If you or a loved one are employed in a job known to have a higher-than-average risk of serious injuries, you will no doubt want to keep a pulse on workplace safety issues and reported incidents in the area. The Connecticut Economic Digest recently published data about the number of people who have died as a result of work-related situations or factors in 2015 and 2016.
As reported by Hartford Business, the number of lives lost in job-associated incidents in 2016 in Connecticut was 28. This is the lowest number of state workplace deaths in eight years since 2008. Interestingly, at the national level, there were 5,190 workplace deaths in 2016 and this number of deaths represented the highest number since 2008. Neighboring Rhode Island experienced nine fatalities that were connected to people’s jobs in 2016.
In 2015, Connecticut recorded 44 job fatalities. While certainly it is positive to see a reduction in deaths at work, it must be remembered that every life matters and the only true good news is the report of zero deaths at work. A single death may have ramifications for multiple family members, friends and colleagues. Connecticut’s workplace death rate translates to an average of 1.6 persons per 100,000 employees identified as full-time equivalent. That is substantially less than the 3.6 people per 100,000 full-time workers nationally.
If you would like to learn more about workplace safety and how you might seek assistance and compensation after the loss of a loved one in a job-related incident, please feel free to visit the fatal workplace accident page of our Connecticut personal injury website.