Conn. Reports Decline in Work-Related Deaths

The number of people dying from work-related injuries went down last year, the state Department of Labor announced.

Forty-six people died of work-related injuries in Connecticut in 2005, down 15 percent from the previous year. There were 54 deaths in 2004, according to the department’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

“While I am heartened to see that the number of deaths dropped in 2005 from the previous year, the loss of even one life to a work accident is one loss too many,” Labor Commissioner Patricia H. Mayfield said.

Connecticut has averaged 41 work-related deaths a year since it began recording those deaths in 1992,

In 2005, the construction industry experienced the greatest number of fatalities with 13.

Of the state’s 46 fatalities, 12 resulted from transportation accidents, 10 from contact with objects and equipment, nine from homicides and eight from fatal falls.