Fatal work injuries totaled 132 in 2021 for Tennessee, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Tennessee was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 179 in 1995 to a low of 95 in 2013.

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 Tennessee, transportation incidents resulted in 54 fatal work injuries and accounted for 41 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 57 over the year.

Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most frequent fatal event with 23 fatalities, followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals with 21 fatal injuries and exposure to harmful substances or environments with 20. 

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 construction industry sector had 21 fatalities, down from 38 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 11 of the 21 fatalities in the construction industry. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 18 of the 21 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector also had 21 fatal workplace injuries in 2021, down from 30 in the prior year. The general freight trucking industry group accounted for 14, or 67 percent, of the fatal injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

The administrative and support and waste management and remediation services industry sector had 20 fatal workplace industries in 2021, up from 11 in the previous year. The services to buildings and dwellings industry group accounted for 55 percent of the fatal injuries for this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 48. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 28 of the 48 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 21. Construction trades workers suffered 16 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights

Men accounted for 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in Tennessee, compared to 91 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 43 percent of the fatalities for men in Tennessee.

White non-Hispanics accounted for 65 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related deaths.

Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 64 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2021, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

Of the 132 fatal work injuries in Tennessee, 85 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers and 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 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 Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development 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, Tennessee, 2020–21

Event or exposure (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	142	132	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	29	21	16
Intentional injury by person	29	20	15
Intentional injury by other person	25	16	12
Transportation incidents	57	54	41
Aircraft incidents	--	1	1
Rail vehicle incidents	--	1	1
Pedestrian vehicular incident	10	8	6
Pedestrian struck by vehicle on side of road	--	4	3
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	44	40	30
Roadway collision with other vehicle	23	20	15
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	16	13	10
Roadway noncollision incident	5	7	5
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	--	4	3
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	20	23	17
Falls on same level	--	4	3
Falls to lower level	15	19	14
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	20	20	15
Exposure to electricity	9	4	3
Exposure to other harmful substances	11	12	9
Nonmedical use of drugs or alcohol--unintentional overdose	9	12	9
Contact with objects and equipment	16	14	11
Struck by object or equipment	9	10	8
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	--	3	2
Struck, caught, or crushed in collapsing structure, equipment, or material	--	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/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, Tennessee, 2020–21

Industry (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	142	132	100
Private industry (2)	137	122	92
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	7	10	8
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	7	7	5
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction (3)	--	3	2
Construction	38	21	16
Construction	38	21	16
Construction of buildings	5	3	2
Specialty trade contractors	28	18	14
Manufacturing	12	11	8
Service providing (4)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	50	37	28
Wholesale trade	5	8	6
Retail trade	15	8	6
Transportation and warehousing	30	21	16
Truck transportation	24	17	13
General freight trucking	13	14	11
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	--	--
Professional and business services	11	21	16
Professional, scientific, and technical services	--	1	1
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	11	20	15
Administrative and support services	--	12	9
Services to buildings and dwellings	--	11	8
Educational and health services	1	3	2
Health care and social assistance	--	3	2
Leisure and hospitality	--	--	--
Accommodation and food services	--	6	5
Other services, except public administration	--	9	7
Government (5)	--	--	--
Federal government	--	1	1
State government	2	--	--
Local government	11	4	3
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) Includes fatal injuries at all establishments categorized as Mining (Sector 21) in the North American Industry Classification System, including establishments not governed by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) rules and reporting, such as those in oil and gas extraction. (4) Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (5) 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, Tennessee, 2020–21

Occupation (1)	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	142	132	100
Management occupations	--	5	4
Business and financial operations occupations	--	2	2
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	--	1	1
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	2	--	--
Protective service occupations	5	7	5
Food preparation and serving related occupations	8	5	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	6	9	7
Grounds maintenance workers	--	8	6
Personal care and service occupations	3	--	--
Sales and related occupations	9	9	7
Office and administrative support occupations	2	5	4
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	4	3	2
Construction and extraction occupations	32	21	16
Construction trades workers	22	16	12
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	11	11	8
Production occupations	9	4	3
Transportation and material moving occupations	47	48	36
Motor vehicle operators	39	35	27
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	38	32	24
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	33	28	21
Material moving workers	4	10	8
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.htmhttps://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, Tennessee, 2020–21

Worker characteristics	2020	2021
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	142	132	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	123	112	85
Self-employed (2)	19	20	15
Gender
Men	123	119	90
Women	19	13	10
Age (3)
16 to 17 years	1	1	1
20 to 24 years	14	3	2
25 to 34 years	28	28	21
35 to 44 years	32	22	17
45 to 54 years	30	35	27
55 to 64 years	22	21	16
65 years and over	14	20	15
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	96	86	65
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	19	26	20
Hispanic or Latino	23	14	11
Asian, non-Hispanic	--	6	5
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.