Fed-OSHA chief Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., in a news release, attributes the reported decline in workplace fatalities during 2005 in part to the agency's safety initiatives. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries reports that workplace fatalities totaled 5,702 last year, down from 5,764 in 2004. The fatality rate also declined last year to 4.0 per 100,000 employees, down from 4.1 in 2004.
