Workers Memorial Day: Remembering the 5,486 workers who died on the job in 2022

April 28 marks Workers Memorial Day, a day of remembrance for those killed, injured, or disabled on the job. In 2022, 5,486 workers suffered fatal work injuries in the United States. The private construction industry had the most fatalities with 1,069 deaths, which accounted for 19.5 percent of total fatal injuries, followed by the transportation and warehousing industry, with 1,053 deaths (19.2 percent). Falls, slips, and trips were the largest event or exposure leading to fatal injuries in construction, while transportation incidents were the event or exposure that led to the most fatal injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

The rate of fatal occupational injury for all private industries rose in 2022 from 3.8 to 3.9 per 100,000 full-time workers, driven in part by increases in rates for wholesale trade, accommodation and food services, and retail trade. Fatal injury rates in agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting and in transportation and warehousing for 2022 were 18.6 and 14.1, respectively. (Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services are excluded from the chart below, as the rate was not publishable in 2021.)

These data are from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program. To learn more about fatal injuries, see “National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2022”. We also have more charts on fatal work injuries. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not collect data on fatal work illnesses.