Fatal work injuries totaled 83 in 2020 for Washington, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Washington was similar to the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 128 in 1996 to a low of 56 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 Washington, transportation incidents and violence and other injuries by persons or animals each accounted for 20 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 48 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were down from 29 and worker fatalities due to violence or other injuries by persons or animals were down from 25.

Contact with objects and equipment was the third-most frequent fatal work event with 16 fatalities, up from 9 in the prior year. Falls, slips, and trips resulted in 15 work-related deaths compared to 13 in 2019.

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

In private industry, the construction industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Washington with 21, up from 17 in 2019. (See table 2.) Falls, slips, or trips resulted in 8 of the 21 fatalities in the industry. The specialty trade contractors subsector accounted for 11 of the 21 fatal workplace injuries in the construction industry.

The private agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry sector had 17 fatal workplace injuries, up from 12 in 2019. The crop production subsector accounted for 11, or 65 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

Occupation

The construction and extraction occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 17. (See table 3.) Construction trades workers accounted for 12 of the 17 fatalities. The farming, fishing, and forestry occupational group had the second highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 14. Agricultural workers suffered 8 of the work-related deaths within this industry.

Additional highlights:

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 58 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. (See table 4.) Nationwide, this group accounted for 61 percent of work-related deaths.
• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 55 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2020, compared to 56 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.
• Of the 83 fatal work injuries in Washington, 82 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for both wage and salary workers and self-employed workers was transportation incidents.

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 on the BLS website 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 Washington Department of Labor and Industries 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, Washington, 2019–20

Event or exposure (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	84	83	100
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	25	20	24
Intentional injury by person	23	19	23
Intentional injury by other person	15	11	13
Shooting by other person--intentional	8	6	7
Stabbing, cutting, slashing, piercing	3	3	4
Hitting, kicking, beating, shoving	3	1	1
Self-inflicted injury--intentional	8	8	10
Transportation incidents	29	20	24
Aircraft incidents	2	1	1
Other in-flight crash	1	1	1
Other in-flight crash due to mechanical failure	1	1	1
Pedestrian vehicular incident	6	5	6
Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicle	18	10	12
Nonroadway incident involving motorized land vehicles	--	3	4
Nonroadway noncollision incident	--	3	4
Falls, slips, trips	13	15	18
Falls on same level	--	3	4
Falls to lower level	11	11	13
Exposure to harmful substances or environments	5	12	14
Exposure to electricity	--	5	6
Exposure to other harmful substances	4	7	8
Contact with objects and equipment	9	16	19
Caught in or compressed by equipment or objects	--	7	8
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, Washington, 2020

Industry (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	84	83	100
Private industry (2)	76	75	90
Goods producing	--	--	--
Natural resources and mining	12	17	20
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	12	17	20
Crop production	5	11	13
Fruit and tree nut farming	--	8	10
Noncitrus fruit and tree nut farming	--	8	10
Apple orchards	--	6	7
Construction	17	21	25
Construction	17	21	25
Construction of buildings	--	4	5
Residential building construction	--	4	5
Residential building construction	--	4	5
Residential remodelers	--	1	1
Heavy and civil engineering construction	1	6	7
Utility system construction	1	4	5
Power and communication line and related structures construction	1	4	5
Specialty trade contractors	--	11	13
Building equipment contractors	--	1	1
Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors	--	1	1
Nonresidential electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors	--	1	1
Building finishing contractors	--	7	8
Manufacturing	--	5	6
Manufacturing	--	5	6
Service providing (3)	--	--	--
Trade, transportation, and utilities	23	14	17
Wholesale trade	--	5	6
Retail trade	8	4	5
Transportation and warehousing	--	5	6
Financial activities	3	5	6
Real estate and rental and leasing	3	5	6
Real estate	3	5	6
Professional and business services	--	--	--
Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services	3	4	5
Administrative and support services	3	4	5
Employment services	--	1	1
Temporary help services	--	1	1
Educational and health services	3	--	--
Educational services	1	1	1
Educational services	1	1	1
Technical and trade schools	1	1	1
Technical and trade schools	1	1	1
Flight training	1	1	1
Other services, except public administration	4	3	4
Other services, except public administration	4	3	4
Repair and maintenance	--	3	4
Government (4)	8	8	10
Federal government	2	2	2
State government	--	3	4
Local government	6	3	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 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, Washington, 2020

Occupation (1)	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	84	83	100
Management occupations	5	8	10
Other management occupations	4	8	10
Property, real estate, and community association managers	3	3	4
Property, real estate, and community association managers	3	3	4
Building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations	--	3	4
Grounds maintenance workers	--	3	4
Grounds maintenance workers	--	3	4
Sales and related occupations	6	5	6
Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations	10	14	17
Supervisors of farming, fishing, and forestry workers	--	3	4
First-line supervisors of farming, fishing, and forestry workers	--	3	4
First-line supervisors of farming, fishing, and forestry workers	--	3	4
Agricultural workers	5	8	10
Miscellaneous agricultural workers	5	8	10
Agricultural equipment operators	--	3	4
Forest, conservation, and logging workers	4	3	4
Logging workers	--	3	4
Construction and extraction occupations	15	17	20
Supervisors of construction and extraction workers	--	5	6
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	--	5	6
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	--	5	6
Construction trades workers	11	12	14
Construction laborers	--	5	6
Construction laborers	--	5	6
Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	6	8	10
Other installation, maintenance, and repair occupations	3	5	6
Production occupations	4	6	7
Other production occupations	--	4	5
Transportation and material moving occupations	20	10	12
Air transportation workers	2	1	1
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers	2	1	1
Commercial pilots	2	1	1
Motor vehicle operators	15	6	7
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, Washington, 2019–20

Worker characteristics	2019	2020
	Number	Number	Percent
Total	84	83	100
Employee status
Wage and salary workers (1)	64	68	82
Self-employed (2)	20	15	18
Gender
Men	72	--	--
Women	12	--	--
Age (3)
20 to 24 years	4	7	8
25 to 34 years	18	19	23
35 to 44 years	14	11	13
45 to 54 years	13	16	19
55 to 64 years	19	22	27
Race or ethnic origin (4)
White, non-Hispanic	60	48	58
Black or African-American, non-Hispanic	--	--	--
Hispanic or Latino	13	24	29
Asian, non-Hispanic	9	5	6
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.