Indiana last year experienced its lowest number of workplace fatalities since the federal government began tracking the statistic in 1991, the state’s Department of Labor announced Thursday morning.

In 2010, 115 workers died on the job in Indiana, a decrease of eight from 2009, according to the department’s annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries report.

“While a record low is good statistically speaking, for 115 families, their tragic loss defies any statistic,” said Department of Labor Commissioner Lori Torres said in a prepared statement. “That is why there is no higher priority in our agency than safeguarding the lives of working Hoosiers through safety and health initiatives and enforcement programs.”

Industries with the highest fatality rates last year were agriculture (22), construction (18), transportation and warehousing (18), and manufacturing (13), the department said.

When combining all industries, transportation-related deaths continue to be the leading cause of work-related deaths in Indiana, the department said. In 2010, 54 deaths were transportation-related.

Contact with objects and equipment accounted for 19 deaths, followed by falls (17), assaults and violent acts (13), exposure to harmful substances (8) and fires and explosions (4).