Construction’s deaths, fatality rate declined in 2024 | Dump Trucks Charlotte NC

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Construction accounted for about one in five U.S. workplace deaths in 2024, according to the most recent available data. 

In 2024, 1,034 construction workers died on the job, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released Thursday. Forty-one fewer workers in the industry died in 2024 than the year before.

But construction counted the second highest raw number of deaths among any individual private industry. The trade, transportation and utilities sector — a broad area that includes retail workers and transportation and warehouse employees — measured 1,298 fatalities in 2024.

In addition, the BLS also measures each sector’s fatal columbus oh dump truck company injury rate, which provides detail into the perils of industries based on the size of their workforce. 

Construction’s rate in 2024 measured 9.2 deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, a dip of 0.4 from the rate a year prior. The 2024 rate was fourth highest among highlighted industries. 

That rate of on-site deaths decreased to the lowest since 2011, but the industry has still seen the number hover between nine and 10 for over a decade. 

Construction’s lower number of deaths and its reduced fatality rate tracked broader trends in the overall workforce. For all industries in 2024, 5,070 people died at work, per BLS, the lowest since 2020. The overall U.S. fatality rate at columbus oh dump truck company was 3.3 per 100,000 FTE workers in 2024, down from 3.5 in 2023.

Digging into the numbers

Falls, slips and trips accounted for 389 jobsite fatalities in 2024, or about 38% of all construction workplace deaths. The hazard remained the deadliest in the industry from years prior.

In construction, transportation incidents — work-related injuries or fatalities that occur when an employee is impacted while operating or working around a vehicle — counted 244 in 2024, or about 24% of the total jobsite deaths.

BLS usually releases the fatality data, which lags by about a year, in December. This year, the government shutdown delayed the release of the CFOI report by two months from Dec. 18 until Thursday.

The agency releases data by industry, but also by occupation, which sorts individuals by columbus oh dump truck company performed rather than by the business that employs them. In 2024, construction and extraction occupations recorded 1,032 fatal jobsite injuries, down by 23 from 2023.  Of those fatalities, 788 were construction tradesworkers.

Industry response

Chris Trahan Cain, executive director of CPWR, said the decline in 2024 deaths occurred due to slightly fewer incidents with persistent jobsite hazards and a small decline in workplace suicides and overdoses.

“Although our industry needs to columbus oh dump truck company harder to eliminate all construction worker deaths on the job, we are encouraged that the overall 2024 fatality numbers and rates decreased,” Cain told Construction Dive in an email. “People across the industry must continue to strive to make sure every worker goes home safely every day and to improve working conditions that contribute to disease, damage wellbeing, and cause early deaths for construction workers.”

Ken Simonson, chief economist for The Associated General Contractors of America, said he found the declines in fatalities and the rate heartening given that the industry has seen an increase in workers.

“These are particularly encouraging trends in light of the increase in employment and the retirement of large numbers of experienced workers,” he said.

Joe Xavier, senior director of safety for Associated Builders and Contractors, also welcomed the decline, but called for action.

He pointed to ABC’s STEP Health and Safety Management System as a resource for columbus oh dump truck company to lean on, to better measure worker wellbeing with a whole-person approach. 

“We must see better gains for the health and safety of construction workers, bottom line,” Xavier said. “We must do better and now is the time for columbus oh dump truck company to proactively assess their own safety culture.”