Fatal work injuries totaled 186 in 2019 for North Carolina, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in North Carolina was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 234 in 2000 to a low of 109 in 2013.

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 North Carolina, transportation incidents resulted in 74 fatal work injuries and falls, slips, and trips accounted for 36 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 59 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 84 over the year and worker fatalities due to falls, slips, and trips were up from 23.

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 30 fatalities, up from 23 in the prior year. Contact with objects and equipment resulted in 29 work-related deaths, up from 24 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 construction industry had 39 fatalities in North Carolina. Transportation incidents resulted in 11 of the 39 fatalities in the industry. (See table 2.) The private administrative and support and waste management and remediation services industry had 25 workplace fatalities. Contact with objects and equipment resulted in nine workplace fatalities in the industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 59. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 32 of the 59 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second highest number of workplace fatalities with 34. Construction laborers accounted for 10 of the 34 fatalities among construction and extraction workers.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 93 percent of the work-related fatalities in North Carolina, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 39 percent of the fatalities for men in North Carolina.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 65 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 45 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 55 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 186 fatal work injuries in North Carolina, 84 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents; contact with objects and equipment was the most frequent 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 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 North Carolina 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, North Carolina, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	178	186	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	23	30	16
Intentional injury by person	20	28	15
Intentional injury by other person	8	21	11
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	12	7	4
Transportation incidents	84	74	40
Aircraft incidents	--	5	3
Rail vehicle incidents	--	1	1
Pedestrian vehicular incident	9	15	8
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	64	43	23
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	5	8	4
Fires and explosions	4	3	2
Fires	--	1	1
Explosions	3	2	1
Falls, slips, trips	23	36	19
Falls on same level	4	7	4
Falls to lower level	19	29	16
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	19	13	7
Exposure to electricity	1	1	1
Exposure to other harmful substances	14	12	6
Contact with objects and equipment	24	29	16
Struck by object or equipment	18	19	10
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	5	6	3
Struck, caught, or crushed in collapsing structure, equipment, or material	--	4	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, North Carolina, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	186	100
Private industry (2)	170	91
Goods producing	--	--
Natural resources and mining	11	6
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	11	6
Construction	39	21
Manufacturing	--	--
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	--	--
Wholesale trade	5	3
Retail trade	8	4
Information	--	--
Financial activities	--	--
Real estate and rental and leasing	3	2
Professional and business services	--	--
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	25	13
Educational and health services	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	17	9
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	3	2
Accommodation and food services	14	8
Food services and drinking places	13	7
Other services, except public administration	9	5
Government (4)	16	9
Federal government	--	--
State government	4	2
Local government	10	5
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, North Carolina, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	186	100
Management occupations	10	5
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	3	2
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	7	4
Law enforcement workers	2	1
Police officers	2	1
Food preparation and serving related occupations	7	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	18	10
Grounds maintenance workers	16	9
Personal care and service occupations	--	--
Sales and related occupations	9	5
Office and administrative support occupations	5	3
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	6	3
Construction and extraction occupations	34	18
Construction trades workers	29	16
Construction laborers	10	5
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	16	9
Production occupations	5	3
Transportation and material moving occupations	59	32
Air transportation workers	5	3
Motor vehicle operators	43	23
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	39	21
Driver/sales workers	4	2
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	32	17
Light truck drivers	3	2
Material moving workers	9	5
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, North Carolina, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	178	186	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	153	156	84
Self-employed (2)	25	30	16
Gender
Men	162	173	93
Women	16	13	7
Age (3)
18 to 19 years	--	4	2
20 to 24 years	21	11	6
25 to 34 years	24	24	13
35 to 44 years	25	25	13
45 to 54 years	36	35	19
55 to 64 years	41	49	26
65 years and over	29	38	20
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	112	120	65
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	42	40	22
Hispanic or Latino	16	19	10
American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic	4	3	2
Asian, non-Hispanic	3	4	2
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.