Fatal work injuries totaled 91 in 2023 for Iowa, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Julie Wilson noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Iowa was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 110 in 1992 to a low of 49 in 2021. Nationwide, a total of 5,283 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2023, a 3.7-percent decrease from 5,486 in 2022, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, Iowa, 2014–23

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2014	91	50	41
2015	60	42	18
2016	76	55	21
2017	72	54	18
2018	77	51	26
2019	76	53	23
2020	58	42	16
2021	49	38	11
2022	56	45	11
2023	91	56	35
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Transportation incidents (42) were the most frequent type of fatal event in Iowa, accounting for 46 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 37 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)

• Falls, slips, trips (19) accounted for 21 percent of Iowa workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 17 percent.

  

View Chart Data

Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Iowa, 2023

Event	United States	Iowa
Transportation incidents	37	46
Falls, slips, trips	17	21
Contact incidents	15	19
Exposure to harmful substances, environments	16	8
All other	16	7
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector had the highest number of fatalities with 26. (See table 2.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in 12 of the 26 agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector fatalities.

• The oilseed and grain farming industry group accounted for 12 of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The management occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 28. (See table 3.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in 11 management fatalities.

   

• Wage and salary workers accounted for 62 percent of workplace fatalities in Iowa; the self-employed comprised the remaining 38 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 83 percent of fatalities.

• Males accounted for 92 percent of the work-related fatalities in Iowa and 91 percent nationally.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 37 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally. Workers 55 years and older accounted for 58 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2023, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

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. For technical information and definitions for the CFOI, see the national CFOI release Technical notes, the BLS Handbook of Methods, and the CFOI definitions.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Iowa Division of Labor 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 nationally. See the national CFOI release Technical Notes for details on cooperating entities.

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