Fatal work injuries totaled 66 in 2021 for Oregon, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the number of work-related fatalities in Oregon was up from 60 the previous year. (See chart 1.) Fatal occupational injuries in the state have ranged from a high of 88 in 1992 to a low of 43 in 2012. Nationwide, a total of 5,190 fatal work injuries were recorded in 2021, a 9-percent increase from 4,764 in 2020, according to the results from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI).

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Chart 1. Number of fatal occupational injuries by employee status, Oregon, 2012–21

Year	Total	Wage and salary	Self-employed
2012	43	36	7
2013	49	41	8
2014	69	52	17
2015	44	32	12
2016	72	58	14
2017	60	47	13
2018	62	52	10
2019	69	55	14
2020	60	46	14
2021	66	56	10

In Oregon, transportation incidents resulted in 30 fatal work injuries. Contact with objects and equipment accounted for 14 fatalities. These two major categories accounted for 67 percent of all fatal workplace injuries in the state. (See chart 2 and table 1.) Worker deaths from transportation incidents were up from 24 over the year and worker fatalities due to contact with objects and equipment were up from 10.

Nationally, transportation incidents were the most frequent fatal event in 2021, accounting for 38 percent of fatal work injuries. Falls, slips, and trips was the second-most common fatal event (16 percent), followed by both exposure to harmful substances or environments and violence and other injuries by persons or animals (15 percent each) and contact with objects and equipment (14 percent).

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Chart 2. Percent distribution of total fatal occupational injuries by event, United States and Oregon, 2021

Event	United States	Oregon
Transportation incidents	38.2	45.5
Contact with objects and equipment	13.6	21.2
Falls, slips, trips	16.4	12.1
Violence and other injuries by persons or animals	14.7	10.6
All other	17.2	10.6

The private transportation and warehousing industry sector had the highest number of fatalities in Oregon with 17, up from 12 in the previous year. (See table 2.) Transportation incidents resulted in 12 of the 17 fatalities in the industry. The truck transportation subsector accounted for 11 of the 17 fatal workplace injuries in the transportation and warehousing industry.

The private agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industry sector had 12 fatal workplace injuries, up from 10 in the previous year. Contact with objects and equipment resulted in 6 of the 12 fatalities in the industry. The support activities for agriculture and forestry subsector accounted for five, or 42 percent, of the fatal injuries in this industry.

The transportation and material moving occupational group had the highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 20. (See table 3.) Motor vehicle operators accounted for 17 of the 20 fatalities among transportation and material moving workers. The farming, fishing, and forestry occupational group had the second-highest number of fatal workplace injuries with 11, followed by construction and extraction occupations with 10.

• Men accounted for 92 percent of work-related fatalities in Oregon, compared to 91 percent nationwide. (See table 4.) Transportation incidents made up 44 percent of the fatalities for men in Oregon.

• White non-Hispanics accounted for 76 percent of those who died from a workplace injury. Nationwide, this group accounted for 60 percent of work-related deaths.

• Workers 25-54 years old accounted for 53 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities in 2021, compared to 57 percent of on-the-job fatalities nationally.

• Of the 66 fatal work injuries in Oregon, 85 percent worked for wages and salaries; the remainder were self-employed. The most frequent fatal event for wage and salary workers was transportation incidents; the most frequent fatal event for self-employed workers was falls, slips, and trips.

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 2021 national data, over 23,900 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/definitions/occupational-safety-and-health-definitions.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/overview/cfoi-scope.htm and www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/concepts.htm.

Latency Cases. Latent fatal occupational injury cases occur when the date of injury differs from the date of death. In some cases, the death occurs in a different year than the occupational injury and are known as cross-year latent cases. In 2021, there were 197 cases nationally where this occurred, and 174 of these latent cases occurred more than 30 days prior to the start of 2021. For more information on latent cases, see www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-10/latency-in-fatal-occupational-injuries.htm.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. CFOI reports fatal workplace injuries only. These may include fatal workplace injuries complicated by an illness such as COVID-19. Fatal workplace illnesses not precipitated by an injury are not in scope for CFOI. CFOI does not report any illness related information, including COVID-19. Additional information is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-on-workplace-injuries-and-illnesses-compensation-and-occupational-requirements.htm.

Acknowledgments. BLS thanks the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services 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.

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