Fatal work injuries totaled 97 in 2023 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 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 5,283 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, Washington, 2014–23

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
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
2022	104	90	14
2023	97	79	18
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• Exposure to harmful substances or environments (24) was the most frequent type of fatal event in Washington, accounting for 25 percent of all fatal work injuries in the state. Nationally the share was 16 percent. (See chart 2 and table 1.)
• Falls, slips, or trips (21) accounted for 22 percent of Washington workplace fatalities; nationally the share was 17 percent.

  

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

Event	United States	Washington
Exposure to harmful substances, environments	16	25
Falls, slips, trips	17	22
Transportation incidents	37	21
Violent acts	14	18
All other	17	15
Note: Percents may not add to total due to rounding. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

• The transportation and warehousing sector had the highest number of fatalities with 17. (See table 2.)
• Transportation incidents resulted in 6 of the 17 transportation and warehousing sector fatalities.
• The truck transportation subsector accounted for 10 of the sector’s fatal workplace injuries.

• The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 24. (See table 3.)
• Exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in seven transportation and material moving fatalities.
• Motor vehicle operators accounted for 15 of the major group’s fatal workplace injuries.

• Males accounted for 88 percent of the work-related fatalities in Washington, compared to 91 percent nationally.
• Wage and salary workers accounted for 81 percent of workplace fatalities in Washington; the self-employed comprised the remaining 19 percent. (See chart 1 and table 4.) Nationally, wage and salary workers comprised 83 percent of fatalities.
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 63 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• White non-Hispanics accounted for 61 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. 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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