A U.S. Worker Died Every 104 Minutes in 2024, New Analysis of BLS Data Finds

A U.S. worker died from a work-related injury every 104 minutes in 2024, according to newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics data analyzed by John Foy & Associates, with 5,070 workers killed on the job over the course of the year. Alongside those fatalities, private industry employers reported 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses, a rate of 2.3 cases per 100 full-time workers, underscoring the scale of a crisis that extends well beyond headline fatality counts.

The financial toll is similarly staggering. A new report analyzing the data calculates that workplace fatalities and injuries cost the country $181.4 billion in 2024 alone, including $54.9 billion in lost wages and productivity and $36.8 billion in medical expenses, with each individual worker death carrying an average cost of $1,540,000. Spread across the entire American workforce, the report estimates the economic burden of workplace injuries at roughly $1,120 per worker each year, driven by rising insurance premiums, healthcare costs, and lost economic output.

The danger is heavily concentrated in specific industries. Natural resources and mining recorded the highest fatal injury rate of any sector in 2024, at 19.2 deaths per 100,000 workers, driven by 567 fatalities among agricultural laborers, logging workers, commercial fishermen, and oil and gas extraction crews, workers who face daily exposure to heavy machinery, volatile extraction environments, and remote conditions that slow emergency response.

Construction ranked second by fatality rate, at 12.8 per 100,000 workers, but recorded the highest raw death count of any single industry sector, 1,034 fatalities, primarily driven by falls, slips, and trips, which alone claimed 389 lives. Roofing, framing, and specialty trade subcontractors were identified as particularly high-risk, in part because many smaller firms fall below the regulatory thresholds that trigger direct OSHA oversight. Transportation and warehousing followed closely with a fatal injury rate of 12.6 per 100,000 workers and 865 total fatalities, reflecting the risks faced by truck drivers, delivery workers, and warehouse employees operating under tight productivity quotas and extended shift schedules.

Utilities (5.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers), manufacturing (2.7 per 100,000, 353 fatalities), wholesale trade (2.4), and government (2.0) rounded out a list dominated by physically demanding, often under-regulated blue-collar work. Retail trade and leisure and hospitality each recorded fatality rates of 1.6 per 100,000 workers, with violent acts, including homicides, accounting for a disproportionately high share of deaths in both sectors, a risk the report notes is frequently overlooked in customer-facing industries.

Beyond industry, the report identifies a clear hierarchy of causes behind the country’s workplace deaths. Transportation incidents were the single leading cause of fatal workplace injury by a wide margin, responsible for 1,937 deaths, or 38.2% of all occupational fatalities nationwide. Falls, slips, and trips followed at 844 fatalities (16.6%), contact with objects or equipment caused 756 deaths (14.9%), violent acts accounted for 733 deaths (14.5%), and exposure to harmful substances or environments caused 687 deaths (13.6%), together forming a consistent pattern across industries and years.

The disparities extend into nonfatal injuries as well. Health care and social assistance ranked as the single most injury-prone industry in the country in 2024, recording 553,800 nonfatal cases, 22.3% of all private industry injuries and illnesses, driven by patient handling, workplace violence, and the physical demands of caregiving work. Retail trade (339,800 cases) and manufacturing (332,600 cases) followed closely behind, meaning healthcare, retail, and manufacturing alone accounted for more than one in three nonfatal workplace injuries recorded nationwide.

Where a worker lives compounds these industry-driven risks considerably. Wyoming recorded the highest state-level fatal injury rate in the country in 2024, at 13.9 per 100,000 workers, more than four times the national average, driven largely by its concentration of agriculture, mining, and energy extraction work. The report also identifies significant demographic disparities layered on top of industry and geography: men accounted for 91.9% of all workplace fatalities in 2024, while Hispanic or Latino workers recorded the highest fatal injury rate of any racial or ethnic group for the eighth consecutive year, at 4.3 per 100,000 workers, roughly 30% above the national average.

“The 2024 data confirms what workers in America’s most dangerous industries already know: workplace safety is not improving,” said a spokesperson for John Foy & Associates. “And for millions of workers, the cost of going to work is measured not in dollars but in lives.”

The report’s authors argue that the industries and causes identified in the data are neither random nor unavoidable, and that stronger regulatory oversight, particularly for smaller subcontracted employers who often fall outside standard enforcement thresholds, could meaningfully reduce the death toll in future years.