In the United States, an estimated 59 million persons spend a median of 52 hours each year volunteering, most often in religious, educational, youth, or community service organizations. Volunteers commonly perform activities such as coaching, campaigning, fundraising, delivering goods, and serving on boards or neighborhood associations.
Few studies have analyzed fatal injuries to volunteers. To characterize fatal injuries among volunteers in the U.S., NIOSH recently analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries for 1993-2002.