Worker Fatalities Fall 17% Amid Unemployment Rise

U.S. workplace deaths fell 17 percent in 2009 to a record low on a decline in construction fatalities, as unemployment surged to the highest level in a quarter century. There were 4,340 deaths across all industries, compared with 5,214 a year earlier. Fatalities among private construction firms dropped 16 percent in 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said today in a statement.