Bituminous Insurance Companies

Statistics – Fatalities in the Oil and Gas Extraction Industry

The oil and gas extraction industry employs about 380,000 workers in the United States. In August 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) asked the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate a 15 percent increase (from 85 fatalities in 2003 to 98 in 2004) in fatalities among oil and gas extraction workers. CDC analyzed data from the BLS’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) for the period 2003-2006.

The results of that analysis indicated that the increase in the rate of fatal occupational injuries in this industry correlated with an increase in oil and gas extraction activity during the period. In addition, the annual fatality rate of 30.5 per 100,000 workers (404 fatalities) during 2003--2006 was approximately seven times the rate for all workers (4.0 per 100,000 workers). Nearly half of all fatal injuries among these workers were attributed to highway motor-vehicle crashes and workers being struck by machinery or equipment.

Details of the report may be found on the CDC Web site at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5716a3.htm.

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