NIOSH Fatal Occupational Injury Cost Fact Sheet: Warehousing and Storage (NAICS 493)

Related Publications:
Air Transportation | Couriers/Messengers | Transit/Ground Transportation | Truck Transportation | TWU | Utilities | Water Transportation

Number, Rate, and Costs of Fatal Occupational Injuries in the U.S. Warehousing and Storage Industry by Selected Characteristics, 2003–2006.

				Costs (2006 Dollars)
Characteristic		Number of Fatalities	Fatality Rate (per 100,000 workers)	Mean (thousands)	Median (thousands)	Total(millions)
All U.S. Industries		22,197	3.9	$960	$944	$21,316
All Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities		3,704	12.9	944	974	3,496
All Warehousing and Storage		86	7.7	828	822	71
Year
	2003	23	10.2	792	821	18
	2004	20	8.6	879	845	18
	2005	26	8.5	813	818	21
	2006	17	4.9	840	822	14
Sex
	Male	79	10.0	819	821	65
	Female	7	2.2	936	947	7
Age Group
	16-24	6	3.8	923	831	6
	25-34	18	5.7	995	912	18
	35-44	21	7.4	1,046	956	22
	45-54	22	9.6	889	821	20
	55-64	12	11.7	483	495	6
	65+	7	24.8	67	57	<1
Race
	White	65	7.3	838	830	52
	Black	--	--	--	--	--
	Other1	--	--	--	--	--
Ethnicity2
	Not Hispanic	68	8.2	842	854	57
	Hispanic	18	6.3	774	764	14
Selected SOC Occupation Group
Construction and Extraction		--	--	--	--	--
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair		6	32.1	856	952	5
Management		5	2.9	1,130	1,117	6
Office and Administrative Support		--	--	--	--	--
Production		--	--	--	--	--
Transportation and Material Moving		67	14.0	799	822	54
Event or Exposure
02	Struck by object	7	0.6	663	787	5
03	Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	9	0.8	904	885	8
04	Caught in or crushed in collapsing materials	6	0.5	1,117	1,020	7
11	Fall to lower level	17	1.5	682	726	12
3*	Exposure to harmful substances or environments	5	0.4	929	1,011	5
42	Nonhighway accident, except rail, air, water	20	1.8	840	882	17
43	Pedestrian, nonpassenger struck by vehicle, mobile equipment	8	0.7	812	769	6
6*	Assaults and violent acts	7	0.6	992	837	7
Selected Source of Injury
34	Material handling machinery	6	0.5	912	853	5
62	Floors, walkways, ground surfaces	20	1.8	720	733	14
82	Highway vehicle, motorized	11	1.0	787	790	9
85	Plant and industrial powered vehicles, tractors	24	2.2	846	882	20
91	Ammunition	5	0.4	1,110	944	6

---

NOTE: Dashes indicate data that do not meet publication criteria.
Asterisks denote a summary level code not assigned to individual cases.

¹This category includes all other races, such as American Indian and Asian, as well as unknown or missing races.

²Numbers are not reported for “unknown”, “not classified” or “not reported” categories.

Fatal Occupational Injury Cost Model

Theoretical Basis of Cost Estimation

The cost to society of a workplace fatality was estimated using the cost-of-illness approach, which combines direct and indirect costs to yield an overall cost of an occupational fatal injury. For these calculations, only medical expenses were used to estimate the direct cost associated with the fatality. The indirect cost was derived by calculating the present value of future earnings summed from the year of death until the decedent would have reached age 67, accounting for the probability of survival were it not for the premature death. (For more information, see Biddle, E [2004]. Economic Cost of Fatal Occupational Injuries in the United States, 1980–1997. Contemporary Economic Policy 22(3):370–381 or Biddle, E [2009]. The Cost of Fatal Injuries to Civilian Workers in the US, 1992-2001and Biddle E and Keane P [2011]. The Economic Burden of Occupational Injuries to Civilian Workers in the United States, 1992-2002. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS.)

Mathematical Representation of Indirect Costs

where:

Variable	Definition
PVF	= present discounted value of loss per person due to an individual occupational fatal injury
Py,q,s (n)	= probability that a person of age y, race q, and sex s will survive to age n
q	= race of the individual
s	= sex of the individual
n	= age if the individual had survived
Ys, j(n)	= median annual compensation of an employed person of sex s, specific occupation j, and age n (includes median annual earnings, benefits, and wage growth adjustments)
j	= specific occupation of individual at death
	= mean annual imputed value of household production (h) of a person of sex s and age n
g	= earnings growth rate attributable to overall productivity
y	= age of the individual at death
r	= real discount rate (3%)

Data Sources

Fatality data: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). This research was conducted with restricted access to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. These data exclude military personnel, decedents with unknown age or sex, and fatalities occurring in New York City. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the BLS.

Probability of survival: National Center for Health Statistics, Division of Vital Statistics.

Median annual earnings: BLS Occupational Employment Statistics Survey. Wage data are based on the occupation of the decedent and the year and State of death adjusted by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Deflator to the base year of dollar. The wage growth adjustment, which is the rate of change in wages between age groups, was calculated by NIOSH using BLS Current Population Survey data.

Benefits: BLS Employer Cost for Employee Benefits. Benefits data are based on the year of death adjusted by the GDP Deflator.

Mean annual home production: Expectancy Data. Data are derived through a time diary study sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and conducted by the University of Maryland.

Earnings growth rate: BLS Employment Compensation Index (ECI).

Medical costs: National Council on Compensation Insurance. This is a single 4-year average medical cost.

Employment estimates for rate calculations: BLS Current Population Survey.

Fatality Rate Calculations

Fatality rates were calculated by NIOSH and may differ from previously published BLS CFOI rates. Fatality rates were calculated as deaths per 100,000 workers. Fatality rates for sex, race, age group, and occupation were calculated using employment estimates by the individual characteristic within the specific industry. Employment estimates for the specific industry were used to generate rates for event and source.

Classification Systems

Industry:	2002 National Industry Classification System (NAICS)
Occupation:	2000 Standard Occupational Classification System (SOC)
Event:	1992 BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS)

NIOSH Fatal Occupational Injury Cost Fact Sheet: Warehousing and Storage (NAICS 493) [PDF - 320 KB]