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The Workers’ Compensation Division received notification of 27 compensable fatalities in 2015. This is the second lowest number of fatalities ever recorded and lower than the 10-year average of 31.2 fatalities.

Oregon Compensable Fatalities

Note: Employment figures are based on data from the Oregon Employment Department. Fatality rates are the number of accepted fatal claims per 100,000 workers. The 2015 employment and fatality rate estimates are preliminary.

Data exclude deaths of workers not subject to Oregon workers’ compensation coverage, such as workers who were self-employed, who worked for out-of-state employers, city of Portland police and fire employees, and federal employees.

Oregon Industries
Occupation of Oregon Injured Workers

Compensable Fatality Facts, Oregon, 2015

  • The average age of workers for fatal claims accepted during 2015 was 47.

  • The oldest worker was a 79-year-old office worker who was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street. The youngest worker was a 24-year-old choker setter whose pickup truck collided with an oncoming dump truck.

  • Female workers accounted for 7.4 percent (two cases) of the accepted fatalities in 2015, down from 9.7 percent (three cases) in 2014. During the five-year period of 2011-2015, 8.9 percent of accepted fatalities were females, up slightly from 8.8 percent in the previous five-year period (2006-2010).

  • Two of the 27 accepted fatalities in 2015 were to workers employed in the public sector. This is slightly lower than the five-year average of 2.4.

  • With six fatalities each, Coos and Lane counties had the most accepted fatalities in Oregon during 2015. A single incident accounted for three fatalities in Lane County. Two fatalities occurred outside of Oregon (one in California and one in Washington).

Event resulting in injury

At least two workers killed in roadway accidents were not wearing a seatbelt (four were unknown).

Source of injury or disease

Trucks were the source for 13 of the 17 vehicles involved in fatal accidents, three of which involved semi-trucks.

Tenure of worker

Note: Tenure is the amount of time the worker had worked for the employer at injury and is not necessarily indicative of the worker’s level of experience.

Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA)
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) offers a wide range of services to Oregon's employers and workers to improve workplace safety and health. These services include:

  • Consultations
  • Education/conferences
  • Technical resources and film library
  • Educational grants
  • Hazard abatement assistance

For more information, contact Oregon OSHA, 350 Winter St. NE, Room 430, P.O. Box 14480, Salem, OR 97309-0405
503-378-3272 or 800-922-2689
osha.oregon.gov

Fatality/claims data
Visit http://www.oregon.gov/DCBS/reports/Pages/index.aspx for additional workers’ compensation claims data and other statistical reports, or call the Information Technology and Research Section at 503-378-8254.

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries
National work-related fatality data can be found on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' website at http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm

Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation
Information about Oregon Health and Science University's Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (FACE) can be found at http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/oregon-institute-occupational-health-sciences/outreach/or-face/?WT_rank=1

Employer workers' compensation coverage
For additional information about employer coverage requirements, you may contact the Workers' Compensation Division Employer Compliance Program at wcd.employerinfo@oregon.gov, call 888-877-5670, or find it online at: wcd.oregon.gov

Classification systems
Data are classified according to the following classification systems:


DCBS Public Home Page

If you have questions about the information contained in this document, please contact by email or phone: James Burke, 503-947-7838<,
research analyst, Information Technology and Research Section, Central Services Division. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), all CSD publications are available in alternative formats by calling 503-378-7307. The information in CSD publications is in the public domain and may be reprinted without permission.This document was originally published in July 2016.
Printed form 440-0947 (07/16/COM)