Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)
CFOI, administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in conjunction with participating State agencies, compiles comprehensive and timely information about fatal work injuries occurring in the 50 States and the District of Columbia [BLS 2003a]. To compile counts that are as complete as possible, CFOI uses multiple data sources to identify, verify, and profile fatal work injuries. BLS compiles the census of fatalities from various Federal, State, and local administrative sources, including death certificates, workers’ compensation reports and claims, reports to various regulatory agencies, medical examiner reports, police reports, and news reports. These diverse sources are used because studies have shown that no single source captures all job-related fatalities. Source documents are matched so that each fatality is counted only once. To ensure that a fatality occurred while the decedent was at work, information is verified from two or more source documents or from a source document and a follow-up questionnaire.
Key information about each workplace fatality (occupation and worker characteristics, equipment or machinery involved, and the circumstances of the event) is obtained by cross-referencing the source records. A work relationship is verified for each work injury fatality by using at least two independent source documents. For a fatality to be included, the decedent must have been employed (that is, working for pay, compensation, or profit) at the time of the event, engaged in legal work activity, or present at the site of the incident as a requirement of his or her job. Fatalities that occur during a person’s commute to or from work are excluded from the census counts.
States may identify additional fatal work injuries after data collection closeout for a reference year. In addition, other fatalities excluded from the published count because of insufficient information to determine work relationships may subsequently be verified as work-related. States have up to 1 year to update their initial published State counts. BLS revises fatality counts but not rates. Occupational fatalities and rates shown in this report may reflect such changes, except for the most recent year, and may differ from original data published by BLS. Since 1992, the updates have averaged less than 1.0 % of each year’s total that was initially published.
For further information, contact
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
OCWC/OSH – Suite 3180
2 Massachusetts Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20212–0001
Fatality information: 202–691–6175
Fax: 202–691–6196
Fatalities questions: cfoistaff@bls.gov
www.bls.gov/iif/oshcfoi1.htm
