Workplace Fatalities

Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries

In partnership with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Quality, Metrics and Statistics Division completes an annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). To access the occupational fatalities database maintained by the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, click here.

The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration maintains a list of Fatalities and High Priority Incidents which result in a safety order here.

The CFOI includes work-related fatalities resulting from unintentional and intentional injuries. CFOI uses multiple data sources to identify, document and verify work-related injury deaths. On an annual basis, thousands of documents including death certificates are reviewed by the QMS division staff. CFOI data is traditionally released annually on reporting in December of each year on data for the previous calendar year.

By the Numbers

• 157 fatal occupational injuries in 2023
• An increase of 1 fatal occupational injury from 156 in 2022 CFOI
• 57 of Indiana’s fatal occupational injuries were transportation-related (36.31%).

Fatalities by Industry:

• The State Government industry experienced the highest percentage increase from one (1) in 2022 to four (4) in 2023, a 300% increase.
• The Retail Trade and Mining industries both experienced a 100% increase.
  • Retail Trade increased from five (5) fatal occupational injuries in 2022 to ten in (10) 2023
  • Mining increased from one (1) fatal occupational injury in 2022 to two (2) in 2023
• The Federal Government industry had the highest percentage of decrease in 2023, three (3) fatal occupational injuries in 2022 to zero (0) in 2023 (100%).
• Accommodation and Food Services experienced a 78% decrease from 14 fatal occupational injuries in 2022 to three (3) in 2023.

Fatal Occupational Injuries by Industry

Fatal Events

“Event or exposure” describes the manner in which a worker was fatality injured.

• Transportation-related incidents were the number one leading cause of fatal occupational injuries in 2023 with a count of 57.
• Contact with objects and equipment had the second highest number of fatal occupational injuries with a count of 27.
• Exposure to harmful substances or environments had the third highest number of fatal occupational injuries with a count of 24
• Fires and explosions had the second highest percentage increase in cases from its count of one (1) in 2022 to five (5) in 2023, a 400% increase.

Occupations with the largest number of worker fatal injuries for all ownership

• 53 of the Indiana’s fatal occupational injuries involved employees who had an occupation in Transportation and material moving.
  • Motor vehicle operators which include driver/sales workers and passenger vehicle drivers suffered 40 fatal occupational injuries.
  • Material moving workers which includes crane and tower operators along with laborers and material movers suffered 11 fatal occupational injuries.
• 25 of the Indiana’s fatal occupational injuries involved employees who had an occupation in construction and extraction.
  • 23 of the 25 fatal occupational injuries were in the private sector under the occupation construction and the other two (2) fatal occupational injuries were in the Local government sector under which occupation is unknown.
• 13 of Indiana’s fatal occupational injuries involved employees who had an occupation in production.
  • Metal workers and plastic workers occupations suffered 6 of the 13 fatal occupational injuries. These worker occupations include employees who are machine tool cutting setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic.

Demographics

• 139 men and 18 women suffered a occupational fatality.
• 122 of the fatal occupational injuries were suffered by wage and salary workers.
• Self-employed workers suffered 35 fatal occupational injuries.
• Race or ethnic origin:
  • White (non-Hispanic) suffered 116 fatal occupational injuries
  • Black or African-American (non-Hispanic) suffered 25 fatal occupational injuries
  • Hispanic or Latino suffered 12 fatal occupational injuries
  • Four (4) fatal occupational injuries race or ethnic origins were unpublishable
• Three age groups with the highest fatality counts
  • 45 to 54 years of age suffered 35 fatal occupational injuries
  • 55 to 64 years of age suffered 31 fatal occupational injuries
  • 25 to 34 years of age suffered 29 fatal occupational injuries
• Three locations that accounted for the highest occupational fatality cases:
  • 56 fatal occupational injuries occurred on a transportation infrastructure
  • 32 fatal occupational injuries occurred on an industrial places and premises
  • 20 fatal occupational injuries occurred on a construction or maintenance site

Recent Changes to the CFOI Program

Starting with reference year (RY) 2023 data, the CFOI program now considers fatal cardiac events as in-scope injuries when a single-shift exposure to harmful substances or environments within 24 hours prior to the onset of cardiac symptoms can be substantiated. This change applies to workers in all occupations, however firefighters and first responders are expected to be the most common occupations captured in these cases. For more information on this change, visit the CFOI Handbook of Methods online at https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/ .

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2022 update resulted in minor revisions within five industries, as well as major revisions within the Retail trade and Information sectors. More information is available at https://www.census.gov/naics .

Comparison of estimates using NAICS 2022 with prior NAICS coding structures should be made with caution. For a concordance of 2017 NAICS to 2022 NAICS see https://www.census.gov/naics/concordances/2022_to_2017_NAICS.xlsx . Industry sector level comparisons made in this publication are included where the 2017 NAICS is comparable to 2022 NAICS.

A list of major changes implemented in the comprehensive Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS) revision is available at https://www.bls.gov/iif/definitions/oiics-version-3-major-changes.htm . These changes resulted in a break in series for 2023 case characteristics data.

Note: Totals for major categories may include subcategories not shown separately. For complete information on how the data are coded and presented see our definitions page at http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfdef.htm. Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. CFOI fatality counts exclude illness-related deaths unless precipitated by an injury event.

Fatality Characteristics, Summary Tables, and National Data

Please find the data available for the State of Indiana below below:

A high level analysis of data relating to fatalities from 2003 - 2010 produced by the Quality, Metrics & Statistics division is available here.