Roofing Occupational Safety Statistics: OSHA and BLS Fatality Data

One of the Most Dangerous Jobs in the Country, by the Government’s Own Count

104 fatal work injuries were recorded among roofers, BLS occupational code SOC 47-2181, in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, data released February 19, 2026. That works out to a fatal-injury rate of 48.7 deaths per 100,000 full-time-equivalent workers, roughly 14.8 times the all-occupations rate of 3.3 per 100,000 that same year. The 2024 count was down from 113 in 2023, a real decline, though still consistent with roofing’s long-standing position among the small handful of consistently highest-fatality-rate US occupations.

The 2023 breakdown shows where that risk actually comes from: approximately 84% of roofer deaths that year, 95 of 113, resulted from falls, slips, or trips, with another 11% from harmful-substance exposure. Fall protection has been the single most frequently cited federal OSHA safety standard for 15 consecutive years running, a durability that says as much about how hard the underlying hazard is to eliminate as it does about enforcement.

What a National Fatality Rate Means for Hiring and Retention

Fatality and injury risk is not just a compliance line item; it is a direct input into how hard it already is to staff a roofing crew. Construction overall needs to add roughly 349,000 workers in 2026 to keep pace with demand, in an industry where the trade with the highest documented fatality rate is also one it depends on most heavily. A company that can visibly point to safety investment, real fall-protection equipment and training, not just a policy on paper, is arguing from a real, sourced risk a prospective hire already knows about, whether or not anyone says it out loud in the interview.

None of this data measures a specific company’s safety record. It measures the trade nationally. What it does establish, with a government source behind it, is that the risk a roofing crew accepts every time they get on a roof is not an exaggeration used to sell safety equipment; it is close to the actual, documented number.

The Numbers

Sources

The external data in this article draws on the sources below. Figures described in the text as estimates or industry triangulations are directional and are not attributed to a single dataset.

• The Roofing Brief, roofing safety and fatality report (BLS CFOI data)
• Roofing Contractor, construction workforce report (via ABC)

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