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).

  

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Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, West Virginia, 2012–21

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2012	49	44	5
2013	61	48	13
2014	38	35	3
2015	35	31	4
2016	47	41	6
2017	51	43	8
2018	57	52	5
2019	46	42	4
2020	47	40	7
2021	36	31	5

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).

  

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and West Virginia, 2021

Event	United States	West Virginia
Transportation incidents	38.2	41.7
Contact with objects and equipment	13.6	33.3
All other	48.2	25.0

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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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