Fatal work injuries totaled 112 in 2023 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 down 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 5,283 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, South Carolina, 2014–23

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
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
2023	112	100	12
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Transportation incidents (44) were the most frequent type of fatal event in South Carolina, accounting for 39 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 37 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)

• Exposure to harmful substances or environments (23) accounted for 21 percent of South Carolina workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 16 percent.

  

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

Event	United States	South Carolina
Transportation incidents	37	39
Exposure to harmful substances, environments	16	21
Falls, slips, trips	17	16
Contact incidents	15	14
All other	16	10
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The construction sector had the highest number of fatalities with 31. (See table 2.)

• Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 10 of the 31 construction sector fatalities.

• The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 17 of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 37. (See table 3.)

• Transportation incidents resulted in 25 of the transportation and material moving fatalities.

• Motor vehicle operators accounted for 24 of the major group’s fatal workplace injuries.

• Wage and salary workers accounted for 89 percent of workplace fatalities in South Carolina; the self-employed comprised the remaining 11 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 83 percent of fatalities.

• Males accounted for 88 percent of the work-related fatalities in South Carolina, compared to the national share of 91 percent.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 63 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 56 percent of the work-related fatalities both in South Carolina and nationally.

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 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 nationally. See the national CFOI release Technical Notes for details on cooperating entities.

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