BLS Data Highlights Leading Workplace Injury and Fatality Trends
At the NSC Safety Congress, researcher Jay Vietas connected OSHA’s Top 10 violations with 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics data to help safety managers target prevention.
- By David Kopf
- Sep 19, 2025
A deep dive into Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on workplace injuries and fatalities underscored some of the most pressing risks facing employees in 2023. The presentation, delivered this week by Jay Vietas, Ph.D., senior director of research at the National Safety Council, took place at the NSC Safety Congress & Expo and aimed to help safety professionals better connect OSHA’s Top 10 most-cited standards with real-world injury data.
“This is all in essence to try to rethink or reorient us to how we can improve our programs to not only improve on the compliance side from the citation standpoint, but how can we get to the outcomes that we’re really interested in,” Vietas said.
According to the BLS, 5,283 workers died from on-the-job injuries in 2023. Falls remained a leading cause, with 885 fatalities, 725of them falls to a lower level. Ladders accounted for 173 deaths, while scaffolds were linked to 62. Transportation-related incidents were the single largest category, responsible for 1,942 deaths, including 1,252 roadway fatalities and 310 pedestrian incidents.
Other hazards also proved deadly. Exposure to electricity caused 142 deaths, while powered industrial trucks such as forklifts were linked to 67 fatalities. Fifty-three workers were killed after becoming caught in running machinery. Workplace violence also emerged as a significant concern, with 458 homicides and 281 suicides reported in 2023.
Beyond fatalities, illnesses and nonfatal injuries showed the scope of workplace hazards. Respiratory illnesses accounted for 125,400 reportable cases, many connected to COVID-19 or chronic conditions such as COPD. Musculoskeletal disorders continued to impose a heavy burden, with more than 1 million cases of overexertion and bodily reaction injuries in 2021–22, primarily from lifting, pushing, or pulling.
Vietas emphasized that the relationship between OSHA citations and BLS data is not always direct, but the data provides safety managers with clear direction on where to focus their programs.
“It’s worth considering this information, but recognize it’s not a one-to-one relationship,” he said. “There are other ways to parse this data to be able to create a story and think about how to use this effectively in your workplace.”
For employers, the takeaway is that tracking trends helps identify where preventive measures can have the most impact. Whether through fall protection, vehicle safety, or violence prevention, aligning compliance with outcome-driven safety programs can help ensure, as Vietas put it, that workers “go home to their loved ones at the end of the day.”
About the Author
David Kopf is the publisher and executive editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine.