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.
“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 figure involved homicides and suicides, at 470 and 263 in 2024 respectively.
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.
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.
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