Fatal work injuries totaled 54 in 2023 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 similar to 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 5,283 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2023, a 3.7-percent decrease from 5,486 in 2022, 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, 2014–23

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
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
2023	54	49	5
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Transportation incidents (29) were the most frequent type of fatal event in Oregon, accounting for 54 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 37 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)
• Violent acts (12) accounted for 22 percent of Oregon workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 14 percent.

  

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Oregon, 2023

Event	United States	Oregon
Transportation incidents	37	54
Violent acts	14	22
Falls, slips, trips	17	15
All other	32	9
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector had nine fatalities. (See table 2.)
• Transportation incidents resulted in 8 of the 9 agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector fatalities.

• The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 15. (See table 3.)
• Transportation incidents resulted in 10 of the transportation and material moving fatalities.
• Driver/sales workers and truck drivers accounted for 10 of the major group’s fatal workplace injuries.

• Wage and salary workers accounted for 91 percent of workplace fatalities in Oregon; the self-employed comprised the remaining 9 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 83 percent of fatalities.
• Males accounted for 87 percent of the work-related fatalities in Oregon, compared to 91 percent nationally. Transportation incidents made up 53 percent of the fatalities for males in Oregon.
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 54 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally. Workers 55 years and older accounted for 39 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2023, compared to 35 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 65 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 56 percent of work-related deaths.

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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