Okla. Workplace Deaths up in 2010, As Jobs Added

Oklahoma workplace deaths rose 11 percent last year, but the increase was likely caused by people returning to work following the steep economic downturn of the year before, a federal official said.

There were 91 work-related deaths in Oklahoma in 2010, compared to 82 the year before, according to a report released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor.

Cheryl Abbot, regional economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Dallas, told The Oklahoman that the 2009 number is the one that is unusual.

Rising unemployment during the economic downturn that year meant there were fewer people working, leaving fewer to be injured on the job, Abbot said.

Among industries, construction and extraction occupations, such as the oil and gas industry, had the highest number of Oklahoma fatalities with 24 deaths reported.

Diana Jones, director of the “Safety Pays” consultation program for the state Department of Labor, said oil and gas are industries targeted for outreach.

“We’re trying to build a relationship and do what we can to improve safety and health,” she said.

The largest number of workplace deaths in Oklahoma is 200 in 1995, which included the 168 people killed that year in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.