Fatal work injuries totaled 91 in 2019 for New York City, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that the number of work-related fatalities in New York City rose by 18 from the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the city have ranged from a high of 191 in 1993 to a low of 56 in 2013 and 2016. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a total of 5,333 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2019, a 2 percent increase from the 5,250 in 2018, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program. The 5,333 fatal occupational injuries in 2019 represents the largest annual number since 2007.

Fatal event or exposure

In New York City; falls, slips, and trips resulted in 24 fatal work injuries, and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 21 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 49 percent of all workplace fatalities in the city. (See table 1 and chart 2.) Worker deaths from falls, slips, and trips were up from 17 in 2018, and worker fatalities due to violence or other injuries by persons or animals were up from 11.

Exposure to harmful substances or environments and contact with objects and equipment were the third-most frequent fatal work events with 17 fatalities each, compared to 12 and 19 fatalities respectively, in 2018. 

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2019, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries.  Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (17 percent), followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals (16 percent).

Industry

The private construction industry had the highest number of fatalities in New York City with 24. (See table 2.) Contact with objects and equipment resulted in 6 of the 24 fatalities in the industry and exposure to harmful substances or environments accounted for 4 fatalities.

The private transportation and warehousing industry had 16 workplace fatalities. Transit and ground passenger transportation accounted for five (31 percent) and couriers and messengers, four (25 percent) of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The construction and extraction occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 29. (See table 3.) Construction trades workers accounted for 26 of the 29 fatalities among construction and extraction workers. The transportation and material moving occupational group had the second highest number of workplace fatalities (19), followed by protective service occupations (7) and installation, maintenance, and repair occupations (6).

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 89 percent of the work-related fatalities in New York City, compared to 92 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Contact with objects and equipment made up 21 percent of the fatalities for men in New York City, followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals with 20 percent.

• Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 32 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 20 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 49 percent of the city’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 55 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 91 fatal work injuries in New York City, 92 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. 

Changes in Industry and Occupation Classification Structure

Information in this release incorporates revisions to both the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the Standard Occupational Classification codes (SOC). Comparison of data for 2019 to prior years should be done with caution due to these changes, and thus analysis in this release is limited to 2019 for industries and occupations. More information on NAICS can be found at www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm. More information on SOC can be found at www.bls.gov/soc/2018/home.htm.

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 fatal work 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 2019 national data, over 25,100 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 on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. 

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 www.bls.gov/iif/cfoiscope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

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; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, New York City, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	73	91	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	11	21	23
Intentional injury by person	11	15	16
Intentional injury by other person	5	10	11
Shooting by other person--intentional	--	5	5
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	6	5	5
Jumping from building or other structure--intentional self-harm	--	3	3
Transportation incidents	12	10	11
Animal and other non-motorized vehicle transportation incidents	--	3	3
Pedal cycle incident	--	3	3
Pedal cycle collision in roadway	--	3	3
Pedestrian vehicular incident	6	4	4
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	17	24	26
Falls on same level	4	3	3
Falls to lower level	9	21	23
Fall through surface or existing opening	--	5	5
Other fall to lower level	6	14	15
Other fall to lower level 16 to 20 feet	--	3	3
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	12	17	19
Contact with objects and equipment	19	17	19
Struck by object or equipment	16	11	12
Struck by falling object or equipment--other than powered vehicle	11	7	8
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	--	3	3
Struck, caught, or crushed in collapsing structure, equipment, or material	1	3	3
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 final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, New York City, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	91	100
Private industry (2)	84	92
Goods producing	--	--
Natural resources and mining	--	--
Construction	24	26
Construction	24	26
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	23	25
Retail trade	5	5
Miscellaneous store retailers	1	1
Other miscellaneous store retailers	1	1
All other miscellaneous store retailers	1	1
Tobacco stores	1	1
Transportation and warehousing	16	18
Transit and ground passenger transportation	5	5
Taxi and limousine service	3	3
Taxi service	3	3
Couriers and messengers	4	4
Financial activities	--	--
Professional and business services	--	--
Educational and health services	--	--
Health care and social assistance	5	5
Leisure and hospitality	--	--
Accommodation and food services	6	7
Other services, except public administration	6	7
Other services, except public administration	6	7
Repair and maintenance	3	3
Personal and laundry services	3	3
Government (4)	7	8
Federal government	--	--
State government	--	--
Local government	7	8
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 definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. (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 final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, New York City, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	91	100
Management occupations	4	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	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	3	3
Healthcare diagnosing or treating practitioners	3	3
Healthcare support occupations	--	--
Protective service occupations	7	8
Other protective service workers	4	4
Security guards and gambling surveillance officers	4	4
Security guards	4	4
Food preparation and serving related occupations	3	3
Cooks and food preparation workers	3	3
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	4	4
Personal care and service occupations	--	--
Sales and related occupations	3	3
Retail sales workers	1	1
Retail salespersons	1	1
Retail salespersons	1	1
Office and administrative support occupations	3	3
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	--	--
Construction and extraction occupations	29	32
Construction trades workers	26	29
Construction laborers	19	21
Construction laborers	19	21
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	6	7
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3	3
Production occupations	3	3
Transportation and material moving occupations	19	21
Motor vehicle operators	10	11
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	5	5
Driver/sales workers	3	3
Material moving workers	5	5
Laborers and material movers	3	3
Military specific occupations (2)	--	--
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 this year, see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total. (2) Includes fatal injuries to persons identified as resident armed forces regardless of individual occupation listed.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. 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, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	73	91	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	66	84	92
Self-employed (2)	7	7	8
Gender
Men	64	81	89
Women	9	10	11
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	--	5	5
25 to 34 years	14	17	19
35 to 44 years	8	16	18
45 to 54 years	18	12	13
55 to 64 years	16	28	31
65 years and over	14	13	14
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	21	24	26
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	13	16	18
Hispanic or Latino	25	29	32
Asian, non-Hispanic	11	16	18
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 final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatal injury counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.