A new report ranks the states from highest to lowest workplace fatality rate.
The report, Death on the Job, from the AFL-CIO, says North Dakota had the highest fatality rate in 2012. Here are the top five states and their fatality rate per 100,000 workers:
- North Dakota, 17.7
- Wyoming, 12.2
- Alaska, 8.9
- Montana, 7.3, and
- West Virginia, 6.9.
North Dakota’s rate is more than five times the national average and is one of the highest state job fatality rates ever reported.
Where did North Dakota’s problems stem from? Its fatality rate in the mining and oil and gas extraction sector was 104 per 100,000, more than six times the national fatality rate of 15.9 in the industry. The construction sector fatality rate for the state was 97.4, almost ten times the national rate.
The five states with the lowest fatality rates were:
- Massachusetts, 1.4
- Rhode Island, 1.7
- Connecticut, 2.1, and
- New Hampshire and Washington, 2.2.
Fifteen states had more than 100 worker fatalities during 2012:
- California, 375
- Florida, 218
- Georgia, 101
- Illinois, 146
- Indiana, 115
- Louisiana, 116
- Michigan, 137
- New York, 202
- North Carolina, 146
- Ohio, 161
- Pennsylvania, 194
- Tennessee, 101
- Texas, 536
- Virginia, 149, and
- Wisconsin, 114.
The average fatality rate for all workers was 3.4 per 100,000. Four industries had rates that were at least double the overall average:
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting: 22.8
- Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction: 15.9
- Transportation and warehousing: 14.6, and
- Construction: 9.9.
