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Every April 28 marks Workers’ Memorial Day, a day to commemorate people killed, disabled, or injured on the job. In 2016, 5,190 workers in the United States suffered fatal occupational injuries. That was the highest annual figure since 2008 and 354 more than in 2015. This 7.3-percent increase equals about 1 more worker fatally injured per day in 2016 compared to 2015. The number of fatal injuries increased in each of the major event categories in 2016, except for fires and explosions.
Event or exposure | 2015 | 2016 |
---|---|---|
Fires and explosions |
121 | 88 |
Exposure to harmful substances or environments |
424 | 518 |
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals |
703 | 866 |
Contact with objects and equipment |
722 | 761 |
Falls, slips, trips |
800 | 849 |
Transportation incidents |
2,054 | 2,083 |
The largest increase in fatal injuries in 2016 occurred as a result of violence and other injuries by persons or animals, a rise of 163 from 2015. There was an increase of 94 fatal injuries over the year from exposure to harmful substances or environments. The highest number of fatal injury cases in 2016 resulted from transportation incidents, an increase of 29 from the 2015 total.
These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. To learn more, see "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2016" (HTML) (PDF). We also have more charts on fatal occupational injuries.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Fatal injuries in U.S. workplaces rise in 2016 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/fatal-injuries-in-us-workplaces-rise-in-2016.htm (visited December 03, 2024).