Fatal Work Injuries in Washington — 2024

Fatal work injuries totaled 102 in 2024 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 up 5.2 percent from 97 in 2023. (See chart 1.) The fatal work injury rate was 2.8 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2024, an increase from a rate of 2.7 in 2023. Nationwide, a total of 5,070 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2024, a 4.0-percent decrease from 5,283 in 2023. These data are from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

Stacked column chart of fatal occupational injuries by employee status in Washington, 2015–24. Accessible version is available in View Chart Data link below the chart.

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, Washington, 2015–24
Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
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
2022	104	90	14
2023	97	79	18
2024	102	87	15
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Fatal event or exposure

Transportation incidents were the most frequent type of fatal event in Washington, accounting for 29 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 38 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.) The total number of fatal transportation incidents increased to 30 in 2024 from 20 in 2023.
Exposure to harmful substances or environments (25) accounted for 25 percent of Washington workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 14 percent.

Clustered column chart of percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Washington, 2024. Accessible version is available in View Chart Data link below the chart.

View Chart Data

Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Washington, 2024
Event	United States	Washington
Transportation incidents	38	29
Exposure to harmful substances, environments	14	25
Violent acts	14	19
Falls, slips, trips	17	15
All other	17	13
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Private industry

The construction sector and transportation and warehousing sector each had 16 fatalities. (See table 2.)
Falls, slips, or trips resulted in 8 of the 16 construction sector fatalities. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for nine of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.
Transportation incidents resulted in 6 of the 16 transportation and warehousing sector fatalities. The truck transportation subsector accounted for 11 of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

Occupation

Farming, fishing, and forestry workers experienced the largest decrease (-6) in fatal work injuries over the year among the major occupational groups. (See table 3.)
The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 26. Transportation incidents resulted in 10 fatalities among these workers. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 13 of the major group’s 26 fatal workplace injuries.

Worker characteristics

Wage and salary workers accounted for 85 percent of workplace fatalities in Washington; the self-employed comprised the remaining 15 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 82 percent of fatalities.
Males accounted for 88 percent of the work-related fatalities in Washington, compared to 92 percent nationally.
Workers aged 25-54 years old represented 54 percent of Washington’s fatal work injuries, similar to the 55-percent national share. Workers 55 years and over had an increase in worker fatalities from 34 in 2023 to 44 in 2024.
Fatalities among Hispanic or Latino workers rose from 17 in 2023 to 22 in 2024.

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

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Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, Washington, 2023–24
Event or Exposure (1)	2023	2024
Event or Exposure (1)	Number	Number	Percent (%)
All events and exposures	97	102	100
Violent acts	17	19	19
Homicides (violent acts by other person)	9	12	12
Shooting by other person	--	8	8
Suicides (intentional self-harm)	8	7	7
Intentional self-harm-- hanging, strangulation, asphyxiation	3	3	3
Transportation incidents	20	30	29
Pedestrian incidents involving motorized land vehicles	3	3	3
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	11	17	17
Roadway collision with other vehicle(s)	4	10	10
Nonroadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles	--	5	5
Nonroadway noncollision incident	--	5	5
Falls, slips, trips	21	15	15
Exposure to harmful substances, environments	24	25	25
Exposure to harmful substances	21	24	24
Contact incidents	--	10	10
Struck by propelled, falling, or suspended object	--	4	4
Struck by falling object	--	4	4
Struck, caught, or compressed by running powered equipment	--	3	3
Footnotes: (1) Based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) version 3 implemented for 2023 data forward.
Note: The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has published data on fatal occupational injuries for the United States since 1992. During this time, the classification systems and definitions of many data elements have changed. See the CFOI Definitions page (www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm) for a more detailed description of each data element. 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, Washington, 2023–24
Industry	2023	2024
Industry	Number	Number	Percent (%)
Total	97	102	100
Private industry (1)	89	90	88
Natural resources and mining	--	6	6
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	15	6	6
Crop production	7	4	4
Construction	16	16	16
Construction	16	16	16
Specialty trade contractors	9	9	9
Building equipment contractors	--	4	4
Manufacturing	6	8	8
Manufacturing	6	8	8
Trade, transportation, and utilities	26	29	28
Wholesale trade	3	7	7
Retail trade	6	6	6
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers	--	1	1
Building material and supplies dealers	--	1	1
Other building material dealers	--	1	1
General merchandise retailers	--	3	3
Transportation and warehousing	17	16	16
Truck transportation	10	11	11
Transit and ground passenger transportation	3	3	3
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	--	--
Professional and business services	--	10	10
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	7	10	10
Administrative and support services	7	6	6
Waste management and remediation services	--	4	4
Educational and health services	5	4	4
Health care and social assistance	5	4	4
Leisure and hospitality	--	--	--
Accommodation and food services	9	9	9
Accommodation	1	4	4
Food services and drinking places	8	5	5
Restaurants and other eating places	4	3	3
Restaurants and other eating places	4	3	3
Full-service restaurants	--	3	3
Other services (except public administration)	--	4	4
Other services (except public administration)	--	4	4
Government (2)	8	12	12
Federal government	2	4	4
State government	3	--	--
Local government	3	6	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 https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm#industry. (2) 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: The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has published data on fatal occupational injuries for the United States since 1992. During this time, the classification systems and definitions of many data elements have changed. See the CFOI Definitions page (www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm) for a more detailed description of each data element. 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, Washington, 2023–24
Occupation (1)	2023	2024
Occupation (1)	Number	Number	Percent (%)
All occupations	97	102	100
Management occupations	5	5	5
Other management occupations	--	5	5
Food service managers	--	1	1
Food service managers	--	1	1
Business and financial operations occupations	--	5	5
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	7	6	6
Building cleaning and pest control workers	--	3	3
Grounds maintenance workers	6	3	3
Grounds maintenance workers	6	3	3
Landscaping and groundskeeping workers	--	3	3
Personal care and service occupations	1	4	4
Animal care and service workers	--	1	1
Animal caretakers	--	1	1
Animal caretakers	--	1	1
Sales and related occupations	5	6	6
Supervisors of sales workers	--	3	3
First-line supervisors of sales workers	--	3	3
Retail sales workers	--	3	3
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	11	5	5
Construction and extraction occupations	15	16	16
Construction trades workers	12	14	14
Construction laborers	4	6	6
Construction laborers	4	6	6
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	8	5	5
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	--	3	3
Production occupations	4	7	7
Transportation and material moving occupations	24	26	25
Motor vehicle operators	15	19	19
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	12	15	15
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	9	13	13
Passenger vehicle drivers	3	4	4
Water transportation workers	1	1	1
Sailors and marine oilers	1	1	1
Sailors and marine oilers	1	1	1
Material moving workers	5	6	6
Laborers and material movers	--	3	3
Laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand	--	3	3
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 the CFOI definitions page (www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm). Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.
Note: The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has published data on fatal occupational injuries for the United States since 1992. During this time, the classification systems and definitions of many data elements have changed. See the CFOI Definitions page (www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm) for a more detailed description of each data element. 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, Washington, 2023–24
Demographic	2023	2024
Demographic	Number	Number	Percent (%)
Total	97	102	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	79	87	85
Self-employed (2)	18	15	15
Sex
Male	85	90	88
Female	12	12	12
Age (3)
Under 16 years	--	--	--
16 to 17 years	--	--	--
18 to 19 years	--	--	--
20 to 24 years	--	--	--
25 to 34 years	15	22	22
35 to 44 years	23	15	15
45 to 54 years	23	18	18
55 to 64 years	19	24	24
65 years and over	15	20	20
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	59	58	57
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	5	4	4
Hispanic or Latino	17	22	22
American Indian or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic	--	--	--
Asian, non-Hispanic	5	7	7
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	--	--	--
Person of multiple races, non-Hispanic	5	5	5
Other or not reported, 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: The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has published data on fatal occupational injuries for the United States since 1992. During this time, the classification systems and definitions of many data elements have changed. See the CFOI Definitions page (www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries-definitions.htm) for a more detailed description of each data element. 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: Wednesday, April 01, 2026

Western Information Office

Fatal Work Injuries in Washington — 2024