By JoAnne Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An average of 16 U.S. workers were killed on the job each day last year, a decline of about two percent overall, but fatal injuries among Hispanic workers rose sharply, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Tuesday.
``We've made a lot of progress, but this report points to where we need to do better,'' Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said in a statement. ``Our Department needs to do a better job of reaching out more to Hispanic workers and employers,'' Chao said.
Despite an increase in overall employment, the total of reported fatal work injuries fell to 5,915 in 2000, the statistics bureau said.
While the number of fatal work injuries among white and black workers was lower in 2000, fatal injuries among Hispanic workers rose to 815 last year from 729 in 1999, according to the federal government's annual workplace fatality census.
The increase in Hispanic deaths was led by a 24 percent jump in deaths on construction jobs, the report said. Nationally, Hispanic employment rose six percent in 2000.
John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, said the report raises concern about safety and health protections for Hispanic workers. The head of the labor federation called on the Labor Department to step up oversight and enforcement efforts to make job sites safer.
The Labor Department said the report showed a continuing downward trend in work-related deaths and officials were reaching out to Hispanic workers through programs in Florida and Texas to improve safety in the workplace.
The number of job-related homicides increased for the first time in six years, from 651 in 1999 to 677 in 2000. But the total number of work place homicides in 2000 was still 37 percent lower than the high of 1,080 homicides reported in 1994.
The Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said construction again reported the highest number of fatal work injuries (1,154) of any industry, although the total for the industry was down about three percent last year. It was the first decline reported for the construction industry since 1996.
Machine operators, fabricators and laborers recorded the largest number of fatal work injuries (2,118) of any occupational group in 2000, accounting for more than one out of every three fatalities, the report said. But compared to the previous year, the number of fatalities for this group was down four percent.
Rates of fatal work injury in 2000 were highest in the mining, agriculture, construction and transportation industries, the report said. The mining industry had a rate of 30 workplace deaths per 100,000 workers in 2000, the highest of any industry and about seven times the rate for all workers.
Fatal work injuries to men (5,467) were down nearly three percent, while fatalities to women (448) increased slightly in 2000, the report said.
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