Fatal work injuries totaled 73 in 2021 for Washington, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Washington was down from 83 the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 128 in 1996 to a low of 56 in 2013. Nationwide, a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2021, a 9-percent increase from 4,764 in 2020, 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, Washington, 2012–21

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2012	67	53	14
2013	56	41	15
2014	88	76	12
2015	70	52	18
2016	78	59	19
2017	84	67	17
2018	86	71	15
2019	84	64	20
2020	83	68	15
2021	73	62	11

In Washington, transportation incidents resulted in 30 fatal work injuries. Exposure to harmful substances of environments accounted for 13 fatalities and falls, slips and trips caused 12 fatalities. These three major categories accounted for 75 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 20 over the year, worker fatalities due to exposure to harmful substances or environments were up from 12, and fatal work injuries from falls, slips and trips were down from 15.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2021, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by both exposure to harmful substances or environments and violence and other injuries by persons or animals (15 percent each) and contact with objects and equipment (14 percent).

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Washington, 2021

Event	United States	Washington
Transportation incidents	38.2	41.1
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	15.4	17.8
Falls, slips, trips	16.4	16.4
Contact with objects and equipment	13.6	13.7
All other	16.5	11.0

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Washington with 18, down from 21 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips and trips resulted in 7 of the 18 fatalities in the industry. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 13 of the 18 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry sector had 12 fatal workplace injuries, down from 17 in the previous year. Transportation incidents resulted in 5 of the 12 fatalities in the industry. The crop production subsector accounted for six, or 50 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector also had 12 fatal workplace injuries, up from 5 in the previous year. Transportation incidents resulted in 8 of the 12 fatalities in the industry. The truck transportation subsector accounted for nine, or 75 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 19. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 16 of the 19 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 13, followed by installation, maintenance, and repair occupations with 9.

• Men accounted for 89 percent of work-related fatalities in Washington, compared to 91 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 38 percent of the fatalities for men in Washington.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 66 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 56 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2021, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 73 fatal work injuries in Washington, 85 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for both wage and salary workers and self-employed workers was transportation incidents.

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 2021 national data, over 23,900 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 at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/occupational-safety-and-health-definitions.htm.

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 www.bls.gov/iif/overview/cfoi-scope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

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 2021, there were 197 cases nationally where this occurred, and 174 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2021. For more information on latent cases, see www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/latency-in-fatal-occupational-injuries.htm.

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 at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-on-workplace-injuries-and-illnesses-compensation-and-occupational-requirements.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Washington Department of Labor and Industries 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.

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