Fatal work injuries totaled 139 in 2022 for Michigan, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Michigan was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 182 in 1999 to a low of 94 in 2009. Nationwide, a total of 5,486 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2022, a 5.7-percent increase from 5,190 in 2021, 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, Michigan, 2013–22

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2013	135	95	40
2014	143	92	51
2015	134	85	49
2016	162	116	46
2017	153	102	51
2018	155	110	45
2019	164	111	53
2020	131	97	34
2021	140	99	41
2022	139	108	31

In Michigan, violence and other injuries by persons or animals resulted in 37 fatal work injuries and accounted for 27 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths due to violence or other injuries by persons or animals were up from 17 over the year.

Transportation incidents accounted for 29 fatalities, down from 47 in 2021. Falls, slips, and trips along with contact with objects and equipment were the third-most frequent fatal work events with 26 fatalities each, both up from 23 in the prior year. Exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in 17 work-related deaths compared to 26 in 2021.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2022, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips were the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals along with exposure to harmful substances or environments (15 percent each).

  

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Michigan, 2022

Event	United States	Michigan
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	16	27
Transportation incidents	38	21
Falls, slips, trips	16	19
Contact with objects and equipment	14	19
All other	18	15

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Michigan with 28, down from 29 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, or trips resulted in 15 of the 28 fatalities in the industry. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 16 of the 28 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The manufacturing industry sector had 21 fatal workplace injuries, up from 14 in the previous year. The transportation equipment manufacturing subsector accounted for seven, or 33 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 34. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 11 of the 34 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 26. Construction trades workers suffered 21 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

• Men accounted for 93 percent of the work-related fatalities in Michigan, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents and contact with objects or equipment each accounted for 20 percent of the fatalities for men in Michigan.
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 78 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 58 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 58 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, similar to the national share.
• Of the 139 fatal work injuries in Michigan, 78 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 24 percent of work-related fatalities among wage and salary workers and 35 percent among self-employed workers.

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 2022 national data, over 27,200 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 and the CFOI definitions.

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 Scope of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries: Concepts.

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 2022, there were 186 cases nationally where this occurred, and 157 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2022. For more information on latent cases, see Understanding latency in fatal occupational injuries.

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 on the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, Compensation, Occupational Requirements, and Work Stoppages Statistics.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity 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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