A total of 5,703 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2004, an increase of 2 percent from the revised total of 5,575 fatal work injuries reported for 2003, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For 2002, a total of 5,534 fatal work injuries were reported, according to the bureau.

The rate at which fatal work injuries occurred in 2004 was 4.1 per 100,000 workers, up slightly from a rate of 4.0 per 100,000 workers in 2002 and 2003. The increase in the fatality rate in 2004 was the first since 1994 when the rate was 5.3 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

Fatal work injuries among Hispanic workers were up 11 percent in 2004 after declining the previous two years. The number of fatally injured Hispanic or Latino workers rose from 794 in 2003 to 883 in 2004. The rate of fatal work injuries among Hispanic or Latino workers rose from 4.5 per 100,000 workers in 2003 to 4.9 per 100,000 in 2004.

The number of fatal work injuries among older workers (55 years of age and older) rose 10 percent in 2004, but fatalities among younger workers (16 to 24 years of age) declined.

Workplace homicides were down sharply in 2004 to the lowest level ever recorded by the fatality census.

Fatal work injuries resulting from being struck by an object rose 12 percent in 2004, and overtook workplace homicide as the third most frequent type of fatal event.

Fatal falls increased by 17 percent, led by increases in the number of fatal falls from ladders and from roofs.

The number of fatal work injuries in the construction sector rose 8 percent in 2004, but because of employment increases in this sector, the fatality rate for construction was not significantly higher than the rate reported in 2003.

Fatal highway incidents were up slightly in 2004 after declining the two previous years. The 1,374 fatal highway incidents recorded in 2004 represented about one out of every four fatal work injuries in 2004.

Overall, 91 percent of the fatal work injuries involved workers in private industry. Service-providing industries in the private sector recorded 47 percent of all fatal work injuries in 2004, while goods-producing industries recorded 44 percent. Another 9 percent of the fatal work injury cases in 2004 involved federal, state, or local government workers. The number of fatal work injuries in the private sector increased by 3 percent in 2004, while fatalities among government workers were down slightly.

Twenty-seven states reported higher numbers of fatalities in 2004 than in 2003. Of those states reporting 25 or more fatal work injuries in 2004, six States reported increases of at least 20 percent (Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, and New Mexico), while two States reported declines of 20 percent (Arkansas and Oregon).