Fatal work injuries totaled 55 in 2022 for Oregon, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Oregon was down 11 from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 88 in 1992 to a low of 43 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).

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Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, Oregon, 2013–22

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2013	49	41	8
2014	69	52	17
2015	44	32	12
2016	72	58	14
2017	60	47	13
2018	62	52	10
2019	69	55	14
2020	60	46	14
2021	66	56	10
2022	55	40	15

In Oregon, transportation incidents resulted in 25 fatal work injuries and accounted for 45 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 30 over the year.

Violence and other injuries by persons or animals and contact with objects and equipment each accounted for 10 fatalities. Worker fatalities due to violence or other injuries by persons or animals were up from 7, and worker deaths from contact with objects and equipment were down from 14. Falls, slips, or trips accounted for seven fatalities, down from eight in the prior 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 and exposure to harmful substances or environments (15 percent each).

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Oregon, 2022

Event	United States	Oregon
Transportation incidents	38	46
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	15	18
Contact with objects and equipment	14	18
Falls, slips, trips	16	13
All other	18	6

Three private industry sectors each reported 11 work-related fatalities: agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting; construction; and transportation and warehousing. (See table 2.)

Fatalities in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry sector were little changed from the number reported the previous year. Transportation incidents and contact with objects and equipment resulted in 5 and 4, respectively, of the 11 fatalities in the industry. The logging industry group accounted for 4 of the 11 fatal workplace injuries in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industry.

Fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry sector rose from nine the prior year. The specialty trade contractors and heavy and civil engineering construction subsectors each accounted for 4 of the 11 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry, followed by the construction of buildings subsector with 3.

Fatal workplace injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry sector fell from 17 in 2021. Transportation incidents resulted in 8 of the 11 fatalities in the industry. The truck transportation subsector accounted for 7 of the 11 fatal workplace injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 16. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 13 of the 16 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with nine, followed by management occupations with eight and farming, fishing, and forestry occupations with seven.

• Men accounted for 89 percent of work-related fatalities in Oregon, similar to the national share. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 45 percent of the fatalities for men in Oregon.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 76 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 42 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally. Workers 55 years and older accounted for 53 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2022, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 55 fatal work injuries in Oregon, 73 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents. Transportation incidents accounted for one-third of self-employed worker fatalities.

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 Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services 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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