Example #2: Find data on work-related MVC fatalities by industry

Example #2: Find data on work-related MVC fatalities by industry using the first highlighted table, Table A-6pdf iconexternal icon.

*The data shown above can be found on p. 19 of this table.

Here’s what you need to know:

Occupation is the worker’s job, regardless of the employer’s main type of business. For example, in the table extract above, truck drivers may have been employed by a trucking firm, a retail business, or a construction company.

Interpreting the data correctly depends on understanding how occupations are defined. One occupational category for motor vehicle operators that is easy to misinterpret is driver/sales workers. One might make an educated guess that this is a broad category of sales workers whose jobs require them to drive, but in fact this occupation is defined much more narrowly: “Drive truck or other vehicle over established routes or within an established territory and sell or deliver goods, such as food products, including restaurant take-out items, or pick up or deliver items such as commercial laundry. May also take orders, collect payment, or stock merchandise at point of delivery. Includes newspaper delivery drivers…” Looking carefully at the occupation definitions also helps you make other important distinctions, for example, between drivers of light and heavy trucks.

Get detailed descriptions for each occupation in BLS tablespdf iconexternal icon. The motor vehicle operator occupations discussed in this article appear on pages 188-189.

Access more detailed information on all the coding systems BLS uses to classify industry, occupation, and injury events in CFOI dataexternal icon.