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News Release Information

24-286-BOS
Thursday, February 15, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Fatal Work Injuries in New York City — 2022

Fatal work injuries totaled 83 in 2022 for New York City, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that the number of work-related fatalities in New York City was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the city have ranged from a high of 191 in 1993 to a low of 56 in 2013 and 2016.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).

Fatal event or exposure

In New York City, violence and other injuries by persons or animals resulted in 27 fatal work injuries, accounting for 33 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the city. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up ten over the year.

Falls, slips, and trips accounted for 21 fatalities, up one from the prior year, and exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in 19 fatal work injuries, compared to 21 in 2021. Transportation incidents resulted in nine work-related deaths in 2022. 

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2022, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was 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 equipment (15 percent each).

Industry

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in New York City with 23, up from 22 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 15 of the 23 fatalities in the industry. The construction of buildings and specialty trade contractors subsectors each accounted for 11 of the 23 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The transportation and warehousing sector had 15 fatal workplace injuries, up from 5 fatal injuries in the previous year. The transit and ground passenger transportation subsector accounted for five, or 33 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry; truck transportation accounted for an additional four fatalities, or 27 percent.

Accommodation and food services had eight fatal workplace injuries in 2022, four of which were the result of violence or other injuries by persons or animals.

Occupation

The construction and extraction occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 24. (See table 3.) Construction trades workers accounted for all 24 of the fatalities among construction and extraction workers, with construction laborers suffering 15 of the fatalities. The transportation and material moving occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 19. Motor vehicle operators suffered 11 of the work-related deaths within the transportation and material moving group, with driver/sales workers and truck drivers making up 8 of the total fatalities.

Additional highlights

Men accounted for 95 percent of the work-related fatalities in New York City, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals made up 29 percent of the fatalities for men in New York City, followed by falls, slips, and trips with 27 percent.

Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 40 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 23 percent of work-related deaths.

Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 63 percent of city’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

Of the 83 fatal work injuries in New York City, 94 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Nationwide, 84 percent of fatal work injuries involved wage and salary workers.


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 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 New York City government 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.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, New York City, 2021–22
Event or exposure (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

70 83 100

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals

17 27 33

Intentional injury by person

17 26 31

Homicides--Intentional injury by other person

-- 15 18

Shooting by other person--intentional

-- 9 11

Suicides--Self-inflicted injury--intentional

-- 11 13

Hanging, strangulation, asphyxiation--intentional self-harm

-- 6 7

Transportation incidents

-- 9 11

Pedestrian vehicular incident

-- 4 5

Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle

-- 3 4

Roadway collision with other vehicle

-- 3 4

Fires and explosions

-- -- --

Falls, slips, trips

20 21 25

Exposure to harmful substances or environments

21 19 23

Exposure to other harmful substances

17 16 19

Contact with objects and equipment

5 6 7

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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, New York City, 2021–22
Industry (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

70 83 100

Private Industry (2)

65 74 89

Goods producing

-- -- --

Natural resources and mining

-- -- --

Construction

22 23 28

Construction

22 23 28

Construction of buildings

-- 11 13

Residential building construction

-- 3 4

Residential building construction

-- 3 4

Specialty trade contractors

18 11 13

Building equipment contractors

6 5 6

Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors

-- 3 4

Building finishing contractors

6 4 5

Manufacturing

3 3 4

Manufacturing

3 3 4

Service providing (3)

-- -- --

Trade, transportation, and utilities

-- 21 25

Wholesale trade

-- 3 4

Retail trade

6 3 4

Transportation and warehousing

5 15 18

Truck transportation

-- 4 5

Transit and ground passenger transportation

3 5 6

Support activities for transportation

-- 3 4

Couriers and messengers

-- 3 4

Local messengers and local delivery

-- 3 4

Local messengers and local delivery

-- 3 4

Information

-- 3 4

Information

-- 3 4

Financial activities

-- -- --

Real estate and rental and leasing

-- 3 4

Real estate

-- 3 4

Activities related to real estate

-- 3 4

Real estate property managers

-- 3 4

Residential property managers

-- 3 4

Professional and business services

-- 6 7

Professional, scientific, and technical services

-- 3 4

Professional, scientific, and technical services

-- 3 4

Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services

7 3 4

Administrative and support services

-- 3 4

Educational and health services

-- -- --

Leisure and hospitality

3 -- --

Accommodation and food services

3 8 10

Other services, except public administration

6 -- --

Public administration

-- -- --

Government (4)

5 -- --

Federal government

-- -- --

State government

-- -- --

Local government

3 8 10

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 concepts page at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#industry.
(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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, New York City, 2021–22
Occupation (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

70 83 100

Management occupations

3 3 4

Business and financial operations occupations

-- -- --

Computer and mathematical occupations

-- -- --

Architecture and engineering occupations

-- -- --

Life, physical, and social science occupations

-- -- --

Community and social service occupations

-- -- --

Legal occupations

-- -- --

Educational instruction and library occupations

-- -- --

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

3 -- --

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

-- -- --

Healthcare support occupations

-- -- --

Protective service occupations

-- 9 11

Food preparation and serving related occupations

3 4 5

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

6 -- --

Personal care and service occupations

3 -- --

Sales and related occupations

5 5 6

Office and administrative support occupations

-- -- --

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations

-- -- --

Construction and extraction occupations

20 24 29

Construction trades workers

17 24 29

Construction laborers

8 15 18

Construction laborers

8 15 18

Electricians

-- 4 5

Electricians

-- 4 5

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

7 3 4

Production occupations

-- -- --

Transportation and material moving occupations

8 19 23

Motor vehicle operators

-- 11 13

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

-- 8 10

Driver/sales workers

-- 5 6

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

-- 3 4

Passenger vehicle drivers

-- 3 4

Material moving workers

-- 4 5

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 these years, see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#occupation. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.

NOTE: Data for all years are revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected demographic characteristics, New York City, 2021–22
Worker characteristics 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

70 83 100

Employee status

Wage and salary workers (1)

59 78 94

Self-employed (2)

11 5 6

Gender

Men

67 79 95

Women

3 4 5

Age (3)

25 to 34 years

12 17 20

35 to 44 years

15 13 16

45 to 54 years

20 22 27

55 to 64 years

16 19 23

65 years and over

-- 7 8

Race or ethnic origin (4)

White, non-Hispanic

30 23 28

Black or African-American, non-Hispanic

-- 15 18

Hispanic or Latino

24 33 40

Asian, non-Hispanic

9 8 10

Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic

-- -- --

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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. N.e.c. means "not elsewhere classified." CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, February 15, 2024