Objectives: We investigated fatal occupational injury rates in the United States by race and Hispanic ethnicity during the period 1990-1996.
Methods: Fatalities were identified by means of the national traumatic occupational fatalities surveillance system. Fatal occupational injury rates were calculated by race/ethnicity and region using US-census-based workforce estimates.
Results: Non-Hispanic Black men in the South had the highest fatal occupational injury rate (8.5 per 100000 worker-years), followed by Hispanic men in the South (7.9 per 100000 worker-years). Fatal injury rates for Hispanic men increased over the study period, exceeding rates for non-Hispanic Black men in the latter years of observation.
Conclusions: These data suggest a change in the demographics of fatal occupational injuries in the United States. Hispanic men in the South appear to be emerging as the group with the nation's highest unintentional fatal occupational injury rate.