NYC workplace fatalities up in 2010

<i>Six construction workers died from falls last year</i>

Six New York City construction workers died from falls in 2010, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There were 68 fatal, work-related injuries in New York City in total last year, an increase of five from an all-time low of just 63 in 2009. Nationwide, workplace fatalities totaled 4,547 last year, according to the government’s preliminary statistics, a similar figure to the 2009 total, which was 4,551.

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While homicides accounted for 15 of the 68 fatal injuries in New York City (in the early days of the survey in 1992, homicides accounted for around 119), self-inflicted injuries accounted for 15 deaths. The number of fatal falls to a lower level rose from five in 2009 to 13 in 2010. Almost half of those falls, six, happened in the construction industry.

Workers 25 years old to 54 years old accounted for 68 percent of deaths. One out of every four deaths occurred to Hispanic or Latino workers.

Though data has not yet been released for 2011, it was reported that a construction worker died earlier this month after falling off the roof of a six-story church at 13 West 60th Street. The man, who had been working on a restoration project for construction company West New York at the site, fell 125 feet from the roof of St. Paul the Apostle Church. — Katherine Clarke