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News Release Information

24-100-CHI
Thursday, February 29, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Fatal Work Injuries in Wisconsin — 2022

Fatal work injuries totaled 125 in 2022 for Wisconsin, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Wisconsin was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 138 in 1993 to a low of 77 in 2008. Nationwide, a total of 5,486 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2022, a 5.7-percent increase from 5,190 in 2021, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).


Fatal event or exposure

In Wisconsin, transportation incidents resulted in 42 fatal work injuries and accounted for 34 percent of all fatal workplace injuries. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 36 over the year.

Contact with objects and equipment resulted in 23 fatalities, up from 18 in 2021. Exposure to harmful substances or environments accounted for 20 fatalities, up from 13 in the prior year. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals resulted in 19 work-related deaths compared to 21 in 2021.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2022, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips were the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals along with exposure to harmful substances or environments (15 percent each).


Industry

The private agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Wisconsin with 23, up from 13 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Contact with objects or equipment resulted in 9 of the 23 fatalities in the industry. The cattle ranching and farming industry group accounted for 10 of the 23 fatal workplace injuries in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry.

The private construction industry sector had 16 fatal workplace injuries, down from 17 in the previous year, followed by the manufacturing industry sector with 15 fatal workplace injuries, up from 7 in the previous year. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 11, or 69 percent, of the fatal injuries in the private construction industry. Within the private manufacturing industry sector, both the food manufacturing subsector and the fabricated metal product manufacturing subsector had four fatal work injuries.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 22. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 15 of the 22 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 20. Construction trades workers suffered 16 of the 20 work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights
  • Men accounted for 93 percent of the work-related fatalities in Wisconsin, similar to the national share. (See table 4.)
  • White non-Hispanics accounted for 78 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 58 percent of work-related deaths.
  • Workers 55 years and over accounted for 50 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
  • Of the 125 fatal work injuries in Wisconsin, 74 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents; contact with objects and equipment was the most frequent fatal event 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 2022 national data, over 27,200 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 and the CFOI definitions.

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 Scope of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries: Concepts.

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 2022, there were 186 cases nationally where this occurred, and 157 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2022. For more information on latent cases, see Understanding latency in fatal occupational injuries.

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 on the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, Compensation, Occupational Requirements, and Work Stoppages Statistics.

Acknowledgments. BLS 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, Wisconsin, 2021–22
Event or exposure (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

105 125 100

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals

21 19 15

Intentional injury by person

19 17 14

Homicides--Intentional injury by other person

-- 7 6

Shooting by other person--intentional

-- 7 6

Suicides--Self-inflicted injury--intentional

-- 10 8

Shooting--intentional self-harm

-- 4 3

Transportation incidents

36 42 34

Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle

17 27 22

Roadway collision with other vehicle

14 18 14

Roadway collision--moving in opposite directions, oncoming

-- 8 6

Roadway collision--moving perpendicularly

5 6 5

Roadway collision with object other than vehicle

-- 6 5

Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway

-- 5 4

Roadway noncollision incident

-- 3 2

Jack-knifed or overturned, roadway

-- 3 2

Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles

-- 12 10

Nonroadway collision with object other than vehicle

-- 3 2

Nonroadway noncollision incident

-- 9 7

Jack-knifed or overturned, nonroadway

-- 4 3

Fires and explosions

4 4 3

Falls, slips, trips

13 17 14

Falls to lower level

-- 17 14

Other fall to lower level

-- 14 11

Other fall to lower level 6 to 10 feet

-- 3 2

Other fall to lower level 11 to 15 feet

-- 4 3

Exposure to harmful substances or environments

13 20 16

Exposure to other harmful substances

7 14 11

Exposure to oxygen deficiency, n.e.c.

-- 3 2

Drowning, submersion, n.e.c.

-- -- --

Choking on object or substance

-- 3 2

Contact with objects and equipment

18 23 18

Struck by object or equipment

-- 16 13

Struck by powered vehicle--nontransport

-- 9 7

Struck by other falling powered vehicle

-- 3 2

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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, Wisconsin, 2021–22
Industry (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

105 125 100

Private Industry (2)

95 112 90

Goods producing

-- -- --

Natural resources and mining

13 -- --

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting

13 23 18

Animal production and aquaculture

7 14 11

Cattle ranching and farming

5 10 8

Construction

17 16 13

Construction

17 16 13

Specialty trade contractors

12 11 9

Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors

4 5 4

Other specialty trade contractors

5 3 2

Manufacturing

7 15 12

Manufacturing

7 15 12

Food manufacturing

-- 4 3

Fabricated metal product manufacturing

-- 4 3

Service providing (3)

-- -- --

Trade, transportation, and utilities

-- 21 17

Wholesale trade

3 5 4

Retail trade

4 5 4

Transportation and warehousing

15 11 9

Truck transportation

8 7 6

General freight trucking

-- 3 2

General freight trucking, long-distance

-- 3 2

General freight trucking, long-distance, truckload

-- 3 2

Specialized freight trucking

-- 4 3

Professional and business services

13 -- --

Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services

6 14 11

Leisure and hospitality

9 9 7

Arts, entertainment, and recreation

6 4 3

Accommodation and food services

3 5 4

Food services and drinking places

-- 4 3

Restaurants and other eating places

-- 4 3

Restaurants and other eating places

-- 4 3

Other services, except public administration

-- 6 5

Other services, except public administration

-- 6 5

Repair and maintenance

-- 3 2

Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations

-- 3 2

Government (4)

-- -- --

Local government

6 10 8

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 concepts page at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#industry.
(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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, Wisconsin, 2021–22
Occupation (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

105 125 100

Management occupations

9 17 14

Other management occupations

9 15 12

Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers

-- 15 12

Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers

-- 15 12

Life, physical, and social science occupations

-- 1 1

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

-- 3 2

Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers

-- 3 2

Healthcare support occupations

3 1 1

Food preparation and serving related occupations

-- 3 2

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

8 7 6

Sales and related occupations

-- 3 2

Office and administrative support occupations

3 6 5

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations

5 7 6

Construction and extraction occupations

22 20 16

Construction trades workers

14 16 13

Construction laborers

3 9 7

Construction laborers

3 9 7

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

11 11 9

Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

8 8 6

Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers

-- 3 2

Production occupations

3 13 10

Metal workers and plastic workers

-- 3 2

Other production occupations

-- 6 5

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

-- 3 2

Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers

-- 3 2

Transportation and material moving occupations

22 22 18

Motor vehicle operators

13 15 12

Material moving workers

4 7 6

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 these years, see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#occupation. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.

NOTE: Data for all years are revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected demographic characteristics, Wisconsin, 2021–22
Worker characteristics 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

105 125 100

Employee status

Wage and salary workers (1)

84 93 74

Self-employed (2)

21 32 26

Gender

Men

91 116 93

Women

14 9 7

Age (3)

20 to 24 years

6 5 4

25 to 34 years

15 14 11

35 to 44 years

17 22 18

45 to 54 years

24 18 14

55 to 64 years

21 28 22

65 years and over

22 35 28

Race or ethnic origin (4)

White, non-Hispanic

91 97 78

Black or African-American, non-Hispanic

7 12 10

Hispanic or Latino

4 13 10

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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, February 29, 2024