Recently released statistics from the national Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), conducted annually by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), show that the number of workplace suicides occurring in 2018 – the most recent year available – reached a total of 304, the all-time highest figure recorded since BLS first began tabulating CFOI data in 1992. Workplace homicides, which BLS also tracks, dropped slightly to 453 in 2018, down from 458 in 2017.
Overall, BLS reports that homicides and suicides made up 14.4% of fatal occupational injuries in U.S. workplaces in 2018, essentially the same as in 2017 and fairly consistent with the percentage range recorded over the last 20 years. As in previous years, transportation incidents remained the most frequent type of fatal event at 2,080, accounting for 40% of all work-related fatalities.
The BLS news release providing highlights of the national CFOI for 2018 and containing a detailed breakdown of the data is available online.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.