Dying on the job continues at a steady pace according to the latest statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The fatal injury rate for American workers dropped slightly in 2011 — the most recent year with reported numbers — from 3.6 to 3.5 deaths per 100,000 workers.
But 4,693 men, women and teenagers died at work. That's three more than the total number of lives lost on the job in 2010.
As The Associated Press notes, the pace of construction — 1.04 million starts, at an annual rate — is the fastest in nearly five years and is another sign that the housing sector continues to recover from its 2007-08 crash.