AUGUSTA – After setting a grim record with 32 occupational fatalities in 1999, the number of Maine’s on-the-job deaths decreased to 26 last year, according to figures released by the state Labor Department.

All 26 of the victims were male, and the largest age group represented was in the 45-to-54 bracket. Twelve people in that age group died.

The figures say 17 deaths of last year’s total involved transportation accidents, and 25 of the victims worked for private employers.

Last year’s total matches the number of occupational deaths in 1998, which also had the highest figure until 1999. The state has been recording totals since 1992.

State officials are pleased with the downturn, but they are not reading too much into the figure, Lynn Lanstein, director of outreach and education for the Bureau of Labor Standards said Thursday.

“It would be too soon to tell if this is a positive trend or an anomaly,” Lanstein said.

Eight of last year’s deaths involved fishermen who drowned when their boats capsized. The eight deaths did not occur in a single accident.

In the manufacturing sector, four deaths were recorded, with one occurring when a skidder overturned, two when machine operators were caught in running equipment and one when a pedestrian was struck by a forklift.

Six deaths in the construction trades resulted from a variety of causes. One of the most heavily publicized involved a crane operator who drowned after his equipment overturned on the Kennebec River. Others died from a fall, electrocution, being struck by a vehicle, being struck by a falling wall, and inhalation of fumes.

Two pilots died in a crash while landing.

One of the deaths, involving a 64-year-old highway worker, is listed as a suicide. The reason for the self-inflicted death is not given.

Lanstein also noted that there was a disproportionately high number of deaths among self-employed Mainers in 2000.

Among Maine’s counties, the largest number of deaths between 1992 and 2000 occurred in Cumberland, with 29, followed by Aroostook (22), Penobscot (20) and Washington (19). Piscataquis recorded only two deaths during that span.