Statistics are tricky.
I wouldn't think ground-crews involved in R&D
wouldn't be considered part of the statistical evaluation
regarding passenger & flight-crew safety statistics for aeronautical/aerospace vehicles.
BTAIM, I assume the space shuttle statistics involve the number of fatalities (actual) onboard the aerospace vehicle(s) divided by the number of actual flights achieved/attempted times the number of persons onboard the aerospace vehicle(s)
Jake