As 2024 ended, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published its annual report on workplace fatalities and injuries that occurred the prior year (2023). There was a total of 5,283 workplace deaths that year. Fatalities dropped 3.7% from 2022. This report provides a lot of details, some of which we report below. More complete information is available at the BLS website.

Overall, most worker deaths resulted from transportation accidents. Over 36% (36.8%) of total 2023 fatalities were from transportation incidents while working. It was noted that fatalities in this sector actually declined 7.7% from 2022. Most of this decline was from an approximate 12% decrease in fatalities from the operation of heavy and tractor-trailer trucks.

Fatalities due to violent acts against workers accounted for 8.7% of deaths in 2023. Homicides accounted for 61.9% of those violent acts. Most of those deaths – 276, were in protective service jobs. This was a 17.6% decrease from 2022.

The third most deadly occupational area was in the building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations. Though there were 337 fatalities reported in this occupational segment, it also saw a decrease in deaths from 352 in 2022.

It was also reported that worker opioid use was the cause of 162 fatalities.

In private industry, construction had the most fatalities at 1,075. It was reported these deaths were from falls, slips, and trips. Those type of deadly accidents causes were 39.2% of all worker deaths in the construction industry. Transportation deaths in the construction industry followed as the next most common cause of deaths in that industry with 22.3% or 240 fatalities resulting from some sort of transportation incident.

Of private industry sectors that year, the next most deadly occupational area was transportation and warehousing.  This sector had 930 fatalities. But this was an almost 12% decrease in deaths from 2022. Transportation accidents accounted for over 71.7% or 667 deaths within this private industry sector.

The BLS report details that collisions between vehicles accounted for 249 deaths, and collisions with an object other than a vehicle caused 193 deaths.

An unexpected statistic this report stated was the number of deaths in the retail industry. 30% of deaths in retail resulted from homicides there.

Though it is a very depressing report, overall fatalities dropped in 2023. Doug Parker, U.S, Department of Labor’s Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health states, “Despite these promising trends, there is more work to be done. In 2023, 5,283 workers lost their lives. That means a worker dies every 99 minutes. Every worker’s death is a profound tragedy that leaves a lasting void for families, friends, co-workers, and communities. We can and we must do better.”

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Source: CCH HR Answers Now. Non-fatal Workplace Injuries Fall to 20-low in 2023 While the Number of Fatal Injuries Also Dropped, BLS Reports. (12/24/2024). Data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).