Oregon Workers’ Comp Division Notified of 35 Fatalities in 2007

Oregon’s Department of Consumer and Business Services’ Workers’ Compensation Division received notification of 35 compensable fatalities in 2007, the third lowest number reported since the state began tracking the statistic in 1943.

According to DCBS’ statistics, the construction industry faced the largest percentage of compensable fatalities, with 12 incidents. Other industries that recorded higher fatalities were agriculture, forestry, logging, followed by manufacturing, followed by transport and warehousing. The average age of fatally injured workers in 2007 was 35, which is 10 years younger than the average of 45 in 2006.

The oldest wokrer that died in 2007 was a 72-year-old logger who was run over by a logging truck. The youngest worker was a 16-year-old farm worker who was driving a wheat truck that crashed into an embankment. Three of the fatally injured in 2007 were female.

Data indicates that falls accounted for nearly 29 percent of compensable fatalities in 2007, a 150 percent increase over the four workers killed this way in 2006. There were no compensable injuries due to occupational illness.

For more information, visit www.cbs.state.or.us/imd/rasums/0947/07web/07_0947.html.

Source: DCBS