Fatal work injuries totaled 12 in 2016 for Delaware, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Delaware increased from the eight fatalities in the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 18 in 1996 to a low of 7 in 2009. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2016, a 7-percent increase from the 4,836 fatal injuries reported in 2015, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program. This was the third consecutive increase in annual workplace fatalities and the first time more than 5,000 fatalities have been recorded since 2008.

Type of incident

In Delaware, transportation incidents resulted in five fatal work injuries and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for four fatalities. These two major categories accounted for three- quarters of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) In the previous year, transportation incidents and violence and other injuries by persons or animals each accounted for three workplace fatalities.

Nationally, transportation incidents remained the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2016, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 2.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the second-most frequent type of event, with 17 percent of work-related fatalities, followed by falls, slips, or trips (16 percent) and contact with objects and equipment (15 percent).

Industry

The private construction industry sector and government had three fatalities each, accounting for half of the worker deaths in the state in 2016. (See table 2.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for all of the fatalities in government.

Occupation

Protective service occupations and construction and extraction occupations had the highest number of workplace fatalities with four each. (See table 3.) The majority of the fatalities within protective service occupations were firefighters (3). Construction trades workers accounted for all of the fatal injuries in the construction and extraction group.

Contracted Workers

A contracted worker 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 2016, Delaware had two fatally-injured workers identified as fitting the contracted worker criteria, the same count as the prior year.

Additional highlights:

• Men accounted for 92 percent of the work-related fatalities in Delaware, similar to the 93-percent national share. (See table 4.) The most frequent fatal event for men in the state was transportation incidents (5) followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals (3).
• White, non-Hispanic workers accounted for two-thirds of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group also accounted for 67 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 83 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2016, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• Of the 12 fatally-injured workers in Delaware, 83 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Transportation incidents accounted for half of the fatalities to wage and salary workers.

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 ensures counts are as complete and accurate as possible. Nationwide, for the 2016 data, over 23,300 unique source documents were reviewed as part of the data collection process. For technical information and definitions for CFOI, please go to the BLS Handbook of Methods on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm.

Federal/State agency coverage. The CFOI includes data for all fatal work injuries, even those that may be outside the scope of other agencies or 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. More on the scope of CFOI can be found at www.bls.gov/iif/cfoiscope.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Delaware Department of Labor 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.

Information in this release is available to sensory-impaired individuals. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Delaware, 2015-16

Event or exposure (1)	2015	2016
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	8	12	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	3	4	33
Intentional injury by person	3	1	8
Homicides	3	1	8
Shooting by other person—intentional	2	1	8
Injury by person—unintentional or intent unknown	-	3	25
Injury by other person—unintentional or intent unknown	-	3	25
Transportation incidents	3	5	42
Aircraft incidents	-	1	8
Pedestrian vehicular incident	-	2	17
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in work zone	-	1	8
Pedestrian struck by forward-moving vehicle in work zone	-	1	8
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in roadway	-	1	8
Pedestrian struck by forward-moving vehicle in roadway	-	1	8
Roadway incident involving motorized land vehicle	3	-	-
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	-	1	8
Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway	-	1	8
Contact with objects and equipment	-	1	8
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	-	1	8
Caught in running equipment or machinery	-	1	8
Caught in running equipment or machinery during maintenance, cleaning	-	1	8
Footnotes: (1) Based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) 2.01 implemented for 2011 data forward.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, Delaware, 2015-16

Industry (1)	2015	2016
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	8	12	100
Private industry	8	9	75
Goods producing	-	4	33
Natural resources and mining	-	1	8
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	-	1	8
Crop production	-	1	8
Other crop farming	-	1	8
Hay farming	-	1	8
Construction	-	3	25
Specialty trade contractors	-	3	25
Service providing	7	5	42
Trade, transportation, and utilities	2	-	-
Retail trade	1	-	-
Nonstore retailers	-	1	8
Electronic shopping and mail-order houses	-	1	8
Electronic shopping and mail-order houses	-	1	8
Electronic shopping	-	1	8
Information	1	1	8
Telecommunications	-	1	8
Wired telecommunications carriers	-	1	8
Wired telecommunications carriers	-	1	8
Financial activities	-	1	8
Real estate and rental and leasing	-	1	8
Rental and leasing services	-	1	8
Commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing	-	1	8
Construction, transportation, mining, and forestry machinery and equipment rental and leasing	-	1	8
Construction, mining, and forestry machinery and equipment rental and leasing	-	1	8
Public administration	-	1	8
Justice, public order, and safety activities	-	1	8
Justice, public order, and safety activities	-	1	8
Fire protection	-	1	8
Government (2)	-	3	25
Local government	-	3	25
Service providing	-	3	25
Public administration	-	3	25
Justice, public order, and safety activities	-	3	25
Justice, public order, and safety activities	-	3	25
Fire protection	-	3	25
Footnotes: (1) Industry data are based on the North American Industry Classification System, 2012. (2) Includes fatal injuries to workers employed by governmental organizations regardless of industry.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, Delaware, 2015-16

Occupation (1)	2015	2016
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	8	12	100
Management, business, science, and arts occupations	2	1	8
Management, business, and financial occupations	-	1	8
Management occupations	-	1	8
Other management occupations	-	1	8
Agricultural managers	-	1	8
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	-	1	8
Service occupations	-	4	33
Protective service occupations	-	4	33
First-line supervisors/managers, protective service workers	-	1	8
First-line supervisors of fire fighting and prevention workers	-	1	8
First-line supervisors of fire fighting and prevention workers	-	1	8
Fire fighting and prevention workers	-	3	25
Firefighters	-	3	25
Firefighters	-	3	25
Sales and office occupations	1	1	8
Sales and related occupations	1	1	8
Other sales and related workers	-	1	8
Miscellaneous sales and related workers	-	1	8
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations	-	6	50
Construction and extraction occupations	-	4	33
Construction trades workers	-	4	33
Footnotes: (1) Occupation data are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, 2010.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by worker characteristics, Delaware, 2015-16

Worker characteristics	2015	2016
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	8	12	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	6	10	83
Self-employed (2)	2	2	17
Gender
Women	1	1	8
Men	7	11	92
Age (3)
25 to 34 years	3	2	17
35 to 44 years	3	4	33
45 to 54 years	-	4	33
55 to 64 years	1	1	8
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White (non-Hispanic)	4	8	67
Footnotes: (1) May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation. (2) 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. (3) Information may not be available for all age groups. (4) Persons identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The race categories shown exclude data for Hispanics and Latinos.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.