High-profile disasters put new focus on workplace dangers : BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism

High-profile disasters put new focus on workplace dangers : BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism: "We’re not even halfway through 2010 and already have seen some high-profile workplace disasters, including 29 dead in a West Virginia coal mine and the 11 workers lost two months ago when the BP oil rig collapsed in the Gulf of Mexico.

Those epic tragedies make headlines, unlike the many other workplace injuries and even deaths that occur daily nationwide. Some 5,214 U.S. workers died as a result of occupational hazards in 2008, according to federal statistics. That was down from 5,657 a year earlier – in part due to the slower economy, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics analysis – and the lowest since the BLS began recording a fatality census in in 1992."