In an examination of the causes of worker fatalities in Kentucky, the Labor Cabinet found that heart attack was the No. 1 cause of death on the job.
In the three years 2012-14, 87 Kentuckians suffered fatal heart attacks while on the job. In that same time period, there were eight other deaths from natural causes, such as pancreas failure, stroke and brain aneurism. As for work-related fatalities, 28 resulted from being struck by an object, 19 from falls, 17 from transportation crashes, 13 from being caught in or between objects, seven from electrocution, and one each from hyperthermia and suffocation.
The victims of heart-related workplace deaths had an average age of 53 years old. Of the 87 heart-related deaths, 10 were truck drivers. The truck driver was the most likely occupation in Kentucky to have a heart attack on the job, while machine operator (seven) and maintenance worker (six) rounded out the top three.
The deaths included in this study fall under the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Occupational Safety and Health Program, and do not include fatalities under federal agencies, such as the Mine Safety and Health Administration or the Federal Railroad Administration.
From Kentucky Labor Cabinet