Corporate Life

Fatal Work Accidents Dip Again, Yet Toll Remains High

Fatal work accidents in the United States have seen a slight decline in recent years, yet the toll remains high. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data published this month, 5,070 fatal work injuries were recorded in the country in 2024, down 4.0 percent from 2023 (5,283) and 7.6 percent from a peak recorded in 2022 (5,486). 

However, this number has not yet fallen to levels seen in the early 2010s, when 4,600 to 4,800 work-related deaths were recorded annually. While the recent dip is encouraging, the human cost remains alarming, highlighting the critical need to strengthen safety and prevention measures across industries, especially those currently most at risk.

Fatal workplace injuries remain a pressing issue in the United States, with stark disparities across occupational fields. According to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in February 2026, farming, fishing, and forestry are still by far the most dangerous fields of work, recording around 22 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers in 2024. A little further behind are transportation and material moving (12.8) and construction and extraction (12.6), followed by protective services (8.2) and building/ground cleaning and maintenance (6.9). These figures underscore the persistent risks faced by workers in physically demanding and high-hazard industries, despite ongoing safety regulations and enforcement efforts.

More than 5,000 deadly work injuries were recorded in the U.S. in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, with truck drivers and construction trades workers accounting for a large proportion.

"There were 5,070 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2024, down 4.0 percent from 5,283 in 2023," the BLS revealed on Thursday.

The data notes 1,018 fatal occupational injuries involving motor vehicle operators in 2024, including a whopping 798 among heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers.

A construction worker helps build a support column using steel rebar during the building of a condo tower on Feb. 10, 2025 in Miami, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images / Getty Images)

"Roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles decreased 8.5 percent to 1,146 in 2024 from 1,252 in 2023, while pedestrian incidents involving motorized land vehicles increased 19.0 percent to 369 in 2024 from 310 in 2023," the bureau said.

There were 788 deadly injuries among construction trade workers in 2024, according to the report, and 239 among grounds maintenance workers.

A significant number of the overall fatal occupational injury figures involved homicides and suicides, at 470 and 263 in 2024, respectively.

A tractor trailer on an interstate during a winter storm in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

There were 410 tied to drug and alcohol overdoses. 

"The decrease in fatal injuries in 2024 was largely driven by a 16.2 percent drop in fatalities due to exposure to harmful substances or environments (to 687 cases from 820). This decrease was in turn driven by a decline in drug or alcohol overdoses, which accounted for 59.7 percent of fatalities in this category, dropping to 410 fatal injuries in 2024 from 512 fatalities in 2023," BLS noted.

Among forest, conservation and logging workers, there were just 53 deadly occupation injuries in 2024, and among fishing and hunting workers, just 24, the data indicates. 

Workers at a construction site for the Gateway Program Hudson Tunnel Project in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

But both categories had a high incidence of deadly work injuries for every 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, with logging workers at 110.4 per 100,000 workers, and fishing and hunting workers at 88.8 per 100,000 in 2024, according to the BLS. Among roofers, that figure is 48.7 per 100,000 workers.

In many regions of the world, workplace safety has drastically increased over the last couple of decades, ensuring healthy working environments for many employees. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement. According to the most recent estimates from the International Labor Organization, every year, around 3 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases, most of them caused by occupational diseases (89 percent) and about 11 percent due to work accidents. In addition, an estimated 400 million additional people are victims of non-fatal work accidents each year.

According to the latest available data from the ILO (as of February 19, 2026), Costa Rica currently records the highest number of work-related injuries, with over 9,000 non-fatal and 9.7 fatal occupational injuries per 100,000 workers. Colombia and Turkey, with between 4,400-4,800 non-fatal and between 6.5-11.5 fatal accidents per 100,000 workers, are also among the worst-ranked countries on these indicators, suggesting challenges in workplace safety standards or enforcement. At the opposite end of the scale, Norway and Japan demonstrate significantly lower injury rates (between 230-520 non-fatal and 1.3 fatal per 100,000 workers), often attributed to more robust safety regulations, advanced industrial practices, and strong enforcement mechanisms.

Despite ongoing efforts, the United States remains among the worst-ranked countries of the Western world, alongside France and Portugal, with 2,400 incidents per 100,000 workers and a fatal injury rate of 3.5 per 100,000. According to the most recent data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country is still facing over 5,000 work-related deaths annually. Slips, trips, falls and transportation incidents remain the leading causes of workplace fatal injuries in the U.S., especially in high-risk sectors like agriculture, farming, forestry, transportation, and construction.