Working (safely) for a living

Want to survive the workday?

Keep your eye on the road. Watch your step. And consider moving to Pinellas County.

Of the 40 Tampa Bay area workers who died while on the job in 2001, half perished on the highway or after a fall, according to a report issued this month by the Florida Division of Workers' Compensation and the U.S. Department of Labor.

The remaining 20 were fatally exposed to a harmful substance or environment, murdered, killed while traveling by air, water or rail, committed suicide or attacked by an animal. Workers who died commuting to or from work are excluded from the figures.

And 2001 was a good year. In 2000, 50 bay area workers died while on duty.

Notably, Hillsborough workers were twice as likely to die at work in 2000 as Pinellas workers were. Still, for every six Hillsborough workers who didn't make it home safely that year, 999,994 did.

Might local public health experts or safety officials find such data useful? Perhaps.

But don't bother asking who employed the 40 bay area workers. That information, government officials said, is confidential.

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