Michigan Workplace Deaths Show Slight Dip in 2011

April 26, 2012

A report says fewer people died in the workplace across Michigan last year compared to 2010.

The Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation program reported Tuesday that 141 workers died on the job in 2011 — four fewer than in 2010.

The program investigates work-related deaths and seeks ways to prevent them. It says 24 construction workers and 22 agriculture workers were killed last year. The survey also says that falls and motor vehicle accidents caused 23 deaths each.

Michigan State University Occupational and Environmental Medicine director Kenneth Rosenman says “workplace deaths are almost always avoidable” and should be decreasing.

Rosenman’s research also shows workplace burns in Michigan are underreported. A new surveillance system shows 1,461 work-related burns in 2009 compared with 450 reported by employers.