Fatal workplace injuries totaled 36 in 2021 for West Virginia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in West Virginia was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 95 in 2010 to a low of 35 in 2015. Nationwide, a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2021, a 9-percent increase from 4,764 in 2020, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

Fatal event or exposure

In West Virginia, transportation incidents resulted in 15 fatal work injuries, with roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles accounting for 10 of these fatalities. Contact with objects and equipment accounted for 12 fatalities, 9 of which involved being struck by an object or equipment. These two major categories accounted for 75 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 17 over the year and contact with objects and equipment were up from 10.

Nationally, transportation incidents was the most frequent fatal event in 2021, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by both exposure to harmful substances or environments and violence and other injuries by persons or animals (15 percent each) and contact with objects and equipment (14 percent).

Industry

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in West Virginia with nine, no change from the previous year. (See table 2.)

The private mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction industry sector had six fatal workplace injuries, no change from the previous year. Within the mining (except oil and gas) subsector, coal mining accounted for five of the fatal injuries in this industry.

The industry sector with the third highest number of fatalities in West Virginia was the private agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry sector with five, up from four the previous year. The logging subsector had four of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 13. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 11 of the 13 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 10. Supervisors of construction and extraction workers suffered four of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights:

• Men accounted for all work-related fatalities in West Virginia, compared to the national share of 91 percent. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 42 percent of the fatalities in West Virginia.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 92 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 55 years and over accounted for 47 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2021, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 36 fatal work injuries in West Virginia, 86 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 fatalities resulting from workplace 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 2021 national data, over 23,900 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 at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/occupational-safety-and-health-definitions.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/overview/cfoi-scope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

Latency Cases. Latent fatal occupational injury cases occur when the date of injury differs from the date of death. In some cases, the death occurs in a different year than the occupational injury and are known as cross-year latent cases. In 2021, there were 197 cases nationally where this occurred, and 174 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2021. For more information on latent cases, see www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/latency-in-fatal-occupational-injuries.htm.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. CFOI reports fatal workplace injuries only. These may include fatal workplace injuries complicated by an illness such as COVID-19. Fatal workplace illnesses not precipitated by an injury are not in scope for CFOI. CFOI does not report any illness related information, including COVID-19. Additional information is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-on-workplace-injuries-and-illnesses-compensation-and-occupational-requirements.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks WORKFORCE West Virginia 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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, West Virginia, 2020–21

Event or exposure (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	47	36	100
Transportation incidents	17	15	42
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	11	10	28
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	5	5	14
Contact with objects and equipment	10	12	33
Struck by object or equipment	7	9	25
Struck by falling object or equipment--other than powered vehicle	--	5	14
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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, West Virginia, 2020–21

Industry (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	47	36	100
Private industry (2)	41	36	100
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	10	11	31
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	4	5	14
Crop production	--	1	3
Forestry and logging	1	4	11
Logging	--	4	11
Logging	--	4	11
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (3)	6	6	17
Mining (except oil and gas)	--	5	14
Coal mining	--	5	14
Coal mining	--	5	14
Bituminous coal underground mining	--	5	14
Support activities for mining	--	1	3
Support activities for mining	--	1	3
Support activities for mining	--	1	3
Support activities for oil and gas operations	--	1	3
Construction	6	4	11
Construction	6	4	11
Service providing (4)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	--	--	--
Wholesale trade	--	3	8
Transportation and warehousing	9	9	25
Educational and health services	--	1	3
Health care and social assistance	--	1	3
Hospitals	--	1	3
General medical and surgical hospitals	--	1	3
General medical and surgical hospitals	--	1	3
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (2) Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. (3) Includes fatal injuries at all establishments categorized as Mining (Sector 21) in the North American Industry Classification System, including establishments not governed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) rules and reporting, such as those in oil and gas extraction. (4) 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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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, West Virginia, 2020–21

Occupation (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	47	36	100
Management occupations	--	2	6
Top executives	--	1	3
General and operations managers	--	1	3
General and operations managers	--	1	3
Other management occupations	--	1	3
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	--	1	3
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	--	1	3
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	1	3	8
Forest, conservation, and logging workers	1	3	8
Logging workers	1	3	8
Fallers	1	3	8
Construction and extraction occupations	9	10	28
Supervisors of construction and extraction workers	--	4	11
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	--	4	11
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	--	4	11
Extraction workers	5	3	8
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	4	4	11
Transportation and material moving occupations	13	13	36
Motor vehicle operators	10	11	31
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	10	11	31
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	--	7	19
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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, West Virginia, 2020–21

Worker characteristics	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	47	36	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	40	31	86
Self-employed (2)	7	5	14
Gender
Men	42	36	100
Women	5	--	--
Age (3)
35 to 44 years	13	7	19
45 to 54 years	9	6	17
55 to 64 years	4	9	25
65 years and over	8	8	22
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	39	33	92
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	5	3	8
Hispanic or Latino	--	--	--
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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.