Fatal work injuries totaled 114 in 2023 for Missouri, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Missouri was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 185 in 2005 to a low of 88 in 2012. 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, Missouri, 2014–23

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2014	106	72	34
2015	117	86	31
2016	124	82	42
2017	125	83	42
2018	145	95	50
2019	106	73	33
2020	105	80	25
2021	147	107	40
2022	121	98	23
2023	114	84	30
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Transportation incidents (43) were the most frequent type of fatal event in Missouri, accounting for 38 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 37 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)

• Contact incidents (22) accounted for 19 percent of Missouri workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 15 percent.

  

View Chart Data

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

Event	United States	Missouri
Transportation incidents	37	38
Contact incidents	15	19
Exposure to harmful substances, environments	16	18
Falls, slips, trips	17	13
All other	16	11
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 28. (See table 2.)

• Contact incidents resulted in 18 of the 28 agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector fatalities.

• The crop production subsector accounted for 12 of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 26. (See table 3.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in 20 of the transportation and material moving fatalities.

• Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 15 of the major group’s fatal workplace injuries.

• Wage and salary workers accounted for 74 percent of workplace fatalities in Missouri; the self-employed comprised the remaining 26 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 83 percent of fatalities. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers in Missouri was transportation incidents; contact incidents were the most frequent fatal event for self-employed workers.  

• Males accounted for 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in Missouri and 91 percent nationally.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 52 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 82 percent of fatal workplace injuries. 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 thanks the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations 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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