Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI): Definitions

---

Scope of the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI)

The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) has detailed information on those who were killed at work due to a traumatic injury. For more information on how CFOI defines work relationship and traumatic injuries, see www.bls.gov/iif/cfoiscope.htm.

Data Element Definitions

CFOI has published data on fatal occupational injuries for the United States since 1992. During this time, the classification systems and definitions of many data elements have changed. The following list describes data elements which experienced a series break or change in definition over the course of the CFOI program.

Occupation: For reference years 1992 to 2002, CFOI used the U.S. Census Bureau occupation classification system (BOC) system to classify occupation. For reference years 2003 to 2010, CFOI used the 2000 Standard Occupation Classification (SOC) system to classify occupation, representing a series break. Beginning with reference year 2011, a revised version of the SOC system has been used to classify occupations. While the changes to SOC 2010 were not extensive, comparisons of SOC 2000 and SOC 2010 occupations should be made with caution. More information on the SOC, including an overview of new items in SOC 2010, can be found here: www.bls.gov/soc/home.htm. More information on occupation classifications used for the CFOI program can be found in the Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm.

Industry: For reference years 1992 to 2002, CFOI used the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system to classify industry. For reference years 2003 to present, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has been used to classify industry, representing a series break. For reference years 2003 to 2008, CFOI used NAICS 2002. From reference year 2009 to 2013, NAICS 2007 was used. The differences between the NAICS 2002 and NAICS 2007 were not as broad as those between SIC and NAICS. Therefore, adoption of NAICS 2007 did not result in a series break. For reference year 2014 onward, CFOI has adopted a revised industry classification system, NAICS 2012. The differences between the NAICS 2007 and NAICS 2012 were not as broad as those between SIC and NAICS. Therefore, adoption of NAICS 2012 did not result in a series break. More information on NAICS can be found here: www.bls.gov/bls/naics.htm. More information on industry classifications used for the CFOI program can be found in the Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm.

Occupational Injury and Illness: In September 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics completed a major revision to the Occupational Injury and Illness Classification System (OIICS). The revised OIICS structure (OIICS 2.01) has been used beginning with reference year 2011. Because of the extensive revisions, data for the OIICS case characteristics for reference year 2011 represent a break in series with data for prior years. More information on OIICS can be found here: www.bls.gov/iif/oshoiics.htm. As a result of the break in series, new series IDs have been created for the public IIF databases (www.bls.gov/iif/data.htm) for CFOI. More information on industry classifications used for the CFOI program can be found in the Handbook of Methods at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cfoi/home.htm.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA): Beginning in 1999, the CFOI program began publishing MSA information based on definitions from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). For reference years 1999 to 2002, CFOI used the MSA definitions in OMB Bulletin Number 99-04, June 1999. For reference years 2003 to 2010, CFOI used the MSA definitions in OMB Bulletin Number 05-02, February 2005. For reference years 2011 to 2013, CFOI used the MSA definitions in OMB Bulletin Number 10-02, December 2009. For reference year 2014 forward, CFOI uses the MSA definitions in OMB Bulletin Number 13-01, February 2013.

Location: The location element is exclusive to the CFOI program and indicates the site where the incident or exposure occurred. For a detailed table, see www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/location.xlsx.

Worker Activity: The Worker Activity data element is exclusive to the CFOI program and describes what the worker was doing at the time of the fatal injury or exposure. Worker activity provides additional information about the incident that can be used in research and in injury prevention efforts. For a detailed table, see www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/cfoi/worker-activity.xlsx.

New Data Elements: As the CFOI program developed, new data elements were introduced to increase the depth of the data and respond to data user requests. The following list shows the data element and the year it was introduced to the CFOI program.

• Birthplace (Starts in 2001): This variable indicates the country of birth of the decedent. For a detailed table of countries and the regions they are associated with, see this www.bls.gov/oshwc/cfoi/birthplace.xlsx.
• Confined Space (Starts in 2011): CFOI uses the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) definition of a confined space. OSHA defines a confined space as a space that meets the following three criteria: 1. is large enough that an employee can enter and perform work 2. has limited or restricted means for entry and exit 3. and is not designed for continuous employee occupancy. Examples: tanks, vessels, silos, storage bins, pits, crawl spaces, sewers, etc. See OSHA 1910.146 (b), www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.146 for more information.
• Contracted Worker (Starts in 2011): This variable indicates whether the decedent was a contracted worker at the time of the incident. In CFOI, a contracted worker is a worker employed by one firm but working at the behest of another firm that exercises overall responsibility for the operations at the site where the decedent was killed. Some additional rules for classifying contracted workers in CFOI:
  • A business-to-business relationship to establish contracted worker status must exist. For example, an HVAC repairman working at a private residence is not considered a contracted worker. That same HVAC repairman working at a restaurant is considered to be a contracted worker since a business-to-business relationship is present.
  • Incidents that occur at sites where a potential contracting firm does not exercise overall responsibility for the site, such as a public roadway, are not included as contracted workers with certain exceptions.
  • Suicides and other incidents that are initiated intentionally by the decedent are not included as contracted workers.
  • Contracted worker status can be inferred from available case data if not explicitly stated. If, for example, a security guard employed directly by a security firm is killed while working at a bar, the security guard must have been contracted by the bar or else he/she would not have been present.
• Contracted NAICS (Starts in 2011): This variable indicates the industry of the firm contracting the decedent, provided the decedent was working as a contracted worker at the time of the incident.
• Contracted Ownership (Starts in 2011): This variable indicates the ownership (private, federal, state, local, foreign, or other government) of the firm contracting the decedent provided the decedent was working as a contracted worker at the time of the incident.
• Independent Worker (Starts in 2016): This variable identifies independent workers as defined by CFOI. Independent workers are workers whose jobs are usually short in duration and involve a discrete task. Independent workers must find their own work, and both the independent worker and prospective client must agree to the terms of the job. Future work is not guaranteed for independent workers based on their past performance. More information on independent workers can be found in this article: www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-8/fatal-occupational-injuries-to-independent-workers.htm.
• See below for a table showing the years in which major data elements in CFOI were collected.

Age	1992-present
Birthplace	2001-present
Confined Space	2011-present
Contracted Worker	2011-present
Contracted NAICS	2011-present
Contracted Ownership	2011-present
Day of Incident	1992-present
Employee Status	1992-present
Event 2011	2011-present
Event or Exposure	1992-2010
Gender	1992-present
Hispanic Origin	1992-present
Independent Worker	2016-present
Industry/NAICS	2003-present
Industry/SIC	1992-2002
Location	1992-present
MSA	1999-present
Month of Incident	1992-present
Nature	1992-2010
Nature 2011	2011-present
Occupation/BOC	1992-2002
Occupation/SOC	2003-present
Ownership	1992-present
Part of Body	1992-2010
Part of Body 2011	2011-present
Primary Source	1992-2010
Primary Source 2011	2011-present
Race	1992-present
Secondary Source	1992-2010
Secondary Source 2011	2011-present
State of Incident	1992-present
Time of Incident	1992-present
Worker Activity	1992-present

---

 

Last Modified Date: December 17, 2019