Industry Incidents and Rates

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports the number of fatal occupational injuries and the number of nonfatal injuries and illnesses by race or ethnic origin. Race or ethnic origin categories used by BLS follow an Office of Management and Budget directive revised in 2024 (Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting):

• White
• Black or African-American
• Asian
• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
• Hispanic or Latino
• Middle Eastern or North African (New starting in 2024. Not yet available with currently available data.)
• Multi-race (non-Hispanic)
• Hispanic and other

Persons identified as Hispanic or Latino may be of any race. The race categories shown exclude data for Hispanics or Latinos.

Fatal Trends

In 2024, most workers killed were White (56%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (24%), Black or African-American (12%), and Asian (4%). Other races or not reported accounted for about 3% of the total, while all other groups each accounted for less than 1% of total deaths. Deaths among American Indian or Alaska Natives experienced the largest percent decrease (-46%) followed by Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders (-15%). Most other groups also experienced decreases. Deaths among Black or African-American workers as well as White non-Hispanic workers both experienced decreases of about 5% in 2024. Workers of multiple races experienced a 4% decrease, while Hispanic or Latino workers saw a 2% decrease in deaths. The only group with an increase in the number of deaths in 2024 was Asian workers (+10%):

• American Indian or Alaska Native (17 fewer deaths, -46%)
• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (2 fewer deaths, -15%)
• Black or African-American (35 fewer deaths, -5%)
• White (142 fewer deaths, -5%)
• Persons of multiple races (1 fewer death, -4%)
• Hispanic or Latino (21 fewer deaths, -2%)
• Asian (16 more deaths, +10%)

Overall, the occupational death rate decreased 6% in 2024, from 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2023 to 3.3 in 2024. The decrease in death rates indicates the risk of occupational death has decreased because of a decreasing number of deaths despite the increase in hours worked. Death rates also decreased for all groups except Asian workers. Despite the improvement, 2024 marks the eighth consecutive year Hispanic or Latino workers experienced the highest death rate of any group at 4.3 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. Death rate percent changes are provided below:

• Black or African-American workers (-6%)
• White workers (-3%)
• Hispanic or Latino workers (-2%)
• Asian workers (+12%)

Although the fatal data by race or ethnic origin are very valuable, two current data gaps limit our understanding of the fatality risks faced by different worker groups. First, fatality rates by race or ethnic origin are not available for specific industries or occupations. Without this industry and occupational specific data, the ability to target interventions for workers at the highest risk of death is severely limited.

The second data limitation is that the BLS fatal surveillance program (Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries) excludes the tracking of fatal occupational illnesses. This limitation is not specific to race or ethnic origin but prevents the tracking of long-term health outcomes for worker groups by industry, occupation, or demographic variables like race or ethnic origin.

Nonfatal Trends

Unfortunately, nonfatal occupational data by race or ethnic origin are also limited and are of low statistical quality. The first major issue with current nonfatal data is that employers fail to report to the BLS race or ethnic origin for 48% of cases involving days away from work and 51% of cases involving days away from work, restricted activity, or job transfer. Because so many of the cases lack race or ethnic origin information, the true distribution of nonfatal cases by race or ethnic origin is unknown. Although current estimates show that White workers account for 28% of nonfatal cases involving days away from work, followed by Hispanic or Latino workers (13%), Black or African-American workers (8%), and Asian workers (1.5%), it is not known how the distribution would shift if all cases included race or ethnic origin information. With this caveat in mind, current trends show the number of nonfatal cases involving days away from work decreased among all groups from 2021-2022 to 2023-2024.  Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander workers experienced the largest percent decrease (-40%), followed by Black or African-American workers (-23%) and White workers (-22%). However, these observed decreases may be partially accounted for by 48.3% of cases missing race or ethnic origin information in 2023-2024 compared to 47.8% in 2021-2022.

The second major issue regarding current nonfatal data is that injury rates by race or ethnic origin are unreported by BLS. Without nonfatal case rate information, there is no way to assess the injury and illness risk faced by workers of different race or ethnic origin groups. This lack of information is in contrast to other demographic data made available by BLS. Injury and illness rates are reported for both worker sex and age.

To further explore the nonfatal data currently available by race or ethnic origin, please see the data details page.

Source: National Safety Council (NSC) analysis of BLS data.