Fatal Injuries at Work, 2020

Massachusetts Fatality Update, 2020

Fatal injuries at work are preventable. Information about where and how they occur is essential to develop effective prevention programs. This update provides an overview of fatal injuries at work that occurred in Massachusetts in 2020 and includes details collected by both the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) and the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) projects. Included are deaths traditionally linked to the work environment such as falls, electrocutions, and exposure to toxic chemicals. Also included are workplace opioid overdoses, homicides and suicides, and motor vehicle-related fatalities that occurred during travel on the job. Workplace deaths from occupational illnesses and heart attacks are not systematically counted by the projects and are not included in this report.

69 people died from workplace injuries in Massachusetts in 2020

The leading causes of fatal workplace injuries were:

• Workplace overdose (n=18)
• Roadway crash (n=11)
• Fall to a lower level (n=8)
• Water vessel incident (n=6)
• Workplace homicide (n=6)
• Workplace suicide (n=5)
• Struck by falling object or equipment (n=3)

Based on the rate of injury, the following workers had the highest risk of fatal injury:

• Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting: 53.4/100,000 workers
• Landscaping: 28.5/100,000
• Transportation and Utilities: 6.3/100,000
• Construction: 6.3/100,000

To learn more about these fatalities (the workers, the industries, the events), prevention activities, and resources, please see the full report.

Downloads

• Massachusetts Fatality Update, 2020 (PDF) | (DOCX)

Date published:	August 22, 2022