Fatal work injuries totaled 72 in 2023 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 5,283 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2023, a 3.7-percent decrease from 5,486 in 2022, 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, Mississippi, 2014–23

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2014	75	59	16
2015	77	67	10
2016	71	58	13
2017	90	78	12
2018	78	65	13
2019	59	53	6
2020	44	41	3
2021	41	38	3
2022	78	71	7
2023	72	55	17
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Transportation incidents (28) were the most frequent type of fatal event in Mississippi, accounting for 39 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 37 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)

• Contact incidents (13) accounted for 18 percent of Mississippi workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 15 percent.

  

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Mississippi, 2023

Event	United States	Mississippi
Transportation incidents	37	39
Contact incidents	15	18
Violent acts	14	15
Falls, slips, trips	17	14
All other	18	14
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The transportation and warehousing sector had the highest number of fatalities with 20. (See table 2.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in 17 of the 20 transportation and warehousing sector fatalities.

• The general freight trucking industry group accounted for eight of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 28. (See table 3.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in 21 of the transportation and material moving fatalities.

• Motor vehicle operators accounted for 22 of the major group’s fatal workplace injuries.

• Wage and salary workers accounted for 76 percent of workplace fatalities in Mississippi; the self-employed comprised the remaining 24 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 83 percent of fatalities.

• Males accounted for 93 percent of the work-related fatalities in Mississippi, compared to 91 percent of the work-related fatalities nationally.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 51 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally. Workers 55 years and older accounted for 46 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2023, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 50 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 56 percent of work-related deaths.

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. For technical information and definitions for the CFOI, see the national CFOI release Technical notes, the BLS Handbook of Methods, and the CFOI definitions.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Mississippi Department of Employment Security for their efforts in collecting accurate, comprehensive, and useful data on fatal work injuries BLS appreciates the efforts of all federal, state, local, and private sector entities that provided source documents used to identify fatal work injuries nationally. See the national CFOI release Technical Notes for details on cooperating entities.

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