The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that there were approximately 2.49 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses reported by private industry employers in 2024, based on January 2026 data. Approximately 888,100 injuries involved days away from work. The most frequent serious injuries include sprains, strains, tears, and falls, slips, and trips.
In nearly all industries, such injuries commonly occur. This includes industries such as construction, manufacturing, health care, transportation, and even office settings. And suffering injuries could cause treatment, time off work, or rehabilitation depending on their seriousness. In worse cases, it could even cause permanent disabilities.
There are different types of workplace injuries that workers commonly suffer. And understanding them could be helpful so they can avoid them. Otherwise, have the knowledge of what to do after the accident happens.
How the Government Sorts Injuries
The federal data categorizes workplace injuries by the event or exposure behind them. In addition, it also looks at the nature of the injury and part of the body affected. According to the Bureau, their non-fatal serious injuries are classified in terms of the number of days away from work, restriction of duty, or job transfer.
There were about 1.8 million cases involving days away from work in the period from 2023 to 2024. Such cases were 61.5% of all cases, and the median time away was 8 days.
Overexertion and repetitive motions, contact accidents, and falls, slips, and trips are leading causes of non-fatal injuries. Exposure to dangerous environments causes the most serious non-fatal cases.
Together, there were about 2.03 million cases over the two years, and they resulted in different injuries.
Overexertion and Repetitive Motion
Excessive stress, repetitive motions, and other physiological factors make up the largest grouping of workplace injuries. This consists of 946,290 cases between 2023 and 2024. Such a classification includes any injuries caused by excessive physical stress and repetitive motions rather than one-time impact.
Injuries of this kind typically appear over the course of one work shift or multiple shifts of repetitive actions.
Contact Incidents and Harmful Exposures
Second in ranking is contact with 860,050 cases. It includes cases of impact by something, getting caught between parts of equipment, and other cases where the worker is in contact with a hard substance or moving machinery.
Hazardous exposure cases were 224,450. In the Bureau’s findings, it was seen that 196,540, which is 87.6% of all hazardous exposures, involved one or more days away from work. That share sits well above the 61.5% for the broader measure, which points to exposure cases being more likely to keep a worker off the job.
Injuries Tied to Particular Industries
Some injury types cluster in particular industries and regions. Worksite falls, explosions and industrial fires, toxic chemical exposure, gas drilling injuries, and heavy machinery injuries in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, appear on the page for a Pittsburgh work injury lawyer, which also lists power plant and steel mill accidents among the settings it covers.
Aside from the cause of workplace injuries, it is important for one to know how the injury will be handled once the accident occurs. The injured worker will have to seek medical attention, report the accident to his employer as quickly as possible, document the accident, and follow the claim-filing process in the particular state.
Fatal Injuries by Event
There were 5,070 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2024, according to the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. Transportation-related incidents were the major causes with 1,937 deaths or 38.2% of the total.
Falls, slips, and trips cause the second-largest number of deaths, at 844. Thus, transportation incidents and falls together caused 2,781 deaths, or over 50% of the total. Violent actions caused 733 deaths, or 14.5% of the total; 470 homicides and 263 suicides were included in this category.
These numbers indicate that the types of events responsible for fatal injuries are different from those responsible for non-fatal injuries. While overexertion is the reason for non-fatal injuries, vehicles and falls are the reasons for fatal injuries.
A count and a rate answer two different questions. A count answers the question about how many cases occurred. On the other hand, a rate compensates for the number of hours worked and thus enables a comparative analysis of different employers and different years.
The Bureau publishes both datasets every year. In each new release, it shows whether these categories hold their positions. Employers and workers who track the releases can see which injury types are growing, which are falling, and where prevention efforts are paying off.