Injuries, Illnesses and Other Health Outcomes

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Leading Causes of Death

Construction workers suffer from a variety of work-related hazards and exposures that can lead to chronic pain and other medical conditions, severe injury, and death. They have one of the highest rates of on-the-job fatalities of any group, but research into causes of deaths among construction workers outside the workplace is limited.

This interactive story-dashboard characterizes outside of work and at-work deaths among current, former, and retired construction workers. There are two dashboard level filters, the Year and Age Group filters, that update all charts and the bolded and underlined key findings. There is also one chart level filter, Age, that updates its respective chart. Click on the boxes at the top of the dashboard to switch between the two sheets, Leading Causes of Death and Detailed and At-Work Deaths.

Following the interactive dashboard, you will find more information on the data sources, definitions, chart notes, a downloadable data file, and recommended citation. This interactive data dashboard corresponds to a chapter in the upcoming PDF version of the Construction Chart Book-7th edition, which will be published this summer. Data will be updated annually as available. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected].

About the Data
National Center for Health Statistics National Vital Statistics System 2022 & 2023 Multiple Cause of Death Public Use Files.

NVSS data does not capture employment status (full-time, unemployed, retired, etc.) at time of death. Construction workers are defined in NVSS data as those whose usual industry was construction, including individuals currently employed, retired, or no longer in the workforce.

Definitions
  • At-Work – Indicates whether the death occurred while the decedent was at their place of work.
  • Causes of death (COD) – The specific condition that caused the death based on the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis Code.
    • For information on contributing ICD-10 codes for specific causes of death, email us at [email protected].
  • Industry/Occupation – A decedent’s usual (i.e. most worked) industry/occupation.
  • Manner of death – Categorization of death as:
    • Accident – Death resulting from unnatural causes, such as a motor vehicle crash.
    • Natural – Death resulting from a disease or natural process, such as heart attack.
    • Not classified – Death in which the manner is still be investigated or those in which the manner could not be determined.
    • Suicide – Death resulting from an intentional self-inflicted injury with intent to die.
  • Working age – Decedents aged 16 to 64 years old at time of death.
Recommended Citation and Data File

Recommended Citation

CPWR–The Center for Construction Research and Training. [2025].Leading Causes of Death [dashboard].

Data File
The Data File includes data for leading causes of death presented in the data dashboard. Additional combinations of data available upon request.