Fatal work injuries totaled 83 in 2013 for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that while the 2013 count was preliminary, the number of work-related fatalities in the Washington metropolitan area increased by 13 over the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the area have ranged from a high of 99 in 2005 to a low of 48 in 2009. The 2013 count represented the highest annual total since 2005, due in part to the Washington Navy Yard shooting, in which 13 workers died. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a preliminary total of 4,405 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2013, lower than the revised count of 4,628 fatal work injuries in 2012, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program. Final 2013 data from CFOI will be released in the late spring of 2015.

 

In 2013, the Washington metropolitan area had the seventh-largest population nationally¹ and placed fifth in the number of work-related fatalities among the 10 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. (See chart 2.) The most populated area in the country—New York—had the highest number of workplace fatalities (152) in 2013. The smallest of the 10 metropolitan areas—Boston—had the second-lowest fatality count with 42 deaths. (See chart 4.)

 

Of the 83 fatal work injuries reported in the Washington metropolitan area in 2013, 34 resulted from violence and other injuries by persons or animals; 21 of these were homicides including the 13 fatalities from the Washington Navy Yard shooting. (See table 2.) In addition to Washington, Boston was the only other area with violence and other injuries by persons or animals as the most frequent fatal event. (See table 1.) Among the 10 areas, Washington had the highest share of work-related fatalities from violence and other injuries by persons or animals at 41 percent.

Transportation incidents and falls, slips, or trips were the second-most frequent causes of workplace deaths in the Washington metropolitan area, each representing 18 percent of total fatalities. Within transportation incidents, roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles accounted for 11 of the 15 fatalities. Transportation incidents was the most frequent fatal event in 8 of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in 2013, and all areas had a larger share of total fatalities from transportation incidents than Washington. (Note that transportation counts presented in this release are expected to rise when updated 2013 data are released in the late spring of 2015 because key source documentation detailing specific transportation-related incidents has not yet been received.) Within falls, slips, or trips, 13 of the 15 fatalities were a result of falls to lower levels. Washington’s 18 percent share of total fatalities from falls, slips, or trips ranked seventh among the 10 largest areas, higher than Atlanta (14 percent), Chicago (12 percent), and Houston (10 percent).

In the United States, transportation incidents was the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2013, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries, higher than the Washington area’s 18-percent share. (See chart 3.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the second-most frequent type of event nationally, with 17 percent of work-related fatalities. Contact with objects and equipment and falls, slips, or trips each accounted for 16 percent of the nation’s workplace fatalities. Similarly in Washington, contact with objects and equipment accounted for 16 percent of work-related fatalities.

Additional key characteristics in the Washington area:

• The construction industry sector had the largest number of fatalities in the Washington area with 21 in 2013, compared with 23 in the previous year. (See table 3.) Falls, slips, or trips accounted for nine of these worker deaths, followed by contact with objects and equipment with six fatalities.
• Government had the second-highest fatality count with 20, up from the 11 fatalities reported in 2012.
• Construction and extraction occupations had the highest fatality count with 18, followed by transportation and material moving occupations with 14. (See table 4.) Five of the 18 fatalities in construction and extraction occupations were first-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers. Within the transportation and material moving occupations, 7 of the 14 fatalities were drivers/sales workers and truck drivers.
• Men accounted for 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in the metropolitan area. (See table 5.) Thirty-nine percent of these fatalities were a result of violence and other injuries by persons or animals. Nationally, men made up 93 percent of all fatalities.
• In the Washington metropolitan area, 45 percent of those who died from a workplace injury were white non-Hispanics; nationally, this group made up 68 percent. Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 29 percent of the area’s fatal injuries, higher than the 18-percent share nationwide.
• Workers 25-54 years old—the prime working age group—accounted for 54 percent of the area’s work-related fatalities in 2013. Nationally, workers in this group accounted for 60 percent of on-the-job fatalities.
• Twenty-nine percent of workers fatally injured in the Washington area in 2013 were age 55 and over, similar to the 32-percent share nationwide.
• Of the 83 people who suffered fatal work injuries in the Washington area, 88 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remaining were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was violence and other injuries by persons or animals.
• In 2011, CFOI began identifying if a fatally-injured worker was working as a contractor and recording the industry of both the worker and the contracting firm. A contractor is defined as a worker employed by one firm but working at the behest of another firm that exercises overall responsibility for the operations at the site of the fatal injury. In 2013, the Washington area had 22 fatally-injured workers identified as fitting the contractor criteria; 10 of these were in the government sector.

 

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Footnotes

¹ Metropolitan area populations based on 2011 estimates from the Census Bureau.

Technical Note

Background of the program. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), part of the BLS Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS) program, compiles a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year. The CFOI program uses diverse state, federal, and independent data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. This assures counts are as complete and accurate as possible.

For technical information and definitions for the CFOI program, please go to the BLS Handbook of Methods on the BLS web site at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch9.pdf.

Federal/State agency coverage. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries includes data for all fatal work injuries, whether the decedent was working in a job covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or other federal or state agencies or was outside the scope of regulatory coverage. Thus, any comparison between the BLS fatality census counts and those released by other agencies should take into account the different coverage requirements and definitions being used by each agency.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the District of Columbia Department of Health; Virginia Department of Labor and Industry; and Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation 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 submitted 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 industries, and workers' compensation agencies; state and local police departments; and state farm bureaus.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated December 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at https://www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) consists of the Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md. Metropolitan Division (MD) and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. Metropolitan Division (MD).

• The Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md. MD consists of Frederick and Montgomery Counties in Maryland.
• The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va. MD consists of the District of Columbia; Calvert, Charles, and Prince George's Counties in Maryland; Arlington, Clarke, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren Counties in Virginia; Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park Cities in Virginia; and Jefferson County in West Virginia.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by selected event groups in the 10 largest metropolitan areas in 2013

Metropolitan Areas(1)	Total fatalities(2)	Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	Transportation incidents	Falls, slips, trips	Contact with objects and equipment
United States(3)	4,405	753	1,740	699	717
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.-N.J.-Pa.	152	38	49	31	18
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, Calif.	102	22	28	24	15
Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Ill.-Ind.-Wis.	95	23	31	11	19
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas	86	22	24	9	16
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va.	83	34	15	15	13
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, Fla.	78	16	31	18	6
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas	72	15	19	16	12
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md.	62	16	19	13	7
Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass.-N.H.	42	15	9	9	6
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.	29	8	9	4	8
Footnotes: (1) Metropolitan areas used in this table are Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) based on definitions from the Office of Management and Budget Bulletin Number 10-02, December 2009. (2) Data are based on a preliminary total of 4,405 fatal work injuries nationwide for 2013. (3) Also includes fatalities occurring in nonmetropolitan areas.
Note: Data for 2013 are preliminary. Revised and final 2013 data are scheduled to be released in spring 2015.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, 2012-2013

Event or exposure(1)	2012(2)	2013(p)
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	70	83	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	15	34	41
Intentional injury by person	14	30	36
Homicides	4	21	25
Shooting by other person--intentional	3	21	25
Suicides	10	9	11
Shooting--intentional self-harm	7	3	4
Animal and insect related incidents	1	-	-
Struck by animal	1	-	-
Gored or rammed by animal	-	1	1
Transportation incidents	23	15	18
Pedestrian vehicular incident	6	3	4
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	12	11	13
Roadway collision with other vehicle	8	6	7
Roadway collision--moving in opposite directions, oncoming	-	1	1
Roadway collision--moving perpendicularly	3	3	4
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	4	4	5
Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway	4	3	4
Roadway noncollision incident	-	1	1
Jack-knifed or overturned, roadway	-	1	1
Nonroadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	3	1	1
Nonroadway collision with object other than vehicle	-	1	1
Part of occupant's body caught between vehicle and other object in nonroadway transport incident	-	1	1
Fires and explosions	-	2	2
Fires	-	1	1
Ignition of vapors, gases, or liquids	-	1	1
Explosions	-	1	1
Explosion of pressure vessel, piping, or tire	-	1	1
Falls, slips, trips	16	15	18
Falls on same level	4	-	-
Fall on same level due to slipping	-	1	1
Falls to lower level	12	13	16
Other fall to lower level	9	10	12
Other fall to lower level 11 to 15 feet	-	3	4
Other fall to lower level 16 to 20 feet	-	2	2
Other fall to lower level 21 to 25 feet	-	1	1
Other fall to lower level more than 30 feet	-	2	2
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	8	4	5
Contact with objects and equipment	8	13	16
Struck by object or equipment	8	10	12
Struck by falling object or equipment	-	7	8
Struck by object falling from vehicle or machinery--other than vehicle part	-	1	1
Footnotes: (1) Based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) 2.01 implemented for 2011 data forward. (2) Data for 2012 are revised and final. (p) Data for 2013 are preliminary. Revised and final 2013 data are scheduled to be released in spring 2015.
NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

 Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by selected industry, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, 2012-2013

Industry(1)	2012(2)	2013(p)
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	70	83	100
Private industry	59	63	76
Construction	23	21	25
Construction	23	21	25
Construction of buildings	3	6	7
Specialty trade contractors	12	13	16
Manufacturing	2	1	1
Manufacturing	2	1	1
Wood product manufacturing	-	1	1
Trade, transportation, and utilities	13	14	17
Wholesale trade	-	2	2
Merchant wholesalers, durable goods	-	1	1
Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods	-	1	1
Retail trade	-	5	6
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers	-	1	1
Transportation and warehousing	8	7	8
Truck transportation	-	5	6
Professional and business services	6	18	22
Professional, scientific, and technical services	-	9	11
Professional, scientific, and technical services	-	9	11
Administrative and waste services	4	9	11
Administrative and support services	3	8	10
Waste management and remediation services	1	1	1
Leisure and hospitality	3	3	4
Accommodation and food services	-	3	4
Accommodation	-	1	1
Food services and drinking places	-	2	2
Other services, except public administration	3	5	6
Other services, except public administration	3	5	6
Repair and maintenance	-	4	5
Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations	-	1	1
Government(3)	11	20	24
Federal government	3	17	20
Local government	6	3	4
Footnotes: (1) Industry data are based on the North American Industry Classification System, 2007. Total may include other industries not shown. (2) Data for 2012 are revised and final. (3) Includes fatal injuries to workers employed by governmental organizations regardless of industry. (p) Data are for 2013 preliminary. Revised and final 2013 data are scheduled to be released in spring 2015.
NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

 Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected occupation, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, 2012-2013

Occupation(1)	2012(2)	2013(p)
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	70	83	100
Management occupations	9	6	7
Top executives	-	1	1
Operations specialties managers	-	2	2
Other management occupations	8	3	4
Business and financial operations occupations	-	2	2
Business operations specialists	-	1	1
Financial specialists	-	1	1
Computer and mathematical occupations	-	4	5
Computer occupations	-	3	4
Mathematical science occupations	-	1	1
Legal occupations	-	1	1
Lawyers, judges, and related workers	-	1	1
Protective service occupations	5	3	4
Other protective service workers	2	3	4
Food preparation and serving related occupations	-	1	1
Supervisors of food preparation and serving workers	-	1	1
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	8	6	7
Grounds maintenance workers	8	4	5
Sales and related occupations	-	3	4
Other sales and related workers	-	1	1
Office and administrative support occupations	3	1	1
Material recording, scheduling, dispatching, and distributing workers	-	1	1
Construction and extraction occupations	17	18	22
Supervisors of construction and extraction workers	3	5	6
Construction trades workers	14	12	14
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	6	7	8
Supervisors of installation, maintenance, and repair workers	-	1	1
Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers	-	4	5
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	5	2	2
Production occupations	-	2	2
Assemblers and fabricators	-	1	1
Metal workers and plastic workers	-	1	1
Transportation and material moving occupations	13	14	17
Motor vehicle operators	6	10	12
Material moving workers	4	4	5
Military occupations(3)	2	8	10
Footnotes: (1) Occupation data are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, 2010. Total may include occupations not shown. (2) Data for 2012 are revised and final. (3) Includes fatal injuries to persons identified as resident armed forces regardless of individual occupation listed. (p) Data for 2013 are preliminary. Revised and final 2013 data are scheduled to be released in spring 2015.
NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 5. Fatal occupational injuries by worker characteristics, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, 2012-2013

Worker characteristics	2012(1)	2013(p)
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	70	83	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers(2)	55	73	88
Self-employed(3)	15	10	12
Gender
Men	63	75	90
Women	7	8	10
Age(4)
18-19 years	-	3	4
20 to 24 years	5	11	13
25 to 34 years	10	11	13
35 to 44 years	10	15	18
45 to 54 years	16	19	23
55 to 64 years	14	19	23
65 and over	13	5	6
Race or ethnic origin(5)
White (non-Hispanic)	32	37	45
Black or African-American (non-Hispanic)	12	16	19
Hispanic or Latino	19	24	29
Asian (non-Hispanic)	6	5	6
Footnotes: (1) Data for 2012 are revised and final. (2) May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation. (3) 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. (4) Information may not be available for all age groups. (5) Persons identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The race categories shown exclude Hispanic and Latino workers. (p) Data for 2013 are preliminary. Revised and final 2013 data are scheduled to be released in spring 2015.
NOTE: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.