BLS Report: Total of 5,250 fatal work injuries in 2018, up 2% from 2017

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Economic News Release USDL-19-2194

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries Summary, 2018

For release 10:00 a.m. (EST) Tuesday, December 17, 2019
Technical information: [phone] • [e-mail] • www.bls.gov/iif
Media contact: [phone] • [e-mail]

NATIONAL CENSUS OF FATAL OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES IN 2018

There were 5,250 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2018, a 2 percent increase from the 5,147 in 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) The fatal work injury rate remained unchanged at 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers. (See chart 2.) These data are from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

(Charts 1 and 2 appear here in the printed release)

Fatal event or exposure

- Transportation incidents remained the most frequent type of fatal event at 2,080, accounting for 40 percent of all work-related fatalities. (See chart 3 and table 2.)
- Incidents involving contact with objects and equipment increased 13 percent (from 695 to 786), driven by a 39 percent increase in workers caught in running equipment or machinery and a 17 percent increase in workers struck by falling objects or equipment.
- Unintentional overdoses due to nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol while at work increased 12 percent from 272 to 305. This is the sixth consecutive annual increase.
- Violence and other injuries by persons or animals increased 3 percent in 2018, due to an 11 percent increase in work-related suicides from 275 to 304.
- Fatal falls, slips, and trips decreased 11 percent to 791, after reaching a series high of 887 in 2017. This decline was due to a 14 percent drop in falls to a lower level (713 to 615), the lowest total since 2013.

(Chart 3 appears here in the printed release)

Occupation

- Driver/sales workers and truck drivers had the most fatalities of any broad occupation group at 966. Among all detailed
occupations, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had the most fatalities at 831.
- In 2018, logging workers, fishers and related fishing workers, aircraft pilots and flight engineers, and roofers all
had fatality rates more than 10 times the all-worker rate of 3.5 fatalities per 100,000 FTE workers. (See chart 4.)
- Police and sheriff’s patrol officers had 108 fatalities in 2018, up 14 percent from 2017.
- Fatal injuries to taxi drivers and chauffeurs declined by 24 percent to 47, the lowest total since 2003 when comparable data for the occupation were first available.

Fatal injury counts by occupation will be available shortly at www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/all_worker.xlsx. Fatality rates by occupation will be available shortly at www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/cfoi_rates_2018hb.xlsx.

{snip}

Fatal occupational injury data for foreign-born Hispanic or Latino workers will be available shortly at
www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/foreign_b_h.xlsx.

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[sandensea]

1. Not counting the injuries from ashtrays thrown at staffers by Cheeto, presumably.

I bet they they miss Sarah Huckabee. She was a good one to hide behind.