The Indiana Department of Labor says there were 132 workplace fatalities statewide in 2008, a 4 percent increase from 127 a year earlier.
Despite the increase, last year’s total was the second-lowest on record after 2007. Commissioner of Labor Lori Torres says the 2008 total was 11 percent below the 10-year average.
Torres credits the agency’s stepped-up enforcement and consultation efforts, including nearly 2,000 inspections in 2008 ā a nearly 70 percent increase over 2007.
The top three industries with on-the-job fatalities in 2008 were agriculture, with 22; construction, 19; and manufacturing, 18. Transportation and warehousing, which usually has the most occupational deaths, fell by 48 percent to 16 in 2008, the lowest number on record in Indiana.
Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com
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