USA 
United Kingdom
One worker every 96 minutes.
In the time it took for you to complete your last task, clean out your inbox, or attend a project planning meeting, a U.S. employee lost their life because of a work-related incident.
The latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show a significant rise in fatal occupational injuries for U.S. workers. The figures, released in December 2023, relate to the year 2022 where fatal injuries totaled 5,486.
Alarmingly, this is a ten-year high in the U.S. Over the past ten years deaths have increased, though this rise was interrupted during 2020 when figures dropped by several hundred from 2019, largely due to the impact of COVID-19 on work patterns. Since 2020, the steady progression has resumed, jumping 5.7% from 5,190 in 2021 to 2022’s figure.
The fatal worker injury rate is now 3.7 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers.
More employees are dying because of on-the-job incidents than at any point in the last decade. HR leaders cannot ignore this trend that more than anything else highlights the ongoing erosion of worker safety in the U.S.
The rise in job-related deaths
The data released by the BLS offers HR leaders clarity into the most prominent and increasingly prevalent causes of death for employees from injuries that occurred at work.
In 2022 transportation incidents accounted for 37.7% of all occupational fatalities, totaling 2,066 deaths. Transportation incidents are consistently the most frequent type of fatal event and grew 4.2% from 1,982 in 2021. As a result, the transportation occupation was the occupational group with the most fatalities, totaling 1,620 fatal work injuries in 2022, followed by construction and extraction workers with 1,056 fatalities. Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations had the highest fatality rate of all occupational groups in 2022 at 23.5 fatalities per 100,000 FTE workers.
Other causes of death that increased from 2021 to 2022 included suicide; exposure to harmful substances; exposure to extreme temperatures; falls, slips, and trips; violence and other injuries by persons or animals including homicides (24.6% of which occurred whilst an employee was working in retail or waiting on customers); and fires and explosions all increased from 2021 to 2022, though some, such as transportation incidents, are still below 2019 levels.
These all indicate clear areas for HR departments and all those involved in employee welfare, wellbeing, and safety to investigate. Ruth Pott, Head of Workplace Wellbeing at BAM, a leading civil engineering and construction company, says wellbeing and safety are intrinsically linked, creating “a significant role for HR, for managers, and for wellbeing teams” to look after their people.
“If somebody doesn't have good wellbeing for any reason - home issues, they’re not sleeping well, they’re being bullied at work, somebody is unwell - they're not going to be concentrating 100% on their job,” she explains. “Anything that an employer can do to encourage people to talk about what they've got going on and use the support services, whether it's talking to a manager and or having flexibility for a short period to deal with whatever it is going on, is immensely helpful.”
Potts highlights the particular issue of sleep and the implications this can have especially in industries such as construction, transportation, or agriculture. “A lot of people aren't sleeping, and all the evidence shows that that does have an impact on performance, productivity, people's decision-making abilities, and their judgment,” she states. “All that equals increased risks of accidents, incidents, and near-misses.”
The figures also present a clear call to action for employers and regulators to provide better protection for employees who work in industries such as transportation, construction, farming, fishing, and retail. Industries such as installation, maintenance, and repair, or building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, where worker deaths decreased from 2022 to 2021, may provide useful starting points for best practices and impactful legislation.
Occupational fatality data shows the need for a DE&I lens
These figures also confirm the stark reality that workers who are Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino are more at risk of work-related fatalities.
The fatality injury rate for Black or African American workers increased from 4.0 to 4.2, and for Hispanic or Latino workers from 4.5 to 4.6 per 100,000 FTE workers. This is higher than the 3.7 average across all workers.
Other demographics are also more at risk than others. Men are overwhelmingly more susceptible to occupational injury fatalities at 92.9% compared to women at 8.1%.
Older workers may also be more at risk with the highest number of fatalities being found in the 55 to 64 age group at 1,175 (21.4% of total fatalities), up from 1,140 the year prior.
Whilst each life is, of course, equally valuable irrespective of age, gender, or race, this highlights specific focus areas where employers must consider those who are particularly at risk and dive into deeper workforce trends.
In the case of foreign-born Latino or Hispanic workers, for example, 316 of the 792 fatalities occurred in the construction industry. Black workers are far more likely than other demographics to suffer death due to homicide, especially those employed in retail. Employers in these sectors must review the data and ensure they are providing adequate health and safety protection for all workers.
