Fatal work injuries totaled 142 in 2020 for Tennessee, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Tennessee was up from the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 179 in 1995 to a low of 95 in 2013.

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 Tennessee, transportation incidents resulted in 57 fatal work injuries, and violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 29 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 61 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were similar over the year, while worker fatalities due to violence and other injuries by persons or animals were up from 17.

Falls, slips, and trips and exposure to harmful substances or environments each resulted in 20 fatal work injuries in 2020, followed by contact with objects and equipment with 16 fatal work injuries.

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 sector had the highest number of fatalities in Tennessee with 38, up from 28 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 12 of the 38 fatalities in the industry. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 28 of the 38 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had 30 fatal workplace injuries, up from 22 in the previous year. The truck transportation subsector accounted for 24, or 80 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 47. (See table 3.) Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers accounted for 33 of the 47 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The construction and extraction occupational group had the second highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 32. Construction laborers suffered 10 of the work-related deaths within the construction and extraction group.

Additional highlights

• Men accounted for 87 percent of the work-related fatalities in Tennessee, compared to 92 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 41 percent of the fatalities for men in Tennessee.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 68 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 61 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 63 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2020, compared to 56 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 142 fatal work injuries in Tennessee, 87 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. Transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers and 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 Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development 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, Tennessee, 2019–20

Event or exposure (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	124	142	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	17	29	20
Intentional injury by person	13	29	20
Intentional injury by other person	9	25	18
Transportation incidents	58	57	40
Pedestrian vehicular incident	10	10	7
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	37	44	31
Roadway collision with other vehicle	23	23	16
Roadway collision with object other than vehicle	12	16	11
Roadway noncollision incident	2	5	4
Fires and explosions	--	--	--
Falls, slips, trips	16	20	14
Falls to lower level	14	15	11
Other fall to lower level	--	12	8
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	--	20	14
Exposure to electricity	--	9	6
Exposure to other harmful substances	--	11	8
Contact with objects and equipment	18	16	11
Struck by object or equipment	12	9	6
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, Tennessee, 2019–20

Industry (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	124	142	100
Private industry (2)	114	137	96
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	14	7	5
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	13	7	5
Construction	28	38	27
Construction	28	38	27
Construction of buildings	--	5	4
Heavy and civil engineering construction	7	5	4
Specialty trade contractors	--	28	20
Manufacturing	--	12	8
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	33	50	35
Wholesale trade	3	5	4
Retail trade	8	15	11
Transportation and warehousing	22	30	21
Truck transportation	15	24	17
Information	--	--	--
Financial activities	--	--	--
Professional and business services	14	11	8
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	13	11	8
Administrative and support services	9	10	7
Educational and health services	3	2	1
Health care and social assistance	3	2	1
Leisure and hospitality	4	--	--
Accommodation and food services	4	7	5
Other services, except public administration	5	8	6
Government (4)	10	5	4
Federal government	--	--	--
State government	2	--	--
Local government	8	5	4
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, Tennessee, 2019–20

Occupation (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	124	142	100
Management occupations	8	--	--
Business and financial operations occupations	--	--	--
Computer and mathematical occupations	--	--	--
Architecture and engineering occupations	--	--	--
Life, physical, and social science occupations	1	--	--
Community and social service occupations	1	--	--
Legal occupations	--	--	--
Educational instruction and library occupations	--	--	--
Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare practitioners and technical occupations	--	--	--
Healthcare support occupations	--	2	1
Protective service occupations	8	5	4
Food preparation and serving related occupations	--	8	6
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	6	6	4
Personal care and service occupations	2	3	2
Sales and related occupations	6	9	6
Office and administrative support occupations	3	2	1
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	6	4	3
Construction and extraction occupations	31	32	23
Supervisors of construction and extraction workers	4	5	4
Construction trades workers	24	22	15
Construction laborers	6	10	7
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	7	11	8
Production occupations	7	9	6
Transportation and material moving occupations	34	47	33
Motor vehicle operators	26	39	27
Driver/sales workers and truck drivers	25	38	27
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers	--	33	23
Material moving workers	--	4	3
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, Tennessee, 2019–20

Worker characteristics	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	124	142	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	95	123	87
Self-employed (2)	29	19	13
Gender
Men	117	123	87
Women	7	19	13
Age (3)
16 to 17 years	--	1	1
18 to 19 years	1	1	1
20 to 24 years	7	14	10
25 to 34 years	23	28	20
35 to 44 years	28	32	23
45 to 54 years	23	30	21
55 to 64 years	24	22	15
65 years and over	18	14	10
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	84	96	68
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	21	19	13
Hispanic or Latino	16	23	16
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.