Dive Brief:
- The manufacturing industry saw 355 workplace fatalities in 2024, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Thursday.
- Fatalities decreased by about 10% from 2023, when 393 on-the-job deaths were recorded. BLS initially published that 2023 saw 391 fatalities.
- The majority of the fatalities were the result of 105 “contact incidents,” dropping 12.5% year over year. “Contact incidents” include encounters with animals, falling or suspended objects, or being caught or compressed by running powered equipment, according to the agency.
Dive Insight:
Excluded from BLS’ 2024 fatality data are the three deaths that fall under the “Overexertion and Bodily Reaction” and “Nonclassifiable” categories, Emily Liddel, the agency’s supervisory economist, said in an email Friday. Overexertion and bodily reaction refer to injuries or illnesses that resulted from excessive physical effort, repeated bodily motion, unnatural positions or remaining in the same position over time, per BLS’ definition.
Nonclassifiable is used to describe events or exposures not listed or allocated under any other division.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a handful of manufacturing companies for machinery-related safety issues in 2024.
Rodney Terry, a 58-year-old frontline supervisor at a GE Appliances factory in Decatur, Alabama, died in July 2024 after he was caught in running machinery, The Moulton Advertiser reported. An OSHA investigation found that the company allowed workers to bypass the machines’ safety doors and not use the required safety measures to prevent injuries. The agency fined GE Appliances $193,585 in penalties, the maximum OSHA can legally recommend.
The number of fatalities by event or exposure in 2023 and 2024
An employee died every 104 minutes from a work-related injury in 2024 across all industries in the U.S., compared to every 99 minutes in 2023, the BLS reported.
In total, there were 5,070 fatal work injuries recorded in the United States in 2024, dropping 4% compared to 5,283 deaths in 2023. The decrease was largely due to a decline in exposure to harmful substances or environments, which was driven by an estimated 20% reduction in drug or alcohol overdoses to 410.
However, the BLS found that the majority of deaths in 2024 were in transportation and material moving occupations, with 1,391 workplace fatalities, despite the 7% decrease from 2023.
Transportation incidents in the manufacturing industry saw the second most fatalities, despite dropping approximately 19% to 65 worker deaths.
The BLS also released its yearly data on union memberships on Wednesday. The manufacturing industry saw labor union membership increase about 10% to 1,340 in 2025, according to the agency’s data. However, employed manufacturing union members dropped approximately 1.5% to 1,107.
Union membership in the U.S. increased by 463,000 across all industries in 2025, which the Economic Policy Institute said is the “highest level recorded in 16 years.”
“The high favorability of unions in the U.S. makes sense when you consider the benefits unions provide for workers,” EPI said in its report. “When workers join together in a union and engage in collective bargaining, their wages, benefits, and working conditions improve.”
