Fatal work injuries totaled 217 in 2022 for North Carolina, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee 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 5,486 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, North Carolina, 2013–22

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2013	109	83	26
2014	137	112	25
2015	150	112	38
2016	174	151	23
2017	183	145	38
2018	178	153	25
2019	186	156	30
2020	189	168	21
2021	179	151	28
2022	217	194	23

In North Carolina, transportation incidents resulted in 79 fatal work injuries and accounted for 36 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 62 in the previous year.

Falls, slips, and trips were the second-most frequent fatal work event with 42 fatalities, up from 29 in the prior year. Exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in 37 fatalities, compared to 38 in the previous year.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2022, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was 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 North Carolina, 2022

Event	United States	North Carolina
Transportation incidents	38	36
Falls, slips, trips	16	19
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	15	17
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	15	13
All other	16	14

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in North Carolina with 46, up from 41 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 24 of the 46 fatalities in the industry. The foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors industry group accounted for 16, or 35 percent, of the fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had 36 fatal workplace injuries, up from 20 in the prior year. The general freight trucking industry group accounted for 17, or 47 percent, of the fatal injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry. 

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 56. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 37 of the 56 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 45. Construction laborers accounted for 10 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

• Men accounted for 91 percent of the work-related fatalities in North Carolina, compared to the national share of 92 percent. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 37 percent of the fatalities for men in North Carolina. 
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 56 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 58 percent of work-related deaths. 
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 59 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to the national rate of 57 percent. 
• Of the 217 fatal work injuries in North Carolina, 89 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event for both wage and salary workers and 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 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.

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