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The joint effort stems back to a special session on statistics during
the July 2012 Seventh U.S.–EU Joint
Conference on Occupational Safety and Health in Brussels, Belgium.
A standout from a recent BLS report about the
project is a comparison of U.S. and EU fatal work injury statistics in the
private industry, based on 2010 data. The comparisons for the study are limited
to "main industry" branches. Per BLS, the total number of fatal work
injuries in those branches was 2,530 for the U.S. and 3,353 for the EU. Notable
differences in the data include:
- Nine percent of cases occurred in the manufacturing industry in the EU, compared with 14.9% of cases in the U.S.
- Cases occurring in the “accommodation and food service activities” industry accounted for 1.4% in the EU, compared with 4% of cases in the U.S.
While the report is not indicative of distinct overarching trends and
differences, its development illustrates that such comparisons could be
possible in the future.
“This work begins a conversation and provides an opportunity to
identify areas for further comparisons and research,” the BLS report states. “Future
work and collaboration will provide better information about fatal workplace hazards
and, ideally, lead to improvements in worker safety and health in both the United
States and the European Union.”