Fatal work injuries totaled 107 in 2021 for South Carolina, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in South Carolina was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 139 in 1999 to a low of 63 in 2012.

Nationwide, a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2021, a 9-percent increase from 4,764 in 2020, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

Fatal event or exposure

In South Carolina, transportation incidents resulted in 49 fatal work injuries and accounted for 46 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 42 in the previous year.

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals were the second-most frequent fatal work event with 17 fatalities. Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 16 work-related deaths, compared to 15 in 2020.  

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2021, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by both exposure to harmful substances or environments and violence and other injuries by persons or animals (15 percent each) and contact with objects and equipment (14 percent).

Industry

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in South Carolina with 21, down from 23 in the previous year. (See table 2.) The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 18 of the 21 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had 20 fatal workplace injuries. Transportation incidents accounted for 16, or 80 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry. The general freight trucking industry group accounted for 7 of the 20 fatal workplace injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 27. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 16 of the 27 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 21. Construction trades workers suffered 17 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights

Men accounted for 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in South Carolina, compared to the national rate of 91 percent. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 43 percent of the fatalities for men in South Carolina.

White non-Hispanics accounted for 53 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related deaths.

Workers 55 years and older accounted for 22 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2021, compared to the national rate of 35 percent.

Of the 107 fatal work injuries in South Carolina, 84 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers and for self-employed workers.

Technical Note

Background of the program. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS) program, is a count of all fatalities resulting from workplace injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year. The CFOI uses a variety of state, federal, and independent data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. This ensures counts are as complete and accurate as possible. For the 2021 national data, over 23,900 unique source documents were reviewed as part of the data collection process. For technical information and definitions for the CFOI, see the BLS Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/occupational-safety-and-health-definitions.htm.

Federal/State agency coverage. The CFOI includes data for all fatal work injuries, some of which may be outside the scope of other agencies or regulatory coverage. Comparisons between CFOI counts and those released by other agencies should account for the different coverage requirements and definitions used by each agency. For more information on the scope of CFOI, see www.bls.gov/iif/overview/cfoi-scope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

Latency Cases. Latent fatal occupational injury cases occur when the date of injury differs from the date of death. In some cases, the death occurs in a different year than the occupational injury and are known as cross-year latent cases. In 2021, there were 197 cases nationally where this occurred, and 174 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2021. For more information on latent cases, see www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/latency-in-fatal-occupational-injuries.htm.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. CFOI reports fatal workplace injuries only. These may include fatal workplace injuries complicated by an illness such as COVID-19. Fatal workplace illnesses not precipitated by an injury are not in scope for CFOI. CFOI does not report any illness related information, including COVID-19. Additional information is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-on-workplace-injuries-and-illnesses-compensation-and-occupational-requirements.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, for their efforts in collecting accurate, comprehensive, and useful data on fatal work injuries. BLS also appreciates the efforts of all federal, state, local, and private sector entities that provided source documents used to identify fatal work injuries. Among these agencies are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration; the National Transportation Safety Board; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Mine Safety and Health Administration; the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (Federal Employees' Compensation and Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation divisions); the Federal Railroad Administration; the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; state vital statistics registrars, coroners, and medical examiners; state departments of health, labor, and industrial relations and workers' compensation agencies; state and local police departments; and state farm bureaus.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, South Carolina, 2020–21

Event or exposure (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	102	107	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	--	17	16
Intentional injury by person	--	16	15
Injury by person--unintentional or intent unknown	--	1	1
Transportation incidents	42	49	46
Pedestrian vehicular incident	5	7	7
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	30	35	33
Roadway collision with other vehicle	15	18	17
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	--	14	13
Roadway noncollision incident	--	3	3
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	4	4	4
Nonroadway noncollision incident	--	4	4
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	15	16	15
Falls on same level	--	3	3
Falls to lower level	15	13	12
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	12	13	12
Contact with objects and equipment	16	11	10
Struck by object or equipment	9	8	7
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	--	3	3
Overexertion and bodily reaction	--	--	--
Footnotes: (1) Based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) 2.01 implemented for 2011 data forward.
NOTE: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, South Carolina, 2020–21

Industry (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	102	107	100
Private industry (2)	89	100	93
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	9	--	--
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	8	3	3
Construction	23	21	20
Construction	23	21	20
Heavy and civil engineering construction	--	1	1
Specialty trade contractors	15	18	17
Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors	5	8	7
Building equipment contractors	--	7	7
Other specialty trade contractors	4	3	3
Manufacturing	10	6	6
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	25	28	26
Wholesale trade	3	4	4
Retail trade	4	4	4
Transportation and warehousing	18	20	19
Truck transportation	14	14	13
General freight trucking	8	7	7
Information	--	2	2
Financial activities	--	--	--
Professional and business services	12	21	20
Professional, scientific, and technical services	4	4	4
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	8	17	16
Educational and health services	--	2	2
Leisure and hospitality	3	7	7
Other services, except public administration	4	6	6
Government (4)	13	7	7
Federal government	6	2	2
State government	1	1	1
Local government	6	4	4
Footnotes: (1) CFOI has used several versions of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) since 2003 to define industry. For complete information on the version of NAICS used in this year, see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (2) Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. (3) Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (4) Includes fatal injuries to workers employed by governmental organizations regardless of industry. Cases classified as foreign government and other government are included in all government counts, but not displayed separately.
NOTE: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, South Carolina, 2020–21

Occupation (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	102	107	100
Management occupations	4	4	4
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	--	--	--
Community and social service occupations	--	--	--
Legal occupations	--	1	1
Educational instruction and library occupations	--	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	--	1	1
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	--	--	--
Protective service occupations	11	--	--
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	--	10	9
Personal care and service occupations	--	1	1
Sales and related occupations	--	5	5
Office and administrative support occupations	--	3	3
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	4	--	--
Construction and extraction occupations	26	21	20
Construction trades workers	20	17	16
Carpenters	4	3	3
Construction laborers	4	6	6
Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	--	1	1
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	7	14	13
Production occupations	--	8	7
Other production occupations	--	3	3
Transportation and material moving occupations	29	27	25
Motor vehicle operators	21	22	21
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	21	22	21
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	21	16	15
Footnotes: (1) CFOI has used several versions of the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) system since 2003 to define occupation. For complete information on the version of SOC used in this year, see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.
NOTE: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected demographic characteristics, South Carolina, 2020–21

Worker characteristics	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	102	107	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	72	90	84
Self-employed (2)	30	17	16
Gender
Men	91	96	90
Women	11	11	10
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	4	9	8
25 to 34 years	21	19	18
35 to 44 years	13	29	27
45 to 54 years	23	19	18
55 to 64 years	23	14	13
65 years and over	15	10	9
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	57	57	53
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	30	29	27
Hispanic or Latino	--	19	18
Footnotes: (1) May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation. Cases where employment status is unknown are included in the counts of wage and salary workers. (2) Includes self-employed workers, owners of unincorporated businesses and farms, paid and unpaid family workers, and may include some owners of incorporated businesses or members of partnerships. (3) Information may not be available for all age groups. (4) Persons identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The race categories shown exclude data for Hispanics and Latinos. Cases where ethnicity is unknown are included in counts of non-Hispanic workers.
NOTE: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.