Work-related fatal injuries from disasters

ABSTRACT: According to preliminary figures from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), there were 29 work-related fatalities in 2005 associated with hurricanes, e.g. Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. The majority of deaths did not appear to occur during the hurricane itself but afterward during recovery. Although the Census had collected information on other catastrophes such as 9/11 and Oklahoma City, the program had no general criteria to define the relationship of a worker's death to a disaster. METHODS: Other approaches to disasters were investigated and synthesized, including the ICD coding structure, peer-reviewed literature, and academic books to create a classification structure for work-related disaster deaths. This new structure was then applied to fatal work injuries in 2005 to summarize deaths from hurricanes. RESULTS: A classification structure was created that identifies (1) the type of disaster (natural or man-made) based upon ICD guidelines, (2) the physical component of the disaster that led to the death, and (3) the activity of the worker as it relates to the disaster. The expressed aim was to allow appropriate comparisons to be made across different classes of disasters, e.g. the death toll from criminal activity after an earthquake versus after a hurricane. Using this new coding instrument, it can be shown that worker deaths from hurricanes in 2005 occurred a median of 24 days after landfall. The majority of worker deaths occurred during restoration efforts such as tree trimming, debris removal, and utility activation.