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).

Fatal event or exposure

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).

Industry

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. 

Occupation

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.

Additional highlights

• 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.

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 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.

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, North Carolina, 2021–22

Event or exposure (1)	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	179	217	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	--	28	13
Intentional injury by person	--	27	12
Transportation incidents	62	79	36
Pedestrian vehicular incident	9	17	8
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	41	52	24
Roadway collision with other vehicle	25	23	11
Roadway collision--moving in opposite directions, oncoming	11	13	6
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	14	18	8
Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway	14	17	8
Roadway noncollision incident	2	11	5
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	29	42	19
Falls to lower level	21	36	17
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	38	37	17
Exposure to other harmful substances	29	24	11
Contact with objects and equipment	25	27	12
Struck by object or equipment	18	22	10
Struck by falling object or equipment--other than powered vehicle	13	11	5
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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. 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, North Carolina, 2021–22

Industry (1)	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	179	217	100
Private Industry (2)	158	195	90
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	11	18	8
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	11	18	8
Crop production	--	10	5
Construction	41	46	21
Construction	41	46	21
Construction of buildings	9	12	6
Specialty trade contractors	28	30	14
Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors	11	16	7
Manufacturing	16	21	10
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	--	59	27
Wholesale trade	7	6	3
Retail trade	6	16	7
Transportation and warehousing	20	36	17
Truck transportation	14	27	12
General freight trucking	9	17	8
Specialized freight trucking	5	10	5
Information	--	2	1
Financial activities	3	4	2
Professional and business services	--	19	9
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	22	16	7
Educational and health services	--	--	--
Leisure and hospitality	13	18	8
Accommodation and food services	9	13	6
Food services and drinking places	--	10	5
Restaurants and other eating places	--	10	5
Other services, except public administration	8	--	--
Public administration	--	--	--
Government (4)	21	22	10
Federal government	8	7	3
State government	--	6	3
Local government	13	9	4
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 concepts page at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#industry. (2) Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. (3) Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (4) 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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. 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, North Carolina, 2021–22

Occupation (1)	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	179	217	100
Management occupations	14	13	6
Business and financial operations occupations	--	2	1
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	--	1	0
Community and social service occupations	1	--	--
Legal occupations	--	1	0
Educational instruction and library occupations	--	2	1
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	3	--	--
Protective service occupations	11	12	6
Food preparation and serving related occupations	6	9	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	18	13	6
Building cleaning and pest control workers	1	3	1
Grounds maintenance workers	11	10	5
Personal care and service occupations	--	1	0
Sales and related occupations	7	12	6
Office and administrative support occupations	--	3	1
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	5	11	5
Construction and extraction occupations	30	45	21
Construction trades workers	21	33	15
Construction laborers	5	10	5
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	21	11	5
Production occupations	15	12	6
Transportation and material moving occupations	38	56	26
Motor vehicle operators	26	47	22
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	26	44	20
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	20	37	17
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 these years, see our definitions page at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#occupation. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.
NOTE: Data for all years are revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. 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, North Carolina, 2021–22

Worker characteristics	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	179	217	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	151	194	89
Self-employed (2)	28	23	11
Gender
Men	164	197	91
Women	15	20	9
Age (3)
18 to 19 years	--	8	4
20 to 24 years	--	14	6
25 to 34 years	31	38	18
35 to 44 years	30	45	21
45 to 54 years	37	46	21
55 to 64 years	37	37	17
65 years and over	30	29	13
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	105	121	56
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	35	43	20
Hispanic or Latino	33	44	20
Asian, non-Hispanic	--	--	--
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	--	--	--
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 revised and final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. 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.