High school seniors with parents who were killed or injured on the job could be eligible for new college scholarships of up to $5,000.

The scholarship fund was created by SFM Foundation, a new nonprofit offshoot of SFM Companies, a Bloomington-based insurance group that specializes in workers' compensation.

"We saw that there wasn't anything like it in Minnesota or Wisconsin," said Dave Kaiser, the foundation's executive director and a vice president at SFM Companies.

Up to three scholarships will be available for the 2009-10 year to students of parents who have been killed or injured while working for a Minnesota or Wisconsin employer. The scholarship amount will depend on the injury severity, the financial need of the family and the cost of the school, among other things.

There were 72 work fatalities in 2007, 78 in 2006 and 87 in 2005, according to numbers SFM Foundation collected from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Each year, the state sees about 200 new cases of very serious injuries -- what are known as permanent total disability claims.

For more information about the scholarship, visit www.sfmic.com/foundation.

JENNA ROSS