Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries — Worker Characteristics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) produces comprehensive, accurate, and timely counts of fatal work injuries. CFOI is a Federal-State cooperative program that has been active in all 50 States and the District of Columbia since 1992. To compile counts that are as complete as possible, CFOI uses multiple sources to identify, verify, and profile fatal worker injuries. Information about each workplace fatal injury is obtained by cross-referencing source records, such as death certificates, workers' compensation reports, and Federal and State agency administrative reports. To ensure that fatal injuries are work-related, cases are substantiated with two or more independent source documents, or a source document and a follow-up questionnaire.

CFOI publishes detailed data on case characteristics such as the event or exposure leading to the fatal injury, the source of the fatal injury, and worker activity at the time of the incident. Event or exposure, source, and other case characteristic codes are currently based on the BLS Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) 2.01.

BLS also tabulates the number of fatal occupational injuries by demographic attributes such as age, gender, race, ethnic origin, and occupation. Occupation classifications are currently based on the 2010 Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system. These tabulations are also available by major industry sectors or by detailed industry based on the 2007 North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS).

All data are annual and all figures are actual numbers of fatal injuries. Updates to the data become available approximately 8 months following the close of the reference year.