Fatal work injuries totaled 90 in 2017 for Mississippi, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Mississippi increased by 19 from the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 128 in 1995 and 1999 to a low of 63 in 2011 and 2012. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a total of 5,147 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2017, down slightly from the 5,190 fatal injuries reported in 2016, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program.

Type of incident

In Mississippi, transportation incidents resulted in 55 fatal work injuries, up from 34 in 2016. Fatal workplace events as a result of transportation incidents accounted for 61 percent of fatal injuries in 2017. (See table 1.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals, and falls, slips, or trips accounted for 10 workplace fatalities each in 2017.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2017, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 2.) Falls, slips, or trips was the second-most common fatal event (17 percent), followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals (16 percent).

Industry

Private industry accounted for 73 percent of the 90 workplace fatalities in Mississippi in 2017. Within private industry, the construction, manufacturing, and transportation and warehousing industry sectors accounted for a combined 38 fatalities. (Seetable 2.)

Fatalities in the private construction industry sector totaled 13, up from 9 in 2016. The private manufacturing industry sector also had an increase in workplace fatalities from 2016 to 2017, increasing by 7 to a total of 13. Fatalities in the private transportation and warehousing sector (12) was down from the previous year.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 27. (See table 3.) The majority of fatalities within the transportation and material moving occupational group were heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (18). Military specific occupations had the second highest number of fatalities, 16.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 92 percent of the work-related fatalities in Mississippi, similar to the 93 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 61 percent of the fatalities for men in Mississippi.
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 76 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 67 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25 to 34 years old accounted for 31 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2017, compared to the 17 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• Of the 90 fatally-injured worker injuries in Mississippi, 87 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for both groups of workers was transportation incidents.

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, compiles a count of all fatal work injuries occurring in the U.S. during the calendar year. The CFOI program uses diverse 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 2017 national data, over 23,400 unique source documents were reviewed as part of the data collection process. For Mississippi 2017 data, 282 unique source documents were reviewed. For technical information and definitions for CFOI, please go to the BLS Handbook of Methods on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm.

 Federal/State agency coverage. The CFOI includes data for all fatal work injuries, even those that may be outside the scope of other agencies or regulatory coverage. Thus, any comparison between the BLS fatality census counts and those released by other agencies should take into account the different coverage requirements and definitions being used by each agency. More on the scope of CFOI can be found at www.bls.gov/iif/cfoiscope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Mississippi Department of Employment Security 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 sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Mississippi, 2016–17

Event or exposure (1)	2016	2017
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	71	90	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	16	10	11
Intentional injury by person	16	10	11
Homicides (Intentional injury by other person)	13	7	8
Shooting by other person--intentional	13	7	8
Suicides (Self-inflicted injury--intentional)	3	3	3
Transportation incidents	34	55	61
Aircraft incidents	--	20	22
Aircraft crash due to low-altitude entanglement	--	1	1
Other in-flight crash	--	19	21
Pedestrian vehicular incident	4	7	8
Water vehicle incidents	--	2	2
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	20	25	28
Roadway collision with other vehicle	9	11	12
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	7	9	10
Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway	6	9	10
Roadway noncollision incident	4	5	6
Falls, slips, trips	6	10	11
Falls to lower level	5	9	10
Other fall to lower level	4	6	7
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	3	8	9
Exposure to electricity	--	4	4
Contact with objects and equipment	12	7	8
Struck by object or equipment	7	5	6
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. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Table 2. Fatal occupational injuries by industry, Mississippi, 2016–17

Industry (1)	2016	2017
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	71	90	100
Private industry	65	66	73
Natural resources and mining	8	9	10
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	6	8	9
Forestry and logging	3	4	4
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (2)	2	1	1
Construction	9	13	14
Construction	9	13	14
Construction of buildings	--	4	4
Heavy and civil engineering construction	--	4	4
Specialty trade contractors	5	5	6
Manufacturing	6	13	14
Manufacturing	6	13	14
Food manufacturing	--	7	8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	23	16	18
Wholesale trade	3	--	--
Retail trade	4	--	--
Transportation and warehousing	15	12	13
Truck transportation	11	10	11
General freight trucking	6	7	8
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	3	3
Professional and business services	9	3	3
Educational and health services	--	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	--	2	2
Other services, except public administration	4	4	4
Government (3)	6	24	27
Federal government	1	17	19
State government	--	--	--
Local government	3	7	8
Footnotes: (1) Industry data are based on the North American Industry Classification System, 2012. (2) Includes fatal injuries at all establishments categorized as Mining (Sector 21) in the North American Industry Classification System, 2012, including establishments not governed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) rules and reporting, such as those in Oil and Gas Extraction. (3) Includes fatal injuries to workers employed by governmental organizations regardless of industry.
NOTE: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Table 3. Fatal occupational injuries by occupation, Mississippi, 2016–17

Occupation (1)	2016	2017
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	71	90	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	--	--	--
Education, training, and library occupations	--	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	--	1	1
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	1	1
Healthcare support occupations	--	--	--
Protective service occupations	3	7	8
Supervisors of protective service workers	--	1	1
Fire fighting and prevention workers	1	2	2
Law enforcement workers	--	2	2
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	7	2	2
Personal care and service occupations	--	1	1
Sales and related occupations	9	3	3
Supervisors of sales workers	4	3	3
Office and administrative support occupations	4	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	3	5	6
Construction and extraction occupations	7	9	10
Construction trades workers	6	8	9
Construction laborers	--	5	6
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3	7	8
Supervisors of installation, maintenance, and repair workers	--	1	1
Electrical and electronic equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers	--	1	1
Production occupations	--	3	3
Transportation and material moving occupations	28	27	30
Air transportation workers	--	3	3
Motor vehicle operators	21	19	21
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	20	19	21
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	18	18	20
Material moving workers	5	5	6
Military specific occupations (2)	--	16	18
Footnotes: (1) Occupation data are based on the Standard Occupational Classification system, 2010. (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. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Table 4. Fatal occupational injuries by selected demographic characteristics, Mississippi, 2016–17

Worker characteristics	2016	2017
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	71	90	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	58	78	87
Self-employed (2)	13	12	13
Gender
Men	65	83	92
Women	6	7	8
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	9	6	7
25 to 34 years	5	28	31
35 to 44 years	13	11	12
45 to 54 years	18	14	16
55 to 64 years	16	14	16
65 years and over	9	15	17
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	48	68	76
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	19	18	20
Hispanic or Latino	--	3	3
Footnotes: (1) May include volunteers and workers receiving other types of compensation. (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 Hispanic and Latino workers.
NOTE: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. Percentages may not add to totals because of rounding. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event. Dashes indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.