Since 2003, the Oregon Occupational Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (OR-FACE) Program has tracked over 600 work-related fatalities in Oregon that are caused by a traumatic injury. The program is a project of the Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology at Oregon Health & Science University.
Each year, OR-FACE issues a report of its findings. The most recent report available is for 2011, in which Oregon recorded 59 workplace deaths. The total number of fatalities rose compared to the previous year. The number represents a rate of 3.3 fatalities per 100,000 employed workers in the civilian workforce in the state. The national rate was 3.5 fatalities per 100,000.
Transportation was the most common event and occupation for workplace fatalities in Oregon. Logging and forestry was the most fatal industry in 2011, with 10 deaths. Farming and ranching occupations had the second highest occupational death rate.
And though women make up just over half of the Oregon population, OR-FACE found they are under-represented in recorded occupational fatalities. Women have historically made up 7.21 percent of work-related deaths on average. However, 2011 was the highest percentage of female fatalities to date. That year, five of the 59 recorded deaths (9 percent) were women. These deaths resulted from violence, falls, and a motor vehicle incident.
Hispanic worker deaths fell from 16 percent in 2010 (the highest recorded) to 10 percent in 2011. The percent of death among Hispanic workers were lower than that of the Hispanic population in Oregon (12.2 percent).
Of the six Hispanic worker deaths, four were the result of contact with an object or equipment.
These fatalities are now published as interactive maps on OR-FACE’s website. Go here to see more.
(Editor’s Note: OR-FACE has statistics on job-related fatalities by county, by month, by day of the week, and by time of day.)
