Fatal work injuries totaled 85 in 2020 for Alabama, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Alabama decreased from the previous year. Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 155 in 1996 to a low of 70 in 2015. (See chart 1.)

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 Alabama, transportation incidents resulted in 43 fatal work injuries and accounted for 51 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 41 over the year.

Contact with objects and equipment was the second-most frequent fatal work event with 17 fatalities, followed by violence and other injuries by persons or animals with 15 fatalities. Worker deaths from contact with objects and equipment were up from 12 over the year, while worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were down from 21.  

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

Industry

The private construction industry had the highest number of fatalities in Alabama with 19, compared to 18 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents resulted in 8 of the 19 fatalities in the industry. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 10, or 53 percent, of fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had 18 fatal workplace injuries, compared to 17 in the previous year. The truck transportation subsector accounted for 14, or 78 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 32. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 23 of the 32 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 12, followed by installation, maintenance, and repair occupations with 7.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 89 percent of the work-related fatalities in Alabama, compared to the national share of 92 percent. (See table 4.) Violence and other injuries by persons or animals made up 14 percent of the fatalities for men in Alabama.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 62 percent of those who died from a workplace injury, similar to the 61 percent nationwide for this group.

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

• Of the 85 fatal work injuries in Alabama, 89 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Contact with objects and equipment accounted for 14 fatalities for wage and salary workers; violence and other injuries by persons or animals and contact with objects and equipment accounted for 3 fatalities each for self-employed 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 fatal work 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 Alabama Department of Labor 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, Alabama, 2019–20

Event or exposure (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	89	85	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	21	15	18
Transportation incidents	41	43	51
Pedestrian vehicular incident	10	5	6
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	25	29	34
Roadway collision with other vehicle	14	15	18
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	8	11	13
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	--	7	8
Falls to lower level	--	7	8
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	7	--	--
Contact with objects and equipment	12	17	20
Struck by object or equipment	7	11	13
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 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, Alabama, 2019–20

Industry (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	89	85	100
Private industry (2)	78	73	86
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	11	7	8
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	11	7	8
Construction	18	19	22
Construction	18	19	22
Specialty trade contractors	--	10	12
Manufacturing	--	7	8
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	25	25	29
Utilities	--	1	1
Wholesale trade	5	3	4
Retail trade	3	3	4
Transportation and warehousing	17	18	21
Truck transportation	15	14	16
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	--	--
Professional and business services	7	--	--
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	7	6	7
Educational and health services	1	3	4
Educational services	--	2	2
Health care and social assistance	1	3	4
Leisure and hospitality	4	--	--
Arts, entertainment, and recreation	--	5	6
Other services, except public administration	4	4	5
Government (4)	11	--	--
Federal government	--	6	7
State government	--	--	--
Local government	11	5	6
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 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 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, Alabama, 2019–20

Occupation (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	89	85	100
Management occupations	4	3	4
Business and financial operations occupations	--	1	1
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	--	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	--	--	--
Protective service occupations	11	--	--
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	--	--
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	6	5	6
Personal care and service occupations	--	--	--
Sales and related occupations	4	--	--
Office and administrative support occupations	--	--	--
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	6	3	4
Construction and extraction occupations	16	12	14
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3	7	8
Production occupations	7	3	4
Transportation and material moving occupations	27	32	38
Motor vehicle operators	23	26	31
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	--	26	31
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	--	23	27
Material moving workers	3	4	5
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 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 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, Alabama, 2019–20

Worker characteristics	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	89	85	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	81	76	89
Self-employed (2)	8	9	11
Gender
Men	85	76	89
Women	4	9	11
Age (3)
25 to 34 years	16	15	18
35 to 44 years	16	19	22
45 to 54 years	23	20	24
55 to 64 years	20	21	25
65 years and over	8	4	5
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	54	53	62
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	24	22	26
Hispanic or Latino	9	--	--
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 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.