Fatal work injuries totaled 78 in 2018 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 decreased by 12 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 5,250 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 Mississippi, transportation incidents resulted in 39 fatal work injuries, and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 17 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 72 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 55 over the year, while worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up from 10.

Contact with objects and equipment was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 10 fatalities, up from 7 in the prior year. Exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in eight work-related deaths, unchanged from 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 agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry had the highest number of fatalities in Mississippi with 13, up from 8 in the previous year. Transportation incidents resulted in 9 of the 13 fatalities in the industry. The logging sector resulted in 7 of the 13 fatalities in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry. (Seetable 2.)

The transportation and warehousing industry sector was unchanged from last year with 12 workplace fatalities. The general freight trucking sector accounted for seven of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 17. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 13 of the 17 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations had the second highest number of fatalities with 11.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 88 percent of the work-related fatalities in Mississippi, compared to the 92-percent national share. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 52 percent of the fatalities for men in Mississippi.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 63 percent of those who died from a workplace injury, compared to the 65-percent national share.

• Workers 25 to 54 years old accounted for 60 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2018, compared to 58 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 78 fatally-injured worker injuries in Mississippi, 83 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents; violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the most frequent fatal event for self-employed 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 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 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, 2017–18

Event or exposure (1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	90	78	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	10	17	22
Intentional injury by person	10	15	19
Intentional injury by other person	7	8	10
Shooting by other person--intentional	7	7	9
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	3	7	9
Shooting--intentional self-harm	3	6	8
Transportation incidents	55	39	50
Aircraft incidents	20	1	1
Pedestrian vehicular incident	7	4	5
Pedestrian struck by vehicle on side of road	1	1	1
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in nonroadway area	--	3	4
Water vehicle incidents	2	4	5
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	25	30	38
Roadway collision with other vehicle	11	17	22
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	9	6	8
Roadway noncollision incident	5	7	9
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	10	4	5
Falls to lower level	9	4	5
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	8	8	10
Exposure to electricity	4	3	4
Exposure to temperature extremes	1	3	4
Contact with objects and equipment	7	10	13
Struck by object or equipment	5	7	9
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, Mississippi, 2017–18

Industry (1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	90	78	100
Private industry	66	72	92
Goods producing	35	29	37
Natural resources and mining	9	13	17
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	8	13	17
Forestry and logging	4	7	9
Logging	3	7	9
Construction	13	9	12
Construction	13	9	12
Specialty trade contractors	5	7	9
Manufacturing	13	7	9
Service providing	31	43	55
Trade, transportation, and utilities	16	23	29
Utilities	--	1	1
Retail trade	--	8	10
Transportation and warehousing	12	12	15
Truck transportation	10	9	12
General freight trucking	7	7	9
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	3	--	--
Professional and business services	3	7	9
Educational and health services	--	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	2	4	5
Other services, except public administration	4	6	8
Government (2)	24	6	8
Federal government	17	--	--
State government	--	--	--
Local government	7	6	8
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, Mississippi, 2017–18

Occupation (1)	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	90	78	100
Management occupations	4	--	--
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	--	--	--
Community and social services occupations	--	--	--
Legal occupations	--	--	--
Education, training, and library occupations	--	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	1	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	1	4	5
Healthcare support occupations	--	--	--
Protective service occupations	7	6	8
Fire fighting and prevention workers	2	1	1
Law enforcement workers	2	4	5
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	1	1
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	2	5	6
Personal care and service occupations	1	--	--
Sales and related occupations	3	9	12
Office and administrative support occupations	--	1	1
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	5	10	13
Construction and extraction occupations	9	9	12
Construction trades workers	8	8	10
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	7	11	14
Production occupations	3	--	--
Transportation and material moving occupations	27	17	22
Air transportation workers	3	1	1
Motor vehicle operators	19	13	17
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	19	13	17
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	18	13	17
Military specific occupations (2)	16	--	--
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, Mississippi, 2017–18

Worker characteristics	2017	2018
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	90	78	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	78	65	83
Self-employed (2)	12	13	17
Gender
Men	83	69	88
Women	7	9	12
Age (3)
18 to 19 years	--	1	1
20 to 24 years	6	5	6
25 to 34 years	28	15	19
35 to 44 years	11	18	23
45 to 54 years	14	14	18
55 to 64 years	14	18	23
65 years and over	15	7	9
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	68	49	63
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	18	22	28
Hispanic or Latino	3	3	4
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.