Database now includes details on more than 1,000 worker deaths from 2015

Longmeadow, MA – More than 1,000 worker deaths have occurred during the first seven months of 2015, according to the U.S. Worker Fatality Database.

Volunteer researchers have recorded 1,073 deaths related to “traumatic on-the-job events” this year, states a press release from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, one of the safety advocates that help collect information for the database.

The total number of deaths will likely reach 4,500, as Bureau of Labor Statistics data has documented more than 4,500 “workplace deaths from traumatic events” each of the past five years, according to National COSH. About 50,000 workers die annually from long-term occupational exposures, such as toxic chemicals.

The database, which was launched in April, features a map, timeline and table of industries to categorize the deaths. With detailed information gathered from local, state, and federal sources and media reports, the resource is aimed at providing insight into worker deaths and prevention.

National COSH states that the database is “the largest open-access data set of individual workplace fatalities ever collected in the United States.”