Fatal work injuries totaled 23 in 2018 for the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, 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 the Pittsburgh area decreased by five from the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the Pittsburgh area have ranged from a high of 45 in 2008 to a low of 18 in 2014. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a total of 5,250 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2018, up from the 5,147 fatal injuries in 2017, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program.

Type of incident

In the Pittsburgh area, falls, slips, and trips resulted in six fatal workplace injuries, accounting for 26 percent of all workplace fatalities in the area. (See table 1.)

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals, transportation incidents, and exposure to harmful substances or environments each accounted for five fatalities. The number of worker deaths from violence and other injuries by persons or animals decreased by two from the previous year, while transportation incidents decreased by one and exposure to harmful substances or environments decreased by three. In 2018, all of the five fatalities due to exposure to harmful substances or environments were unintentional overdoses from the nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol while at work.

Nationally, transportation incidents was the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2018, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 2.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by falls, slips, and trips (15 percent) and contact with objects and equipment (15 percent).

 

Industry

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in the Pittsburgh area with four, down from seven in the previous year. (See table 2.) Exposure to harmful substances or environments accounted for three of the four worker deaths in the industry.

The private wholesale trade industry and the administrative and support and waste management and remediation services industry had three workplace fatalities each.

Occupation

Transportation and material moving occupations and construction and extraction occupations had the highest number of workplace fatalities with five and three, respectively. (See table 3.)

Contracted Workers

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 2018, the Pittsburgh area had three fatally-injured workers identified as fitting the contractor criteria.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 96 percent of the work-related fatalities in the Pittsburgh area, higher than the 92-percent national share. (See table 4.)

• White, non-Hispanic workers accounted for 83 percent of workers who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 65 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 52 percent of the area’s work-related fatalities in 2018, compared to 58 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 23 fatally-injured workers in the Pittsburgh area, 70 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal events for wage and salary workers were transportation incidents; falls, slips, and trips; and exposure to harmful substances or environments with four fatalities each. The most frequent fatal event for self-employed workers was violence and other injuries by persons or animals with three fatalities.

 

Technical Note

Background of the program. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Safety and Health Statistics (OSHS) program, is a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year. The CFOI uses a variety of state, federal, and independent data sources to identify, verify, and describe fatal work injuries. This ensures counts are as complete and accurate as possible. For the 2018 national data, over 24,800 unique source documents were reviewed as part of the data collection process. For technical information and definitions for the CFOI, see 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, some of which may be outside the scope of other agencies or regulatory coverage. Comparisons between CFOI counts and those released by other agencies should account for the different coverage requirements and definitions used by each agency. For more information on the scope of CFOI, see www.bls.gov/iif/cfoiscope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm. 

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Pennsylvania Department of Health 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. 

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, Bulletin Number 13-01, February 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at https://www.bls.gov/bls/omb-bulletin-13-01-revised-delineations-of-metropolitan-statistical-areas.pdf.

The Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania. 

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, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017-2018

Event or exposure[1]	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	28	23	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	7	5	22
Intentional injury by person	7	4	17
Homicides	5	3	13
Shooting by other person—intentional	4	2	9
Hitting, kicking, beating, shoving	1	1	4
Transportation incidents	6	5	22
Pedestrian vehicular incident	1	-	-
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in nonroadway area	-	-	-
Pedestrian struck by forward-moving vehicle in nonroadway area	-	1	4
Roadway incident involving motorized land vehicle	5	-	-
Roadway collision with other vehicle	2	1	4
Fire or explosion	-	1	4
Fire	-	1	4
Ignition of vapors, gases, or liquids	-	1	4
Fall, slip, trip	-	6	26
Fall to lower level	-	4	17
Other fall to lower level	-	4	17
Other fall to lower level 11 to 15 feet	-	1	4
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	8	5	22
Exposure to other harmful substances	3	5	22
Nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol unintentional overdose	3	5	22
(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, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017-2018

Industry(1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	28	23	100
Private industry	25	23	100
Goods producing	10	8	35
Natural resources and mining	-	-	-
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	-	-	-
Animal production and aquaculture	-	1	4
Cattle ranching and farming	-	1	4
Construction	7	4	17
Specialty trade contractors	4	4	17
Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors	2	1	4
Roofing contractors	1	1	4
Other specialty trade contractors	1	1	4
Site preparation contractors	1	1	4
Residential site preparation contractors	-	1	4
Manufacturing	3	-	-
Transportation equipment manufacturing	-	1	4
Ship and boat building	-	1	4
Ship and boat building	-	1	4
Ship building and repairing	-	1	4
Service providing	15	15	65
Trade, transportation, and utilities	6	6	26
Wholesale trade	-	3	13
Transportation and warehousing	5	1	4
Truck transportation	3	1	4
Specialized freight trucking	1	1	4
Specialized freight (except used goods) trucking, local	1	1	4
Information	-	1	4
Motion picture and sound recording industries	-	1	4
Motion picture and video industries	-	1	4
Motion picture and video production	-	1	4
Professional and business services	3	4	17
Professional, scientific, and technical services	-	1	4
Professional, scientific, and technical services	-	1	4
Legal services	-	1	4
Offices of lawyers	-	1	4
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	3	3	13
Administrative and support services	3	2	9
Investigation and security services	-	1	4
Investigation, guard, and armored car services	-	1	4
Security guards and patrol services	-	1	4
Services to buildings and dwellings	3	1	4
Landscaping services	1	1	4
Educational and health services	4	1	4
Health care and social assistance	3	1	4
Hospitals	-	1	4
General medical and surgical hospitals	-	1	4
General medical and surgical hospitals	-	1	4
Leisure and hospitality	-	1	4
Accommodation and food services	-	1	4
Food services and drinking places	-	1	4
Restaurants and other eating places	-	1	4
Restaurants and other eating places	-	1	4
Limited-service restaurants	-	1	4
Other services, except public administration	-	2	9
Repair and maintenance	-	1	4
Automotive repair and maintenance	-	1	4
Automotive mechanical and electrical repair and maintenance	-	1	4
General automotive repair	-	1	4
Personal and laundry services	-	1	4
Drycleaning and laundry services	-	1	4
Drycleaning and laundry services (except coin-operated)	-	1	4
Footnotes: (1) Industry data are based on the North American Industry Classification System, 2012.
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, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017-2018

Occupation(1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	28	23	100
Management, business, science, and arts occupations	2	5	22
Professional and related occupations	2	3	13
Computer, engineering, and science occupations	-	1	4
Architecture and engineering occupations	-	1	4
Engineers	-	1	4
Civil engineers	-	1	4
Civil engineers	-	1	4
Education, legal, community service, arts, and media occupations	2	-	-
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	-	1	4
Media and communication equipment workers	-	1	4
Broadcast and sound engineering technicians and radio operators	-	1	4
Sound engineering technicians	-	1	4
Service occupations	8	2	9
Protective service occupations	2	1	4
Other protective service workers	-	1	4
Security guards and gaming surveillance officers	-	1	4
Security guards	-	1	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	3	1	4
Grounds maintenance workers	1	1	4
Grounds maintenance workers	1	1	4
Landscaping and groundskeeping workers	-	1	4
Sales and office occupations	-	3	13
Office and administrative support occupations	-	1	4
Information and record clerks	-	1	4
Receptionists and information clerks	-	1	4
Receptionists and information clerks	-	1	4
Natural resources, construction, and maintenance occupations	8	6	26
Construction and extraction occupations	6	3	13
Construction trades workers	3	3	13
Roofers	-	1	4
Roofers	-	1	4
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	-	-	-
Supervisors of installation, maintenance, and repair workers	-	1	4
First-line supervisors/managers of mechanics, installers, and repairers	-	1	4
First-line supervisors of mechanics, installers, and repairers	-	1	4
Production, transportation, and material moving occupations	10	7	30
Production occupations	-	-	-
Textile, apparel, and furnishings workers	-	1	4
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	-	1	4
Laundry and dry-cleaning workers	-	1	4
Transportation and material moving occupations	7	5	22
Motor vehicle operators	6	3	13
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	4	-	-
Driver/sales workers	-	1	4
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, Pittsburgh, PA, 2017-2018

Characteristic	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	28	23	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers(1)	24	16	70
Self-employed(2)	4	7	30
Gender
Women	4	1	4
Men	24	22	96
Age(3)
20 to 24 years	2	1	4
25 to 34 years	8	4	17
35 to 44 years	1	4	17
45 to 54 years	9	4	17
55 to 64 years	6	6	26
65 years and over	-	4	17
Race or ethnic origin(4)
White (non-Hispanic)	26	19	83
Black or African-American (non-Hispanic)	-	1	4
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 Hispanic and Latino workers.
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.