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).

Fatal event or exposure

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).

Industry

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.

Occupation

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.

Additional highlights

• 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.

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 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.

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, South Carolina, 2021–22

Event or exposure (1)	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	107	132	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	17	19	14
Intentional injury by person	16	18	14
Homicides--Intentional injury by other person	--	14	11
Shooting by other person--intentional	--	13	10
Transportation incidents	49	51	39
Pedestrian vehicular incident	7	9	7
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	35	35	27
Roadway collision with other vehicle	18	20	15
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	14	11	8
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	16	16	12
Falls to lower level	13	13	10
Other fall to lower level	10	10	8
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	13	21	16
Exposure to other harmful substances	9	16	12
Contact with objects and equipment	11	23	17
Struck by object or equipment	8	15	11
Struck by falling object or equipment--other than powered vehicle	4	8	6
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	3	7	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, South Carolina, 2021–22

Industry (1)	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	107	132	100
Private Industry (2)	100	116	88
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	--	4	3
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	3	4	3
Construction	21	24	18
Construction	21	24	18
Construction of buildings	--	11	8
Residential building construction	--	7	5
Specialty trade contractors	18	9	7
Manufacturing	6	14	11
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	28	--	--
Wholesale trade	4	10	8
Retail trade	4	8	6
Transportation and warehousing	20	20	15
Truck transportation	14	9	7
General freight trucking	7	8	6
Information	2	--	--
Financial activities	--	5	4
Professional and business services	21	--	--
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	17	10	8
Educational and health services	2	5	4
Leisure and hospitality	7	--	--
Accommodation and food services	4	8	6
Food services and drinking places	--	7	5
Other services, except public administration	6	4	3
Public administration	--	--	--
Government (4)	7	--	--
Federal government	2	3	2
State government	1	3	2
Local government	4	9	7
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, South Carolina, 2021–22

Occupation (1)	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	107	132	100
Management occupations	4	7	5
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	--	4	3
Community and social service occupations	--	--	--
Legal occupations	1	--	--
Educational instruction and library occupations	--	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	1	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	5	4
Healthcare support occupations	--	--	--
Protective service occupations	--	--	--
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	7	5
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	10	7	5
Grounds maintenance workers	6	7	5
Grounds maintenance workers	6	7	5
Personal care and service occupations	1	--	--
Sales and related occupations	5	6	5
Office and administrative support occupations	3	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	--	3	2
Construction and extraction occupations	21	20	15
Construction trades workers	17	18	14
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	14	14	11
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	9	8	6
Industrial machinery installation, repair, and maintenance workers	--	6	5
Production occupations	8	9	7
Transportation and material moving occupations	27	35	27
Air transportation workers	--	2	2
Motor vehicle operators	22	25	19
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	22	25	19
Driver/sales workers	--	6	5
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	16	19	14
Material moving workers	3	7	5
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, South Carolina, 2021–22

Worker characteristics	2021	2022
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	107	132	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	90	116	88
Self-employed (2)	17	16	12
Gender
Men	96	122	92
Women	11	10	8
Age (3)
16 to 17 years	--	1	1
18 to 19 years	--	2	2
20 to 24 years	9	5	4
25 to 34 years	19	27	20
35 to 44 years	29	21	16
45 to 54 years	19	20	15
55 to 64 years	14	36	27
65 years and over	10	20	15
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	57	82	62
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	29	33	25
Hispanic or Latino	19	13	10
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.