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News Release Information

24-260-ATL
Friday, February 16, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Fatal Occupational Injuries in Tennessee — 2022

Fatal work injuries totaled 173 in 2022 for Tennessee, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Tennessee was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 179 in 1995 to a low of 95 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 Tennessee, transportation incidents resulted in 63 fatal work injuries. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 38 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 58 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 54 over the year, and worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up from 21.

Exposure to harmful substances or environments was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 29 fatalities, up from 20 in the prior year. Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 25 work-related deaths, up from 23.

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 Tennessee with 43, up from 21 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 13 of the 43 fatalities in the industry; transportation incidents accounted for another 12 fatalities. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 33, or 77 percent, of the 43 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The transportation and warehousing industry sector had 31 fatal workplace injuries, up from 21 in the prior year. The long-distance general freight trucking industry accounted for 15, or 48 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 49. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 26 of the 49 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 35. Construction laborers suffered 11 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights
  • Men accounted for 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in Tennessee, compared to 92 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 37 percent of the fatalities for men in Tennessee.
  • White non-Hispanics accounted for 67 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 62 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
  • Of the 173 fatal work injuries in Tennessee, 80 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents.

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 Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development 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, Tennessee, 2021–22
Event or exposure (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

132 173 100

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals

21 38 22

Intentional injury by person

20 36 21

Homicides--Intentional injury by other person

16 23 13

Shooting by other person--intentional

16 22 13

Suicides--Self-inflicted injury--intentional

-- 13 8

Transportation incidents

54 63 36

Pedestrian vehicular incident

8 11 6

Pedestrian struck by vehicle in nonroadway area

-- 8 5

Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle

40 41 24

Roadway collision with other vehicle

20 20 12

Roadway collision with object other than vehicle

13 14 8

Vehicle struck object or animal on side of roadway

12 14 8

Fires and explosions

-- 2 1

Falls, slips, trips

23 25 14

Falls to lower level

19 19 11

Exposure to harmful substances or environments

20 29 17

Exposure to other harmful substances

12 23 13

Contact with objects and equipment

14 16 9

Struck by object or equipment

10 9 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, Tennessee, 2021–22
Industry (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

132 173 100

Private Industry (2)

122 155 90

Goods producing

-- -- --

Natural resources and mining

10 -- --

Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting

7 11 6

Construction

21 43 25

Construction

21 43 25

Construction of buildings

3 9 5

Specialty trade contractors

18 33 19

Foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors

7 10 6

Building equipment contractors

5 10 6

Manufacturing

11 9 5

Service providing (3)

-- -- --

Trade, transportation, and utilities

37 55 32

Wholesale trade

8 7 4

Retail trade

8 17 10

Transportation and warehousing

21 31 18

Truck transportation

17 21 12

General freight trucking

14 15 9

General freight trucking, long-distance

-- 15 9

Information

-- 1 1

Financial activities

-- -- --

Professional and business services

21 -- --

Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services

20 16 9

Educational and health services

3 -- --

Leisure and hospitality

9 10 6

Accommodation and food services

8 9 5

Food services and drinking places

-- 8 5

Other services, except public administration

6 -- --

Public administration

-- -- --

Government (4)

10 18 10

Federal government

3 4 2

State government

-- 4 2

Local government

7 10 6

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, Tennessee, 2021–22
Occupation (1) 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

132 173 100

Management occupations

5 8 5

Business and financial operations occupations

2 -- --

Computer and mathematical occupations

-- -- --

Architecture and engineering occupations

-- -- --

Life, physical, and social science occupations

-- -- --

Community and social service occupations

-- -- --

Legal occupations

-- -- --

Educational instruction and library occupations

-- -- --

Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations

1 -- --

Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations

-- -- --

Healthcare support occupations

-- -- --

Protective service occupations

7 12 7

Food preparation and serving related occupations

5 6 3

Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations

9 11 6

Personal care and service occupations

-- -- --

Sales and related occupations

9 13 8

Retail sales workers

3 9 5

Office and administrative support occupations

5 -- --

Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations

3 7 4

Construction and extraction occupations

21 35 20

Construction trades workers

16 28 16

Construction laborers

-- 11 6

Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations

11 12 7

Production occupations

4 7 4

Transportation and material moving occupations

48 49 28

Motor vehicle operators

35 33 19

Driver/sales workers and truck drivers

32 30 17

Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers

28 26 15

Material moving workers

10 13 8

Laborers and material movers

5 10 6

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, Tennessee, 2021–22
Worker characteristics 2021 2022
Number Number Percent

Total

132 173 100

Employee status

Wage and salary workers (1)

112 138 80

Self-employed (2)

20 35 20

Gender

Men

119 156 90

Women

13 17 10

Age (3)

20 to 24 years

3 6 3

25 to 34 years

28 28 16

35 to 44 years

22 37 21

45 to 54 years

35 42 24

55 to 64 years

21 39 23

65 years and over

20 19 11

Race or ethnic origin (4)

White, non-Hispanic

86 116 67

Black or African-American, non-Hispanic

26 32 18

Hispanic or Latino

14 21 12

Asian, non-Hispanic

6 -- --

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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, February 16, 2024