Fatal work injuries totaled 20 in 2021 for Alaska, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Alaska was down from 31 the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 91 in 1992 to a low of 14 in 2015. 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).

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, Alaska, 2012–21

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2012	31	26	5
2013	32	28	4
2014	30	28	2
2015	14	12
2016	35	32	3
2017	33	25	8
2018	32	28	4
2019	51	43	8
2020	31	24	7
2021	20

In Alaska, transportation incidents resulted in nine fatal work injuries, and contact with objects or equipment accounted for five fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 70 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 18 over the year.

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).

View Chart Data

Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Alaska, 2021

Event	United States	Alaska
Transportation incidents	38.2	45.0
Contact with objects and equipment	13.6	25.0
Fires and explosions	1.5	5.0
0	0.0	0.0
All other	46.8	25.0

The private accommodation and food services industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Alaska with five, up from two in the previous year. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents resulted in 2 of the 5 fatalities in the industry.

The private agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry sector had four fatal workplace injuries, down from nine in the previous year. The fishing, hunting, and trapping subsector accounted for 2 of the 4 fatal injuries in this industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had four fatal workplace injuries, down from eight in the previous year. The air transportation subsector accounted for all four fatal injuries in this industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with seven. (See table 3.) Commercial pilots and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers each accounted for 3 of the 7 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The farming, fishing, and forestry, and installation, maintenance, and repair occupational groups had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with three each.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 75 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related death. (See table 4.)

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 70 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2021, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

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 Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development 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.

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