Fatal work injuries totaled 59 in 2019 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 was down 24 percent from the 78 in 2018. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 128 in 1995 and 1999 to a low of 59 in 2019.

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 Mississippi, transportation incidents resulted in 30 fatal work injuries and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 10 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 68 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 39 over the year and worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were down from 17.

Contact with objects and equipment was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 8 fatalities, down from 10 in the prior year. Falls, slips, and trips resulted in six work-related deaths, compared to four in 2018.

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 transportation and warehousing industry had the highest number of fatalities in Mississippi with 12. (See table 2.) The general freight trucking industry group accounted for eight of the fatal injuries in this industry.

The private administrative and support and waste management and remediation services industry had nine workplace fatalities, and the private construction industry had seven fatal injuries in 2019.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 14. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 10 of the 14 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The installation, maintenance, and repair occupational group had the second highest number of fatalities with 11, followed by building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations with 9.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in Mississippi, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 51 percent of the fatalities for men in Mississippi.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 53 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 61 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 55 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 59 fatal work injuries in Mississippi, 90 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed.

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 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 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, Mississippi, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	78	59	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	17	10	17
Intentional injury by person	15	9	15
Intentional injury by other person	8	7	12
Transportation incidents	39	30	51
Pedestrian vehicular incident	4	3	5
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	30	27	46
Roadway collision with other vehicle	17	14	24
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	6	8	14
Roadway noncollision incident	7	5	8
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	4	6	10
Falls to lower level	4	6	10
Other fall to lower level	--	4	7
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	8	3	5
Contact with objects and equipment	10	8	14
Struck by object or equipment	7	6	10
Struck by discharged or flying object	--	1	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. 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, Mississippi, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	59	100
Private industry (2)	52	88
Goods producing	--	--
Natural resources and mining	--	--
Construction	7	12
Manufacturing	--	--
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	20	34
Retail trade	6	10
Transportation and warehousing	12	20
Truck transportation	10	17
General freight trucking	8	14
Information	--	--
Financial activities	--	--
Professional and business services	9	15
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	9	15
Administrative and support services	9	15
Educational and health services	3	5
Health care and social assistance	3	5
Leisure and hospitality	--	--
Other services, except public administration	4	7
Government (4)	7	12
Federal government	--	--
State government	3	5
Local government	4	7
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, Mississippi, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	59	100
Management occupations	--	--
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	4	7
Law enforcement workers	4	7
Police officers	4	7
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	9	15
Grounds maintenance workers	9	15
Personal care and service occupations	--	--
Sales and related occupations	6	10
Supervisors of sales workers	6	10
Office and administrative support occupations	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	--	--
Construction and extraction occupations	7	12
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	11	19
Supervisors of installation, maintenance, and repair workers	3	5
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	5	8
Production occupations	3	5
Transportation and material moving occupations	14	24
Motor vehicle operators	12	20
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	12	20
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	10	17
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, Mississippi, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	78	59	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	65	53	90
Self-employed (2)	13	6	10
Gender
Men	69	53	90
Women	9	6	10
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	5	4	7
25 to 34 years	15	13	22
35 to 44 years	18	11	19
45 to 54 years	14	12	20
55 to 64 years	18	14	24
65 years and over	7	5	8
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	49	31	53
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	22	17	29
Hispanic or Latino	3	--	--
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.