BLS: restaurant worker fatalities jump because of violence

WASHINGTON -- After a 10-year decline, the number of restaurant workers killed on the job jumped by 26 percent during 2006, to 135, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Homicides and violent acts remained the leading cause of fatalities, accounting for 100 deaths, a 37-percent leap over the tally for 2005, the agency reported in its Annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Attacks have been the leading cause of on-the-job restaurant deaths for the past decade. The second-largest cause of death for restaurant workers last year was transportation accidents, accounting for 20 cases, just one more than in 2005.

Seven workers died in a fall-related accident last year, one more than in 2005, the agency reported. The BLS did not specify if the fall was on the same level or from one level to another, such as a tumble down a staircase or off a loading dock.

Six restaurant workers died last year from "exposure to substances or environmental conditions," one fewer than a year earlier, BLS said.

The causes for the other two deaths were not cited by the BLS.

Overall, 5.7 million Americans died last year on the job, unchanged from a year earlier.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning