Charting workplace fatalities in the U.S. since 1992

A total of 5,488 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2007, a decrease of 6 percent from the revised total of 5,840 fatal work injuries reported for 2006; the 2007 annual preliminary total is the smallest total for any year since the fatality census was first conducted in 1992. This is according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[Chart data—TXT]

Overall, 90 percent of the fatal work injuries involved workers in private industry. Service-providing industries in the private sector recorded 48 percent of all fatal work injuries in 2007, while goods-producing industries recorded 42 percent. Another 10 percent of the fatal work injury cases in 2007 involved government workers.

Based on these preliminary counts, the rate of fatal injury for U.S. workers in 2007 was 3.7 fatal work injuries per 100,000 workers, down from the final rate of 4.0 per 100,000 workers in 2006, and the lowest annual fatality rate ever reported by the fatality census.

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, part of the BLS Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities program, provides the most complete count of fatal work injuries available. For more information on fatal work injuries, see "National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries in 2007," (PDF) (HTML) news release USDL 08-1182. Data for 2007 are preliminary. The total for 2001 excludes work-related fatalities that resulted from the September 11 terrorist attacks, which were tabulated separately.