Prominent Personal Injury Attorneys Chalik & Chalik Comment on Florida’s Third Place Ranking for Highest Number of Workplace Fatalities

Miami, FL (Law Firm Newswire) February 21, 2017 – According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of deadly workplace injuries have increased nationwide.

With 272 fatal work injuries in 2015, Florida ranked as the state with the third-highest number of work-related deaths. According to the National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries from the Bureau of Labor Statistic, 2015 saw a minimal increase in the number of fatalities across the nation. In 2015, there were 4,836 deadly work injuries in the country and 4,821 work-related deaths in 2014.

The number of fatal injuries that occurred in Florida increases each year. The bureau documented 228 work-related fatalities in 2014, and 272 in 2015. Florida ranks behind Texas, with 527 work-related deaths, and California, with 388 fatal injuries in the workplace. New York is in fourth place, with 236 such injuries, and in fifth place is Ohio, with 202 deadly work injuries.

Prominent Florida personal injury attorneys at Chalik & Chalik say, “Due to the prevalence of fatal workplace injuries in Florida, it is important for victims and their families to immediately consult a personal injury attorney who will hold the responsible person or entity liable for causing the incident resulting in the victim’s death.”

The bureau also reported, that in 2015, tractor-trailer drivers experienced the most work-related deaths, with 745 fatalities nationwide. In the same year, there were 937 deadly workplace injuries within the private construction industry. That figure represents the highest since 2008, when 975 workers lost their lives.

There was a 38 percent decrease in 2015 in fatal workplace injuries in the private oil and gas extraction industries. Moreover, in 2015, 17 percent of work-related fatalities affected contractors of, and working for, another business or government organization, and not for an employer.

In 2015, there were fewer fatalities among older workers than in 2014. Nevertheless, the 650 fatalities affecting workers age 65 and older in 2015 was the second-highest number for that category since the inception of the national census in 1992. In 2014, that number was 684.

Furthermore, most of the work-related deaths occurred as a result of incidents relevant to transportation. That number was 2,054, which includes accidents involving aircraft, roadway, rail and pedestrians. The number of workplace fatalities that could be attributed to falls, slips and trips was 800, while violence and other injuries were responsible for 703 deaths. Work-related homicides accounted for 417 fatalities in 2015, compared to 409 in 2014. There were fewer suicides at work in 2015, when there were 229, than in 2014, when there were 280.

“We have represented many injured workers and have found the worksite to be extraordinarily dangerous place,” said Jason Chalik, an attorney at Chalik & Chalik. Many of these deaths could be prevented if workplaces adhered to Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) worker safety guidelines. Employers should establish workplace safety awareness and prevention programs as well as workplace hazard control to ensure safety of their workers.

Learn more at http://www.chaliklaw.com/. Chalik & Chalik Injury Lawyers 28 W Flagler St, #1000 Miami, FL 33130 Phone: (305) 944-2035

Chalik & Chalik Injury Lawyers Blog