Fatal work injuries totaled 108 in 2019 for South Carolina, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in South Carolina was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 139 in 1999 to a low of 63 in 2012.

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 South Carolina, transportation incidents resulted in 41 fatal work injuries and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 27 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 63 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. (See table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 47 over the year and worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up from 18.

Falls, slips, and trips was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 17 fatalities, up from 14 in the prior year. Contact with objects and equipment resulted in 13 work-related deaths, up from 9 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 the highest number of fatalities in South Carolina with 27. (See table 2.) The private administrative and support and waste management and remediation services industry had 12 workplace fatalities. The employment services industry group accounted for 6, or 50 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of workplace fatalities with 39. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 22 of the 39 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second highest number of workplace fatalities with 22 followed by installation, maintenance, and repair occupations with 11. Construction laborers suffered eight of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 94 percent of the work-related fatalities in South Carolina, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals made up 23 percent of the fatalities for men in South Carolina.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 56 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 58 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2019, compared to 55 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 108 fatal work injuries in South Carolina, 72 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents; transportation incidents and violence and other injuries by persons or animals were the most frequent fatal events 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 South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation 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, South Carolina, 2018–19

Event or exposure (1)	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	98	108	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	18	27	25
Transportation incidents	47	41	38
Rail vehicle incidents	4	1	1
Pedestrian vehicular incident	6	7	6
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in work zone	--	2	2
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in roadway	4	2	2
Pedestrian struck by vehicle in nonroadway area	--	3	3
Water vehicle incidents	--	3	3
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	31	28	26
Roadway collision with other vehicle	10	17	16
Fires and explosions	--	1	1
Explosions	--	1	1
Falls, slips, trips	14	17	16
Falls on same level	3	3	3
Falls to lower level	11	14	13
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	8	9	8
Exposure to electricity	--	4	4
Exposure to other harmful substances	5	5	5
Contact with objects and equipment	9	13	12
Struck by object or equipment	6	7	6
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	3	3	3
Struck, caught, or crushed in collapsing structure, equipment, or material	--	--	--
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, South Carolina, 2019

Industry (1)	Number	Percent
Total	108	100
Private industry (2)	96	89
Goods producing	--	--
Natural resources and mining	6	6
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	6	6
Construction	27	25
Manufacturing	--	--
Service providing (3)	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	--	--
Wholesale trade	2	2
Retail trade	10	9
Information	--	--
Financial activities	--	--
Professional and business services	14	13
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	12	11
Administrative and support services	12	11
Employment services	6	6
Educational and health services	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	6	6
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	3	3
Accommodation and food services	3	3
Other services, except public administration	3	3
Government (4)	12	11
Federal government	5	5
State government	2	2
Local government	5	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, South Carolina, 2019

Occupation (1)	Number	Percent
Total	108	100
Management occupations	3	3
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	1	1
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	--	--
Firefighting and prevention workers	1	1
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	6	6
Personal care and service occupations	2	2
Sales and related occupations	7	6
Office and administrative support occupations	3	3
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	--	--
Construction and extraction occupations	22	20
Construction trades workers	16	15
Construction laborers	8	7
Painters and paperhangers	3	3
Helpers, construction trades	3	3
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	11	10
Vehicle and mobile equipment mechanics, installers, and repairers	3	3
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	8	7
Production occupations	4	4
Transportation and material moving occupations	39	36
Motor vehicle operators	31	29
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	27	25
Driver/sales workers	3	3
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	22	20
Passenger vehicle drivers	4	4
Material moving workers	5	5
Military specific occupations (2)	2	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, South Carolina, 2018–19

Worker characteristics	2018	2019
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	98	108	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	68	78	72
Self-employed (2)	30	30	28
Gender
Men	90	101	94
Women	8	7	6
Age (3)
16 to 17 years	--	1	1
18 to 19 years	--	1	1
20 to 24 years	4	10	9
25 to 34 years	16	21	19
35 to 44 years	24	20	19
45 to 54 years	17	22	20
55 to 64 years	19	20	19
65 years and over	16	13	12
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	61	61	56
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	26	28	26
Hispanic or Latino	9	15	14
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.