Fatal work injuries totaled 59 in 2020 for New York City, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that the number of work-related fatalities in New York City was down from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the city have ranged from a high of 191 in 1993 to a low of 56 in 2013 and 2016.

Nationwide, a total of 4,764 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2020, an 11-percent decrease from 5,333 in 2019, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). The 4,764 fatal occupational injuries in 2020 represents the lowest annual number since 2013.

Fatal event or exposure

In New York City, exposure to harmful substances or environments resulted in 17 fatal work injuries, and falls, slips, trips and violence and other injuries by persons or animals each accounted for 13 fatalities. These three major categories accounted for 73 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the city. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from exposure to harmful substances or environments were unchanged over the year, and worker fatalities due to falls, slips, trips and violence or other injuries by persons or animals were down from 24 and 21, respectively.

Fatal contact with objects and equipment was the next most frequent event with 7 worker deaths, down from 17 in the prior year. 

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal workplace event in 2020, accounting for 37 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, trips were the second-most common fatal event (17 percent).

Industry

The private construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in New York City with 13, down from 24 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 5 of the industry’s 13 fatalities. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 8 of the 13 fatal workplace injuries in construction.

Retail trade had seven worker fatalities, up from five in 2019. Violence and other injuries by persons and animals accounted for 4 of the 7 deaths.

Two sectors—transportation and warehousing and accommodation and food services—each had six work fatalities in 2020. For the transportation and warehousing sector, the total was down from 16 in the previous year. The fatality count for accommodation and food services was unchanged.

Occupation

The construction and extraction occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 13, down from 29 in the previous year. (See table 3.) Transportation and material moving workers had the second highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 10, down from 19.

Additional highlights

• Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 39 percent of New York City’s fatal injuries. (See table 4.) Nationwide, this group accounted for 23 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 64 percent of the city’s work-related fatalities in 2020, compared to 56 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 59 worker deaths in New York City, 86 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Nationwide, 81 percent of occupational fatalities involved wage and salary workers. 

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. 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 2020 national data, over 21,600 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 at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm and the CFOI definitions at www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. 

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 www.bls.gov/iif/cfoiscope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the New York City government 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.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Fatal occupational injuries by event or exposure, New York City, 2019–20

Event or exposure (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	91	59	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	21	13	22
Intentional injury by person	15	13	22
Intentional injury by other person	10	7	12
Shooting by other person--intentional	5	3	5
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	5	6	10
Transportation incidents	10	--	--
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	24	13	22
Falls to lower level	21	13	22
Fall through surface or existing opening	5	3	5
Other fall to lower level	14	10	17
Other fall to lower level more than 30 feet	--	4	7
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	17	17	29
Contact with objects and equipment	17	7	12
Struck by object or equipment	11	4	7
Overexertion and bodily reaction	--	--	--
Footnotes: (1) Based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) 2.01 implemented for 2011 data forward.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. 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, New York City, 2019–20

Industry (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	91	59	100
Private industry (2)	84	55	93
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	--	--	--
Construction	24	13	22
Construction	24	13	22
Specialty trade contractors	--	8	14
Building equipment contractors	--	4	7
Manufacturing	--	3	5
Manufacturing	--	3	5
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	23	--	--
Retail trade	5	7	12
Food and beverage stores	--	5	8
Grocery stores	--	5	8
Transportation and warehousing	16	6	10
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	--	--
Real estate and rental and leasing	--	3	5
Professional and business services	--	4	7
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	--	4	7
Administrative and support services	--	4	7
Educational and health services	--	4	7
Health care and social assistance	5	4	7
Leisure and hospitality	--	--	--
Accommodation and food services	6	6	10
Other services, except public administration	6	3	5
Other services, except public administration	6	3	5
Government (4)	7	4	7
Federal government	--	--	--
State government	--	--	--
Local government	7	4	7
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 definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. (2) Cases where ownership is unknown are included in private industry counts. (3) Cases where industry is unknown are included in the service sector counts. (4) 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: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. 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, New York City, 2019–20

Occupation (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	91	59	100
Management occupations	4	--	--
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	--	--	--
Community and social service occupations	--	--	--
Legal occupations	--	--	--
Educational instruction and library occupations	--	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	3	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	--	--	--
Protective service occupations	7	--	--
Food preparation and serving related occupations	3	4	7
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	4	6	10
Supervisors of building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers	--	3	5
First-line supervisors of building and grounds cleaning and maintenance workers	--	3	5
Personal care and service occupations	--	--	--
Sales and related occupations	3	5	8
Retail sales workers	1	3	5
Cashiers	--	3	5
Cashiers	--	3	5
Office and administrative support occupations	3	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	--	--	--
Construction and extraction occupations	29	13	22
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	6	4	7
Production occupations	3	4	7
Transportation and material moving occupations	19	10	17
Material moving workers	5	5	8
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 this year, see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Cases where occupation is unknown are included in the total.
Note: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. 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, New York City, 2019–20

Worker characteristics	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	91	59	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	84	51	86
Self-employed (2)	7	8	14
Gender
Men	81	--	--
Women	10	--	--
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	5	5	8
25 to 34 years	17	11	19
35 to 44 years	16	16	27
45 to 54 years	12	11	19
55 to 64 years	28	8	14
65 years and over	13	8	14
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	24	18	31
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	16	11	19
Hispanic or Latino	29	23	39
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: Data for all years are final. Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at https://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. 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.