Report Reveals States With Highest Rates of Work-Related Fatalities

The AFL-CIO has published its annual report on U.S. worker safety and health protection. The report, titled "Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect," reveals shed light on work-related injuries and fatalities, revealing -- among other things -- which states have the highest rates of worker fatalities.

According to the report, the states with the highest number of work-related fatalities include North Dakota, Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, West Virginia and New Mexico. The report also revealed that a total of 4,585 workers were killed throughout the 2013 calendar year as a result of workplace injuries, and an additional 50,00 workers died from occupational diseases, all of which translates into roughly 150 preventable workplace fatalities per day. Those statistics really put the importance of maintaining a safe working environment into perspective.

"America’s workers shouldn’t have to choose between earning a livelihood and risking their life, yet every day too many end up on the wrong end of that choice,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “Corporations are prospering while working people suffer because of corporate negligence and insufficient government oversight. We must go beyond mourning those we’ve lost, and take bold, decisive action to ensure that a day’s work brings opportunity, not the risk of death or injury.”

It should come as no surprise that private sectors like oil and gas extraction experienced the highest rates of work-related deaths and injuries. However, the average injury rate for the public sector as a whole was 58% higher than the private sector. This is due to the fact some 8 million state and local employees in the public sector are not protected by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

As noted in the AFL-CIO report, OSHA oversight and enforcement was weak, with the federal branch only having enough resources to inspect a workplace once every 140 years. Authors in the report also found the average penalty for a serious violation to be just $1,895, while the median penalty for a work-related fatality was just $5,050.

There's no denying the fact that OSHA is currently understaffed and without the necessary resources to fully inspect each and every workplace on a regular basis. The good news, however, is that rates of work-related injury, illness and fatalities have been on the decline. Until this number drops to zero, though, more work needs to be done.

You can read this report in its entirety by visiting http://www.aflcio.org/death-on-the-job.