Fatal work injuries totaled 41 in 2021 for Mississippi, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Mississippi was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 128 in 1995 and 1999 to a low of 41 in 2021.

Nationwide, a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2021, a 9-percent increase from 4,764 in 2020, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

Fatal event or exposure

In Mississippi, transportation incidents resulted in 18 fatal work injuries and accounted for 44 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 20 over the year.

Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most frequent fatal work event with nine fatalities, followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals with six fatalities.  

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2021, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by both exposure to harmful substances or environments and violence and other injuries by persons or animals (15 percent each) and contact with objects and equipment (14 percent).

Industry

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Mississippi with eight, equal to the previous year. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents accounted for all eight of the fatal workplace injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

The private construction and manufacturing industry sectors each had six fatal workplace injuries in 2021. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 3 of the 6 fatal injuries in the construction industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 13. (See table 3.) Driver/sales workers and truck drivers accounted for 9, or 69 percent, of the 13 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with six. Construction laborers suffered all six of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights

White non-Hispanics accounted for 63 percent of those who died from a workplace injury in Mississippi. (See table 4.) Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related deaths.

Workers 45-64 years old accounted for 49 percent of the state’s work-related fatal work injuries in 2021, compared to 43 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

Of the 41 fatal work injuries in Mississippi, 93 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Transportation incidents accounted for 17, or 45 percent, of the work-related fatalities for wage and salary 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 fatalities resulting from workplace 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 2021 national data, over 23,900 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 at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/occupational-safety-and-health-definitions.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/overview/cfoi-scope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

Latency Cases. Latent fatal occupational injury cases occur when the date of injury differs from the date of death. In some cases, the death occurs in a different year than the occupational injury and are known as cross-year latent cases. In 2021, there were 197 cases nationally where this occurred, and 174 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2021. For more information on latent cases, see www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/latency-in-fatal-occupational-injuries.htm.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. CFOI reports fatal workplace injuries only. These may include fatal workplace injuries complicated by an illness such as COVID-19. Fatal workplace illnesses not precipitated by an injury are not in scope for CFOI. CFOI does not report any illness related information, including COVID-19. Additional information is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-on-workplace-injuries-and-illnesses-compensation-and-occupational-requirements.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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Mississippi, 2020–21

Event or exposure (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	44	41	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	6	6	15
Transportation incidents	20	18	44
Pedestrian vehicular incident	5	5	12
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	10	9	22
Roadway collision with other vehicle	--	7	17
Roadway noncollision incident	--	1	2
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	--	9	22
Falls to lower level	--	9	22
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	4	--	--
Contact with objects and equipment	10	3	7
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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, 2020–21

Industry (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	44	41	100
Private industry (2)	39	35	85
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	--	--	--
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	5	3	7
Construction	8	6	15
Construction	8	6	15
Specialty trade contractors	3	3	7
Manufacturing	4	6	15
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	--	--	--
Wholesale trade	--	4	10
Transportation and warehousing	8	8	20
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	--	--
Professional and business services	--	--	--
Educational and health services	1	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	3	--	--
Other services, except public administration	5	--	--
Government (4)	--	--	--
Federal government	--	--	--
State government	--	2	5
Local government	3	2	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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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, 2020–21

Occupation (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	44	41	100
Management occupations	1	--	--
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	--	5	12
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	--	--	--
Personal care and service occupations	--	--	--
Sales and related occupations	--	--	--
Office and administrative support occupations	--	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	5	3	7
Construction and extraction occupations	6	6	15
Construction trades workers	--	6	15
Construction laborers	--	6	15
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	8	--	--
Production occupations	--	4	10
Transportation and material moving occupations	13	13	32
Motor vehicle operators	10	9	22
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	10	9	22
Material moving workers	--	4	10
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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, 2020–21

Worker characteristics	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	44	41	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	41	38	93
Self-employed (2)	3	3	7
Gender
Men	40	--	--
Women	4	--	--
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	--	4	10
25 to 34 years	6	5	12
35 to 44 years	7	7	17
45 to 54 years	12	10	24
55 to 64 years	11	10	24
65 years and over	5	3	7
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	26	26	63
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	14	12	29
Hispanic or Latino	--	3	7
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/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.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.