TOPEKA – According to the most recent data available, 76 workplace fatalities occurred in Kansas in 2009, the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) reported Tuesday. This is a 4.1 percent increase from 2008.

Natural Resources and Mining was the industry sector with the most fatalities in 2009—accounting for 47 percent of the total. This sector includes the agriculture, forestry, and fishing and hunting industry, which accounted for 31 of the 36 fatalities in the sector.

Incidents involving transportation continue to be the leading cause of work-related deaths in Kansas, accounting for 43.4 percent, or 33 of the 76 total fatalities in the state in 2009. Highway accidents accounted for 23, or 69.7 percent of these transportation fatalities.

The occupational group with the highest number of worker fatalities, agricultural managers, had 23 recorded deaths, representing 30.3 percent of the total. Miscellaneous agricultural workers’ occupations had the second highest number of fatalities with five, or 6.6 percent.