Fatal work injuries totaled 26 in 2023 for North Dakota, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Julie Wilson noted that the number of work-related fatalities in North Dakota was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 65 in 2012 to a low of 20 in 1992. 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).

  

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

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2014	38	24	14
2015	47	37	10
2016	28	19	9
2017	38	33	5
2018	35	20	15
2019	37	28	9
2020	26	15	11
2021	34	23	11
2022	37	27	10
2023	26	20	6
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Transportation incidents (12) were the most frequent type of fatal event in North Dakota, 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, and trips (6) accounted for 23 percent of North Dakota fatal work injuries; nationally the share was 17 percent.

  

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

Event	United States	North Dakota
Transportation incidents	37	46
Falls, slips, trips	17	23
Contact incidents	15	12
Explosions and fires	2	4
All other	30	15
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector accounted for five fatalities. (See table 2.) The crop production subsector accounted for three of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The transportation and warehousing sector also had five workplace fatalities. (See table 2.) The general freight trucking industry group accounted for four of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 11. (See table 3.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in seven of the transportation and material moving fatalities.

• Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for five of the major group’s fatal workplace injuries.

• Wage and salary workers accounted for 77 percent of fatal workplace injuries in North Dakota; the self-employed comprised the remaining 23 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 45 percent of the fatalities for wage and salary workers in North Dakota, and falls, slips, and trips accounted for 30 percent.

• Workers 55 years and older accounted for 46 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2023, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 92 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 56 percent of work-related deaths.

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 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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