Fatal work injuries totaled 20 in 2019 for South Dakota, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that the number of work-related fatalities in South Dakota was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 46 in 1999 to a low of 20 in 2013 and 2019.

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 South Dakota, transportation incidents resulted in 11 fatal work injuries, and contact with objects or equipment accounted for 4 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 75 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 15 over the year, and worker fatalities due to contact with objects or equipment were down from 7.

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 agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry had the highest number of South Dakota fatalities with eight. (See table 2.) The crop production sector accounted for 6 of the 8 workplace fatalities in the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry. The private construction industry had five workplace fatalities. Transportation incidents made up 80 percent of construction industry fatalities.

Occupation

Three occupational groups had four workplace fatalities each: management occupations; farming, fishing, and forestry occupations; and transportation and material moving occupations. (See table 3.) Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers accounted for the four fatalities among management occupations. Agricultural workers suffered the four work-related deaths within the farming, fishing, and forestry group. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for the four transportation and material moving occupational fatalities.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 85 percent of the work-related fatalities in South Dakota, compared to the national share of 92 percent. (See table 4.) Contact with objects and equipment made up 24 percent of the fatalities for men in South Dakota.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 85 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 62 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 55 years and older accounted for 30 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 38 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 20 fatal work injuries in South Dakota, 65 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for both wage and salary workers and self-employed workers was transportation incidents.

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 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 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 sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, South Dakota, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	32	20	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	--	--	--
Transportation incidents	15	11	55
Aircraft incidents	1	2	10
Other in-flight crash	1	2	10
Other in-flight crash into structure, object, or ground	1	2	10
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	7	8	40
Roadway collision with other vehicle	2	4	20
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	6	1	5
Nonroadway noncollision incident	6	1	5
Jack-knifed or overturned, nonroadway	6	1	5
Fires and explosions	1	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	5	--	--
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	--	1	5
Exposure to oxygen deficiency, n.e.c.	--	1	5
Depletion of oxygen	--	1	5
Contact with objects and equipment	7	4	20
Overexertion and bodily reaction	--	--	--
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, South Dakota, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	20	100
Private industry (2)	20	100
Goods producing	--	--
Natural resources and mining	8	40
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	8	40
Crop production	6	30
Oilseed and grain farming	5	25
Corn farming	2	10
Other grain farming	3	15
Oilseed and grain combination farming	3	15
Animal production and aquaculture	1	5
Cattle ranching and farming	1	5
Dairy cattle and milk production	1	5
Support activities for agriculture and forestry	1	5
Support activities for animal production	1	5
Support activities for animal production	1	5
Construction	5	25
Construction	5	25
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	--	--
Wholesale trade	3	15
Merchant wholesalers, durable goods	2	10
Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts and supplies merchant wholesalers	1	5
Tire and tube merchant wholesalers	1	5
Machinery, equipment, and supplies merchant wholesalers	1	5
Farm and garden machinery and equipment merchant wholesalers	1	5
Merchant wholesalers, nondurable goods	1	5
Farm product raw material merchant wholesalers	1	5
Financial activities	--	--
Professional and business services	--	--
Educational and health services	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	--	--
Other services, except public administration	--	--
Government (4)	--	--
Federal government	--	--
State government	--	--
Local government	--	--
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. (4) Includes fatal injuries to workers employed by governmental organizations regardless of industry. Cases classified as foreign government and other government are included in all government counts, but not displayed separately.
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, South Dakota, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	20	100
Management occupations	4	20
Other management occupations	4	20
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	4	20
Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers	4	20
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	1	5
Life, physical, and social science technicians	1	5
Community and social service occupations	--	--
Legal occupations	--	--
Educational instruction and library occupations	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	--	--
Protective service occupations	--	--
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	--	--
Personal care and service occupations	--	--
Sales and related occupations	1	5
Supervisors of sales workers	1	5
First-line supervisors of sales workers	1	5
First-line supervisors of non-retail sales workers	1	5
Office and administrative support occupations	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	4	20
Agricultural workers	4	20
Miscellaneous agricultural workers	4	20
Farmworkers and laborers, crop, nursery, and greenhouse	2	10
Construction and extraction occupations	--	--
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3	15
Production occupations	--	--
Transportation and material moving occupations	4	20
Motor vehicle operators	4	20
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	4	20
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	4	20
Military specific occupations (2)	--	--
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. (2) Includes fatal injuries to persons identified as resident armed forces regardless of individual occupation listed.
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, South Dakota, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	32	20	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	19	13	65
Self-employed (2)	13	7	35
Gender
Men	30	17	85
Women	--	3	15
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	--	4	20
25 to 34 years	5	3	15
35 to 44 years	3	4	20
55 to 64 years	3	3	15
65 years and over	13	3	15
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	28	17	85
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	--	--	--
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/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.