries. The findings show that particular efforts need to be directed to the retail trade category for prevention of homicide and to the construction industry for prevention of falls.