Fatal work injuries totaled 186 in 2018 for Georgia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Georgia was down from 194 in the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 249 in 1994 to a low of 101 in 2012. (See chart 1.)

Nationwide, a total of 5,250 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2018, up from the 5,147 fatal injuries in 2017, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program.

Type of incident

In Georgia, transportation incidents resulted in 90 fatal work injuries, and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 40 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 70 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 96 over the year and worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up from 30 in 2017.

Falls, slips, and trips was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 22 fatalities, down from 27 in the prior year. Contact with objects or equipment resulted in 16 work-related deaths compared to 25 in 2017.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2018, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 2.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by falls, slips, and trips (15 percent) and contact with objects and equipment (15 percent).

Industry

The private construction industry sector had the largest number of fatalities in Georgia in 2018 with 31, compared to 34 in the previous year. Transportation incidents resulted in 12 of the 31 fatalities in the industry. Nineteen, or 61 percent, of those fatally injured in this industry worked in the specialty trade contractors’ subsector.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had 28 workplace fatalities, down from 39 in the previous year. (See table 2.) General freight trucking accounted for over half of the fatal injuries in this industry (15).

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 47. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 29 of the 47 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second highest number of workplace fatalities with 27. Construction trades workers suffered 23 of the work-related deaths with the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 95 percent of the work-related fatalities in Georgia, compared to 92-percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 49 percent of the fatalities for men in Georgia.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 57 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 65 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 62 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2018, compared to 58 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 186 fatally-injured workers in Georgia, 78 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents. For self-employed workers, the most frequent fatal event was violence and other injuries by persons or animals.

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 2018 national data, over 24,800 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.

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 Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner 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, Georgia, 2017–18

Event or exposure (1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	194	186	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	30	40	22
Intentional injury by person	27	39	21
Intentional injury by other person	19	25	13
Shooting by other person--intentional	19	23	12
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	8	14	8
Transportation incidents	96	90	48
Aircraft incidents	6	16	9
Rail vehicle incidents	1	4	2
Pedestrian vehicular incident	14	22	12
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	70	39	21
Roadway collision with other vehicle	47	20	11
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	13	12	6
Roadway noncollision incident	10	7	4
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	4	9	5
Fires and explosions	--	3	2
Explosions	--	3	2
Falls, slips, trips	27	22	12
Falls on same level	--	3	2
Falls to lower level	25	18	10
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	13	15	8
Exposure to electricity	3	5	3
Exposure to temperature extremes	--	1	1
Exposure to other harmful substances	8	8	4
Exposure to oxygen deficiency, n.e.c.	1	1	1
Contact with objects and equipment	25	16	9
Struck by object or equipment	16	11	6
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	6	3	2
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. 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, Georgia, 2017–18

Industry (1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	194	186	100
Private industry	169	161	87
Goods producing	63	58	31
Natural resources and mining	15	13	7
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	14	13	7
Construction	34	31	17
Construction	34	31	17
Construction of buildings	9	4	2
Heavy and civil engineering construction	3	8	4
Specialty trade contractors	22	19	10
Manufacturing	14	14	8
Service providing	106	103	55
Trade, transportation, and utilities	57	47	25
Wholesale trade	7	6	3
Retail trade	11	13	7
Transportation and warehousing	39	28	15
Truck transportation	25	21	11
General freight trucking	18	15	8
Information	4	2	1
Financial activities	6	3	2
Professional and business services	21	24	13
Administrative and waste services	15	23	12
Educational and health services	3	5	3
Leisure and hospitality	9	15	8
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	1	6	3
Accommodation and food services	8	9	5
Other services, except public administration	6	7	4
Government (2)	25	25	13
Federal government	9	13	7
State government	3	3	2
Local government	13	9	5
Footnotes: (1) Industry data are based on the North American Industry Classification System, 2012. (2) 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, Georgia, 2017–18

Occupation (1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	194	186	100
Management occupations	9	10	5
Business and financial operations occupations	--	3	2
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	3	1	1
Life, physical, and social science occupations	--	--	--
Community and social services occupations	--	--	--
Legal occupations	--	1	1
Education, training, and library occupations	1	2	1
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	3	3	2
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	2	2	1
Healthcare support occupations	--	1	1
Protective service occupations	13	12	6
Law enforcement workers	7	5	3
Food preparation and serving related occupations	5	4	2
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	11	18	10
Grounds maintenance workers	6	12	6
Personal care and service occupations	1	1	1
Sales and related occupations	11	14	8
Supervisors of sales workers	4	9	5
Office and administrative support occupations	4	2	1
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	4	5	3
Construction and extraction occupations	33	27	15
Construction trades workers	24	23	12
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	11	14	8
Production occupations	8	8	4
Transportation and material moving occupations	67	47	25
Air transportation workers	3	2	1
Motor vehicle operators	52	39	21
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	46	37	20
Driver/sales workers	5	2	1
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	37	29	16
Light truck or delivery services drivers	4	6	3
Military specific occupations (2)	5	11	6
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: 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, Georgia, 2017–18

Worker characteristics	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	194	186	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	158	146	78
Self-employed (2)	36	40	22
Gender
Men	173	176	95
Women	21	10	5
Age (3)
18 to 19 years	2	1	1
20 to 24 years	14	19	10
25 to 34 years	30	29	16
35 to 44 years	41	47	25
45 to 54 years	33	39	21
55 to 64 years	50	32	17
65 years and over	23	19	10
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	118	106	57
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	43	43	23
Hispanic or Latino	24	24	13
Asian, non-Hispanic	9	12	6
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 data for Hispanics and Latinos.
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.