The construction industry continued to lead the nation in 1999 in a most unwelcome category - worker deaths.

There were 1,190 fatalities in the U.S. construction industry in 1999 - which represented nearly 20 percent of the nation's 6,023 workplace deaths. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Report, released Aug. 17, said the transportation and utilities sector had the second-highest rate of all worker deaths in 1999, 17 percent.

The fatality rate in construction in 1999 increased by 16 worker deaths from the year before, while all worker deaths in the U.S. dropped by 32 in 1999 from 1998. "We have focused OSHA's resources in construction and other high-risk work sites and will continue to do so," said Labor Secretary Alexis Herman.

The top three ways in which workers died in 1999 were highway crashes, falls and homicides. There were 1,491 highway crashes that killed workers in 1999, accounting for nearly a quarter of all workplace deaths. There were 717 fatal falls in the U.S. last year, and more than half were in the construction industry.

In Michigan, 31 construction workers were killed on the job in 1999 - two more than in 1998.