Fatal work injuries totaled 74 in 2019 for New Jersey, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that the number of work-related fatalities in New Jersey was down from 83 in the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 145 in 1993 to a low of 69 in 2017. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a total of 5,333 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2019, a 2 percent increase from the 5,250 in 2018, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program. The 5,333 fatal occupational injuries in 2019 represents the largest annual number since 2007.

Fatal event or exposure

In New Jersey, transportation incidents resulted in 23 fatal work injuries, and falls, slips, and trips accounted for 16 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 53 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 32 in 2018. The number of worker fatalities due falls, slips, and trips was unchanged from 2018.

Exposures to harmful substances or environments was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 15 fatalities, up from 12 in 2018. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals resulted in 11 work-related deaths compared to 13 in 2018.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2019, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 2.) Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (17 percent), followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals (16 percent).

Industry

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in New Jersey with 18. (See table 2.) Exposure to harmful substances resulted in 7 of the 18 fatalities in the industry. The administrative and support and waste management and remediation services industry sector had 12 workplace deaths, the second highest total for any sector in New Jersey.

Occupation

The construction and extraction occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 22. (See table 3.) Construction trades workers accounted for 19 of the 22 fatalities among construction and extraction workers. The transportation and material moving occupational group had the second- highest number of workplace fatalities with 19. Motor vehicle operators accounted for 11 of the work-related deaths within the transportation and material moving group.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 93 percent of the work-related fatalities in New Jersey, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Falls, slips, and trips accounted for 23 percent of men’s deaths.
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 47 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 62 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 41 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 55 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• Of the 74 fatal work injuries in New Jersey, 76 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed.

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 2019 national data, over 25,100 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 https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.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 New Jersey 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.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, New Jersey, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	83	74	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	13	11	15
Intentional injury by person	13	11	15
Intentional injury by other person	6	6	8
Shooting by other person--intentional	3	5	7
Stabbing, cutting, slashing, piercing	1	1	1
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	7	5	7
Transportation incidents	32	23	31
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	21	10	14
Roadway collision with other vehicle	10	4	5
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	11	6	8
Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway	11	6	8
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	--	6	8
Falls, slips, trips	16	16	22
Falls on same level	--	3	4
Falls to lower level	14	13	18
Other fall to lower level	9	11	15
Other fall to lower level 11 to 15 feet	--	3	4
Other fall to lower level more than 30 feet	--	3	4
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	12	15	20
Exposure to electricity	--	5	7
Exposure to other harmful substances	11	10	14
Nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol--unintentional overdose	9	8	11
Contact with objects and equipment	9	9	12
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. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, New Jersey, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	74	100
Private industry (2)	72	97
Goods producing	--	--
Construction	18	24
Construction	18	24
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	24	32
Wholesale trade	4	5
Retail trade	5	7
Professional and business services	--	--
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	12	16
Leisure and hospitality	4	5
Accommodation and food services	4	5
Food services and drinking places	4	5
Restaurants and other eating places	4	5
Restaurants and other eating places	4	5
Full-service restaurants	4	5
Other services, except public administration	4	5
Other services, except public administration	4	5
Footnotes: (1) CFOI has used several versions of the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) since 2003 to define industry. For complete information on the version of NAICS used in this year, see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. (2) Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. (3) Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, New Jersey, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	74	100
Management occupations	4	5
Architecture and engineering occupations	3	4
Food preparation and serving related occupations	3	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	5	7
Grounds maintenance workers	5	7
Grounds maintenance workers	5	7
Sales and related occupations	5	7
Supervisors of sales workers	3	4
First-line supervisors of sales workers	3	4
Construction and extraction occupations	22	30
Construction trades workers	19	26
Carpenters	6	8
Carpenters	6	8
Construction laborers	7	9
Construction laborers	7	9
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	7	9
Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers	3	4
Transportation and material moving occupations	19	26
Motor vehicle operators	11	15
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	11	15
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	9	12
Footnotes: (1) CFOI has used several versions of the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) system since 2003 to define occupation. For complete information on the version of SOC used in this year, see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected demographic characteristics, New Jersey, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	83	74	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	68	56	76
Self-employed (2)	15	18	24
Gender
Men	77	69	93
Women	6	5	7
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	7	8	11
25 to 34 years	10	11	15
35 to 44 years	16	8	11
45 to 54 years	20	11	15
55 to 64 years	19	29	39
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	43	35	47
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	11	12	16
Hispanic or Latino	22	23	31
Asian, non-Hispanic	4	4	5
Footnotes: (1) May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation. Cases where employment status is unknown are included in the counts of wage and salary workers. (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. Cases where ethnicity is unknown are included in counts of non-Hispanic workers.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.