OSHA Statistics: Workplace Fatalities, Injuries, and Enforcement

OSHA statistics measure workplace fatalities, injuries, and inspection violations across the United States. For EHS professionals, these figures are more than data points. They shape training priorities, justify safety budgets, and measure whether prevention efforts are working. This article covers the most current fatality and injury data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, OSHA's enforcement and inspection activity, and the long-term trends that put today's numbers in perspective.

Workplace Fatality Statistics

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded 5,070 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2024, a 4.0 percent decrease from 5,283 in 2023. The fatal work injury rate fell to 3.3 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers, down from 3.5 the previous year. That rate has now declined for two consecutive years.

To put the count in context, a worker in the United States died from a work-related injury roughly every 104 minutes in 2024. Transportation incidents remained the most frequent category of fatal work injury. Exposure to harmful substances or environments saw the largest year-over-year drop, declining 16.2 percent, driven in part by fewer drug and alcohol overdose deaths on the job. Hispanic and Latino workers continued to experience a disproportionately high fatality rate at 4.3 per 100,000 FTE workers in 2024, compared to the national average of 3.3, with 68.5 percent of those fatalities occurring among foreign-born workers.

The Fatal Four in Construction

OSHA identifies four hazard categories, known as the "Fatal Four," that consistently cause the majority of construction worker deaths: falls, struck-by incidents, electrocutions, and caught-in/between accidents. Together, these four categories account for roughly 60 percent of construction fatalities each year. Falls remain the single largest killer in construction, responsible for more than a third of all construction deaths annually.

In 2024, fatal falls, slips, and trips among construction and extraction workers totaled 370, down from 400 the previous year. Despite decades of fall protection standards, this hazard continues to lead both the Fatal Four and OSHA's most frequently cited violations list. Struck-by incidents rank second, followed by electrocutions and caught-in/between accidents.

Workplace Injury and Illness Rates

Beyond fatalities, the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII) tracks the much larger population of nonfatal cases. In 2024, private industry employers reported 2.5 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses, down 3.1 percent from 2023. That total is the lowest in the history of this data series, which dates back to 2003. The total recordable case (TRC) rate for private industry fell to 2.3 cases per 100 FTE workers, down from 2.4 in 2023, while the DART rate (cases involving days away from work, restricted duty, or job transfer) dropped to 1.4 from 1.5.

Much of the decline in the overall case count came from a 26.0 percent drop in illness cases, primarily driven by the continued retreat of respiratory illness numbers from their pandemic-era peak. Prior to 2020, respiratory illness cases in private industry totaled fewer than 15,000 per year. They surged to nearly 429,000 in 2020, and by 2024, they had fallen back to 54,000. The most common types of nonfatal incidents by event or exposure include overexertion and bodily reaction (such as lifting injuries and repetitive motions), contact with objects and equipment, and falls, slips, and trips. These categories have remained at the top of nonfatal injury data for years, and they represent the hazards that generate the highest volume of lost workdays and restricted duty cases across most industries.

Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards

Every year, OSHA publishes its list of the standards that generate the most citations during inspections. The same categories have dominated this list for years, signaling persistent compliance gaps across U.S. workplaces. The top five most frequently cited standards per OSHA's official common stats page for FY 2024 were:

• Fall Protection (29 CFR 1926.501): Unprotected edges, open-sided floors, and leading-edge work without guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest systems remain the most common violations across construction sites.
  
  
• Hazard Communication (29 CFR 1910.1200): Missing or incomplete written hazard communication programs, inadequate employee training on chemical hazards, and unlabeled secondary containers drive citations in general industry.
  
  
• Control of Hazardous Energy/Lockout/Tagout (29 CFR 1910.147): Employers are most often cited for lacking machine-specific energy control procedures or failing to train workers on hazardous energy isolation before maintenance.
  
  
• Ladders (29 CFR 1926.1053): Common violations include ladders that do not extend 3 feet above the landing surface, use of damaged ladders, and improper positioning during use.
  
  
• Respiratory Protection (29 CFR 1910.134): No written respiratory protection program, failure to conduct proper fit testing, and inadequate training on respirator use and limitations account for the majority of citations.

Fall protection has held the number one position for well over a decade. The consistency of these rankings suggests that the underlying compliance challenges (training gaps, inadequate written programs, missing or poorly maintained equipment) are systemic rather than isolated. For a detailed breakdown of each standard, including citation counts and common employer violations, see our full analysis of OSHA's Top 10 Most Cited Standards for FY 2024 and OSHA's Top 10 Most Cited Standards for FY 2025.

OSHA Coverage and Enforcement

Federal OSHA and its state plan partners employ approximately 1,850 compliance safety and health officers to cover 130 million workers at more than 8 million worksites. That translates to roughly one inspector for every 70,000 workers. The agency maintains 10 regional offices and 85 local area offices across the country.

In fiscal year 2024, OSHA conducted 34,625 federal inspections, split nearly evenly between unprogrammed inspections (17,455, typically triggered by complaints, injuries, or referrals) and programmed inspections (17,170, initiated through national emphasis programs targeting known hazards like heat, silica, falls in construction, and combustible dust).

The programmed inspection count represented an 8 percent increase over FY 2023. The near 50/50 split is significant because historically OSHA has struggled to push programmed inspections above 40 to 45 percent of the total, and a higher programmed ratio means the agency has enough bandwidth to proactively target known hazards rather than spending all of its inspector hours responding to complaints, fatalities, and hospitalizations.

OSHA's budget appropriation has held at approximately $632 million from FY 2023 through FY 2025, supporting not only enforcement but also compliance assistance, training programs, and the agency's on-site consultation program for small employers.

Historical Progress in Workplace Safety

The long-term trend lines offer the clearest picture of how far workplace safety has come since OSHA's creation in 1970. Average daily workplace fatalities fell from 38 per day in 1970 to approximately 14 per day in 2024, based on the BLS count of 5,070 fatal work injuries. The nonfatal injury and illness rate has dropped even more dramatically, from 10.9 incidents per 100 workers in 1972 to 2.3 per 100 in 2024, a decline of nearly 80 percent.

These improvements occurred while U.S. employment more than doubled over the same period. In 1970, the workforce stood at roughly 56 million; by 2024, it exceeded 130 million. The economy absorbed tens of millions of additional workers while simultaneously becoming much safer per capita. The gains reflect a combination of stronger standards, expanded enforcement, improved safety technology, and a growing culture of prevention among employers and workers. Still, more than 5,000 workers were killed on the job in 2024, and 2.5 million nonfatal injuries and illnesses were recorded, a reminder that the work of prevention is far from finished.

Conclusion

OSHA statistics provide the foundation for informed safety decisions, from identifying the hazards most likely to affect your workforce to building the case for safety investments. The 2024 data from BLS and OSHA show continued progress on both fatality rates and nonfatal injury counts, but persistent challenges remain in construction, transportation, and the standards that have topped OSHA's citation list for years. Staying current on these numbers helps EHS professionals target the risks that matter most.