U.S. workplace fatalities in 2014 were the highest for year since 2008, according to preliminary numbers released by the Labor Department. There appear to have been 4,679 fatal workplace injuries, up from 4,585 in 2013. Among the highest reported increases were deaths in oil fields, where 142 people died last year. The Wall Street Journal reports that if the Labor Department revises its numbers in the spring, as it typically does, 2014 will have been the deadliest year in U.S. oil fields in 21 years.
