Fatal work injuries totaled 132 in 2022 for South Carolina, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee 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 5,486 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, South Carolina, 2013–22

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2013	75	57	18
2014	64	47	17
2015	117	87	30
2016	96	75	21
2017	88	64	24
2018	98	68	30
2019	108	78	30
2020	102	72	30
2021	107	90	17
2022	132	116	16

In South Carolina, transportation incidents resulted in 51 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 up from 49 in the previous year.

Contact with objects and equipment was the second-most frequent fatal work event with 23 fatalities, up from 11 in the prior year. Exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in 21 fatalities, followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals with 19 work-related deaths.

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 South Carolina, 2022

Event	United States	South Carolina
Transportation incidents	38	39
Contact with objects and equipment	13	17
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	15	16
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	15	14
All other	18	14

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in South Carolina with 24, up from 21 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents resulted in 9 of the 24 fatalities in the industry. The residential building construction industry group accounted for 7, or 29 percent, of the 24 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had 20 fatal workplace injuries. Transportation incidents accounted for 15 of the fatal injuries in this industry. The general freight trucking industry group accounted for 8, or 40 percent, of the 20 fatal workplace injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 35. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 19 of the 35 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 20. Construction trades workers suffered 18 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

• Men accounted for 92 percent of the work-related fatalities in South Carolina and nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 38 percent of the fatalities for men in South Carolina. 
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 62 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 52 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to the national rate of 57 percent. 
• Of the 132 fatal work injuries in South Carolina, 88 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 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.

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