5,703 workers died from work-related injuries last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2004 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. This was an increase of two percent over 2003 and the rate also rose from 4.0 per 100,000 workers in 2002 and 2003 to 4.1 last year.

This was the second year in a row that the number of workers killed on the job went up, but it was the first increase in the fatality rate since 1994. Fatalities among Hispanic workers also rose sharply after declining in 2002 and 2003.

Workplace homicides were down sharply in 2004 to the lowest level ever recorded by the fatality census. The 551workplace homicides in 2004 represented a 13-percent decline from 2003 and was the lowest annual total yet recorded by the fatality census. Overall, workplace homicides are down 49 percent from the high of 1,080 workplace homicides recorded in 1994.

Fatal work injuries resulting from being struck by an object rose 12 percent in 2004.

Fatal falls increased by 17 percent to a new series high, led by increases in the number of fatal falls from ladders and from roofs.