RICHMOND -- Fewer workers in Virginia are being killed while on the job.

Federal figures released Monday show that workplace fatalities declined by 15 percent, from 165 in 2006 to 141 in 2007.

Highway accidents were the top cause of workplace fatalities, despite a decline from 61 in 2006 to 35 last year.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics said falls and homicides also were major causes of workplace deaths.

From 2003 to 2007, 818 workers were killed on the job. More than half of those deaths occurred in three sectors: construction, transportation and warehousing, and government.

During this five-year period, 92 percent of the workers killed, 749, were men.

-- Associated Press