Fatal work injuries among workers age 55 and older

There were 2,005 work-related deaths for workers age 55 and older reported in 2019. That was an 8-percent increase from the 1,863 deaths in 2018 and the largest number recorded for this age group. Most fatal injuries result in a same-day death, but some are cases where the death occurs later. These are known as latent cases. For workers age 55 and older, there were 135 latent cases where the death occurred in 2019 but the worker was injured in a previous year.

In 2019, the most common fatal event among workers age 55 and older was transportation incidents (839 deaths). The second most common fatal event for this age group was falls, slips, and trips (459 deaths). These two event categories accounted for about 65 percent of the total number of fatal work injuries in this age group.

These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. For more information on latent cases in the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries see “Understanding Latency in Fatal Occupational Injuries.”