Fatal work injuries totaled 74 in 2022 for Alabama, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Alabama was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 155 in 1996 to a low of 70 in 2015. Nationwide, a total of 5,486 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2022, a 5.7-percent increase from 5,190 in 2021, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

  

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Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, Alabama, 2013–22

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2013	78	69	9
2014	75	60	15
2015	70	61	9
2016	100	92	8
2017	83	81
2018	89	75	14
2019	89	81	8
2020	85	76	9
2021	111	104	7
2022	74	66	8

In Alabama, transportation incidents resulted in 29 fatal work injuries and accounted for 39 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 42 over the year.

Contact with objects and equipment was the second-most frequent fatal work event with 14 fatalities, down from 17 in the prior year. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals resulted in 12 work-related deaths compared to 22 in 2021.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2022, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips were the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals along with exposure to harmful substances or environments (15 percent each).

  

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Alabama, 2022

Event	United States	Alabama
Transportation incidents	38	39
Contact with objects and equipment	13	19
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	15	16
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	15	12
All other	18	14

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Alabama with 23, down from 25 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents resulted in 15 of the 23 fatalities in the industry. The general freight trucking industry group accounted for 14, or 61 percent, of fatal workplace injuries in this industry.

The private construction industry sector had 10 fatal workplace injuries, down from 22 in the previous year. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 7 of the 10 fatal injuries in this industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 28. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 23 of the 28 fatalities among transportation and material workers.

• Men accounted for 88 percent of the work-related fatalities in Alabama, compared to the national share of 92 percent. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 40 percent of the fatalities for men in Alabama.
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 61 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 58 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25 to 34 years old accounted for 27 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to 18 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• Of the 74 fatal work injuries in Alabama, 89 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.

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 2022 national data, over 27,200 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 and the CFOI definitions.

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 Scope of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries and Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries: Concepts.

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 2022, there were 186 cases nationally where this occurred, and 157 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2022. For more information on latent cases, see Understanding latency in fatal occupational injuries.

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 on the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, Compensation, Occupational Requirements, and Work Stoppages Statistics.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Alabama 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.

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