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.