Fatal Occupational Injuries In Maryland – 2022 - Research and Statistics - Maryland Occupational Safety and Health (MOSH)

For non fatal injury data in MD, please visit: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Fatal work injuries totaled 80 in 2022 for Maryland according to the latest fatality census results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI). The number of work-related fatalities for 2022 remained level with the total fatalities in the previous year, 2021. Since 1992, fatal occupational injuries in Maryland have ranged from a high of 106, reported in 2006, to a low of 59, reported in 2020. Certain fatal events are not covered under the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency’s investigative oversight including cases of workplace homicide and suicide; certain transportation events, such as aircraft, rail, and highway crashes; and fatalities to the self-employed. The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries does include these cases, therefore the work fatality count reported on CFOI is significantly higher.

Nationwide, a total of 5,486 fatal work injuries were recorded in the United States in 2022, a 5.7-percent increase from 5,190 in 2021. The national total of work fatalities for 2020 of 4,764 represented the lowest annual number since 2013.

Source: Maryland Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CFOI Program, December 2023.
Maryland Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CFOI Program, December 2023.

Type of incident

In Maryland, transportation incidents were the most frequent type of incident resulting in 23 fatal work injuries. Violence and other injuries by persons or animals accounted for 22 fatalities and Falls, slips, trips accounted for 10 fatalities. These three major categories accounted for nearly 69 percent of all workplace fatalities in the state. The number of worker deaths from transportation incidents rose from 21 in 2021, but with the exception of three years (1995, 2014, and 2021), transportation events have remained the most frequent cause of death for workers in Maryland; in 2018, it tied with exposure to harmful substances or environments for the most frequent.

Source: Maryland Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CFOI Program, December 2023.
Note: Total may not equal 100 percent due to rounding.

Nationally, transportation incidents remained the most frequent workplace event in 2022 with 2,066 fatalities, a slight 4.2 percent increase from 1,982 in 2021. Suicides increased 13.1 percent (267 fatalities in 2022) following a decrease in 2020 (259 fatalities) and 2021 (236 fatalities). Unintentional overdoses increased 13.1 percent to 525 fatalities in 2022, up from 464 in 2021, continuing a trend of annual increases since 2012. Fatalities due to exposure to temperature extremes increased 18.6 percent in 2022, rising to 51 from 43 in 2021.

Industry

The private construction industry had the largest numbers of fatalities in Maryland in 2022 with 16, up from 14 in 2021. Falls, slips, and trips accounted for 6 of the 16 fatalities in this industry. The private sector transportation and warehousing had 12 worker fatalities, up from 10 in 2021. Of those 12 fatalities, 6 were transportation incidents and 4 were caused by Violence and other injuries from people and animals. Administrative and support and waste management and remediation services accounted for 11 fatal workplace injuries down from 13 in 2021.

Source: Maryland Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CFOI Program, December 2023.
Source: Maryland Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CFOI Program, December 2021.

Occupation

Transportation and material moving occupations had the highest number of fatalities with 26 (up from 15 in 2021) with the majority of the fatalities within this group being motor vehicle operators accounting for 22 of the fatalities. Construction and extraction occupations, and protective service occupations had the second highest number of fatalities with 11each. Maryland workers in transportation and material moving occupations, and construction and extraction occupations, and protective service occupations accounted for 60 percent of the state’s work-related fatalities as compared to the national percentage of 55.

Source: Maryland Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CFOI Program, December 2023.

Additional highlights

Women accounted for 10 percent of the work-related fatalities in Maryland, down from 11 percent in 2021.
White, non-Hispanic workers accounted for 46 percent of those who died from a workplace injury while Black, non-Hispanic workers accounted for 35 percent and Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 14 percent. In 2021, Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for 15 percent of workers who died from a workplace injury and White, non-Hispanic workers accounted for 48 percent.
There was an increase in self employed worker workplace deaths from last year. In 2021, self-employed workers accounted for 31 percent of work place deaths. In 2022, the share of self-employed worker deaths was 19 percent.
Black, non-Hispanic workers accounted for 59 percent of deaths caused by Violence and other injuries by persons or animals while White, non-Hispanic workers accounted for approximately 32 percent of deaths caused by the same event.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries

CFOI reports fatal workplace injuries only. These may include fatal workplace injuries complicated by an illness such as COVID-19. Fatal workplace illnesses not precipitated by an injury are not in scope for CFOI. CFOI does not report any illness related information, including COVID-19. Additional information is available online.

Scope and Program Technical Notes

The Maryland Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) program collects and publishes statistics on all fatal work injuries occurring in the State of Maryland. Maryland CFOI is conducted within the Maryland Department of Labor, Division of Labor and Industry in cooperation with the U.S Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. CFOI’s published results are the U.S. government’s official tally of workplace fatalities for the nation. Maryland has participated in the CFOI program every year since the program’s inception in 1992.

CFOI provides for a complete accounting of all fatal work injuries that occur in Maryland each year. The program uses diverse data sources from a variety of federal, state, and local government administrative records, as well as the media, in order to substantiate and profile fatal work injuries. CFOI includes data for all workplace fatalities regardless of whether the fatality was under the regulatory authority of the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health agency or other federal and state agencies. Any comparisons, therefore, between the CFOI program’s counts and those released by other agencies or sources should take into account the different coverage requirements and definitions being used.

For a fatality to be included in this census, the decedent must have been employed (defined as working for pay, compensation, or profit) at the time of the event, engaged in a legal work activity, or present at the site of the incident as a requirement of his or her job. Fatalities to volunteers and unpaid family workers who perform the same duties and functions as paid workers are also included in the count. These criteria are generally broader than those used by state and federal agencies administering specific laws and regulations. (Fatalities that occur during a person’s normal commute to and from work are excluded from the census counts.)

Data presented in this release include deaths occurring in 2022 that resulted from traumatic occupational injuries. An injury is defined as any wound or damage to the body resulting from acute exposure to energy, such as heat, electricity, or impact from a crash or fall, or from the absence of such essentials as heat or oxygen, caused by a specific event or incident within a single workday or shift. Fatal injuries included in the fatality census are open wounds; intracranial and internal injuries; heatstroke; hypothermia; asphyxiation; acute poisonings, resulting from short-term exposures limited to the worker’s shift; suicides and homicides; and work injuries listed as underlying or contributory causes of death.