North Carolina workplace fatalities increased in 2020

The year 2020 was difficult for all sorts of reasons. One reason to add to the list is that workplace fatalities in North Carolina significantly increased compared to previous years based on preliminary information released by the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL).

By the numbers

The NCDOL’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Division inspected 65 non-COVID-19 work-related fatalities in 2020. The division also inspected 26 cases reported as deaths related to the coronavirus.

The 65 non-COVID-19 fatalities are the highest in the last 10 years. For comparison, there were 55 fatalities in 2019. From 2000 to 2019 the average number of fatalities per year was 43.8.

Industries. The construction industry suffered the most work-related fatalities with 26 in 2020, five more than in 2019. The services industry had the second-highest number of work-related deaths with 22, an increase of 15 from the previous year. Manufacturing had the third-highest number of work-related deaths with 15, seven more than in 2019.

In addition, agriculture, forestry, and fishing had 12 fatalities in 2020, an increase from four in 2019. There were also five fatalities in the transportation and public utility industry, a decrease from nine in 2019. Government experienced nine workplace fatalities. There were two work-related fatalities in wholesale trade.