Resources
Roofers experienced 104 fatal work injuries in the United States in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Its hours-based fatality rate was 48.7 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers.
Those figures describe people working in the roofer occupation. Counts for roofing businesses describe a different population. Keeping the two definitions separate makes roofing safety statistics more useful for building owners, contractors and researchers.
This 2026 reference uses the latest annual federal fatality data available at review. Each figure retains its actual reporting year. The statistics describe national or state populations, rather than the safety performance of a particular contractor.
Key Roofing Safety Statistics at a Glance
- BLS's occupation table recorded 104 US roofer fatalities in 2024.
- BLS's occupation table gives a 2024 roofer rate of 48.7 fatalities per 100,000 FTE workers.
- BLS's occupation table gives a 2024 all-worker rate of 3.3 fatalities per 100,000 FTE.
- BLS's industry table recorded 120 fatalities at US roofing contractor businesses in 2024.
- BLS's industry table counted 96 falls, slips and trips among those 2024 roofing-contractor fatalities.
- BLS's industry table counted 13 harmful-exposure fatalities at roofing contractors in 2024.
- The Texas Department of Insurance reported 18 Texas roofer fatalities in 2024.
- The Texas Department of Insurance reported 11 Texas roofer fatalities in 2023.
How many roofers die at work each year?
BLS counted 104 fatal occupational injuries among roofers in 2024. This is an occupation-based count, rather than a tally of everyone employed by a roofing company.
An occupation identifies the work a person does. An industry identifies the business employing that person. A roofing business can employ office staff, drivers and supervisors alongside roofers. A worker doing roofing can work for an employer classified elsewhere.
That distinction affects comparisons. A contractor reviewing its own incidents should choose a benchmark that matches its employees and operations. A researcher describing the roofing trade should name the occupation rather than switching between datasets within the same trend.
How high is the roofer fatality rate?
The BLS 2024 rate was 48.7 fatalities per 100,000 FTE workers, compared with 3.3 across all workers. Dividing those published rates gives about 14.8 times the national rate.
That comparison describes work exposure measured through hours. It does not mean a particular project has that probability of a death. A rate and a count answer different questions. The count describes how many people died. The rate helps compare populations with different amounts of work.
For owners, a practical companion to the data is a documented review of roof access and safety conditions. National rates provide context. The conditions on the building determine the questions a project team needs to resolve.
What share of roofing-contractor fatalities involved falls, slips and trips?
BLS recorded 96 fall, slip or trip deaths among 120 fatalities at roofing contractor businesses in 2024, equal to 80% by calculation. This is an industry result, not an occupation-specific fall percentage.
The same table reports 13 deaths from harmful exposures and five from transportation incidents. Those categories show why a roofing safety discussion should address the work surrounding the roof installation as well as movement across the roof.
Suppressed cells in a government table should stay suppressed. A dash does not establish zero events. It is better to retain the published categories than assign the unexplained remainder to an assumed cause.
What changed in Texas?
Texas roofer fatalities rose from 11 in 2023 to 18 in 2024, a 64% increase rounded by the Texas Department of Insurance. The department produced the report with BLS and identified the data as occupational fatal injuries.
A state count can move sharply when its underlying numbers are small. It should not become a claim about the safety of every Texas contractor or be converted into a rate without a matching work-hours denominator. The state result is useful local context, with its scope kept intact.
Using the figures in a roof safety plan
An owner can keep a clearer project record by separating the statistical background from building-specific findings. The record should identify who is responsible for reviewing access, the work areas involved, unresolved conditions and the documents needed before work starts.
A commercial roof evaluation can help organize roof condition and access observations. Qualified project and safety professionals must determine the controls appropriate to the actual work. A national statistic cannot substitute for that assessment.
The same distinction belongs in reporting. An accident count, fatality rate, inspection finding and near miss each measure something different. Labeling them separately lets teams compare like with like and track their own actions without implying that the national dataset proves a particular intervention worked.
Planning roof work with Commercial Roofing Advisors
Commercial Roofing Advisors inspects, repairs, restores and replaces commercial roofs. Its roof capital planning service helps owners connect documented building conditions with the scope and timing of planned work.