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Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities
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Fact Sheet | Occupational Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities Involving Forklifts | June 2019
Occupational Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities Involving Forklifts
From 2011 to 2017, 614 workers lost their lives in forklift related incidents and more than 7,000 nonfatal injuries with days away from work occurred every year.
Of the 74 fatal work injuries involving forklifts in 2017, the events that led to the most workplace deaths were nonroadway incidents (20), struck by powered vehicle, non-transport cases (13), struck by falling object cases (12), falls to lower level (11), and pedestrian vehicular incidents (9).
Forklifts were involved in 9,050 nonfatal workplace injuries or illnesses with days away from work in 2017. These cases resulted in workers taking a median of 13 days away from work, higher than the median of 8 days for all cases. Of these cases, 2,050 involved nonroadway accidents with the forklift, and 1,850 more cases involved pedestrians while the forklift was in transportation use. Forklift related occupational injuries to pedestrians resulted in the highest median days away from work (20 days) compared to other forklift related events.
For technical information and definitions, please see the BLS Handbook of Methods.
A forklift-involved injury is one where the primary or secondary source is a forklift. Primary and secondary source are defined by the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS).
You can obtain data from the Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program by using the following tools: Create Customized Tables (Multiple Screens), Create Customized Tables (Single Screen), and the Online Profiles System. Additional tables and charts are on the IIF homepage and the IIF State page.
Last Modified Date: June 10, 2019