Fatal work injuries totaled 89 in 2019 for Alabama, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Alabama was unchanged from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 155 in 1996 to a low of 70 in 2015.

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 Alabama, transportation incidents resulted in 41 fatal work injuries and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 21 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 up from 34 over the year and worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up from 17.

Contact with objects and equipment was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 12 fatalities, up from 7 in the prior year.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2019, accounting for 40 percent of fatal work injuries. (See chart 2.) 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 Alabama with 18. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents resulted in 6 of the 18 fatalities in the industry. The heavy and civil engineering construction subsector accounted for one-third of the workplace fatalities in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry had 17 workplace fatalities in Alabama. The general freight trucking industry group accounted for 11, or 65 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 27. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 23 of the 27 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second highest number of workplace fatalities with 16, followed by protective service occupations with 11. Construction trade workers suffered 14 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group. Police officers accounted for 8 of the 11 protective service occupational fatalities.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 96 percent of the work-related fatalities in Alabama, compared to the national share of 92 percent. (See table 4.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals made up 22 percent of the fatalities for men in Alabama.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 61 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 62 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 62 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 55 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 89 fatal work injuries in Alabama, 91 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents as well as 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 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 Alabama Department of Labor 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, Alabama, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	89	89	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	17	21	24
Intentional injury by person	16	20	22
Intentional injury by other person	12	19	21
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	4	1	1
Injury by person--unintentional or intent unknown	1	1	1
Transportation incidents	34	41	46
Aircraft incidents	--	1	1
Pedestrian vehicular incident	--	10	11
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	22	25	28
Roadway collision with other vehicle	6	14	16
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	11	8	9
Roadway noncollision incident	5	3	3
Fires and explosions	3	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	18	--	--
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	9	7	8
Exposure to other harmful substances	6	3	3
Inhalation of harmful substance	--	3	3
Contact with objects and equipment	7	12	13
Struck by object or equipment	6	7	8
Struck by discharged or flying object	--	1	1
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, Alabama, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	89	100
Private industry (2)	78	88
Goods producing	--	--
Natural resources and mining	11	12
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	11	12
Construction	18	20
Construction	18	20
Heavy and civil engineering construction	6	7
Manufacturing	--	--
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	25	28
Wholesale trade	5	6
Retail trade	3	3
Transportation and warehousing	17	19
Truck transportation	15	17
General freight trucking	11	12
Information	--	--
Financial activities	--	--
Professional and business services	7	8
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	7	8
Administrative and support services	7	8
Educational and health services	1	1
Leisure and hospitality	4	4
Accommodation and food services	4	4
Food services and drinking places	4	4
Other services, except public administration	4	4
Government (4)	11	12
Federal government	--	--
State government	--	--
Local government	11	12
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, Alabama, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	89	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	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	--	--
Protective service occupations	11	12
Law enforcement workers	8	9
Police officers	8	9
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	6	7
Personal care and service occupations	--	--
Sales and related occupations	4	4
Office and administrative support occupations	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	6	7
Fishing and hunting workers	4	4
Construction and extraction occupations	16	18
Construction trades workers	14	16
Construction laborers	5	6
Construction equipment operators	4	4
Pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters	3	3
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3	3
Production occupations	7	8
Metal workers and plastic workers	5	6
Transportation and material moving occupations	27	30
Air transportation workers	1	1
Motor vehicle operators	23	26
Material moving workers	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, Alabama, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	89	89	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	75	81	91
Self-employed (2)	14	8	9
Gender
Men	83	85	96
Women	6	4	4
Age (3)
25 to 34 years	18	16	18
35 to 44 years	20	16	18
45 to 54 years	18	23	26
55 to 64 years	16	20	22
65 years and over	11	8	9
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	57	54	61
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	24	24	27
Hispanic or Latino	4	9	10
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.