No matter the location or industry, the workplace can present risks of injury or even death that most people wouldn’t otherwise encounter in their day-to-day lives. With this in mind, NiceRx set out to find out in which states people are most prone to serious workplace injuries. To create the “US Workplace Accident Report,” NiceRx used U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data to identify the country’s top accident hotspots as well as where people are most at risk from a fatal accident at work.
Here are some results:
Non-fatal Occupational Injuries By State¹
1. Vermont
Injuries per 100,000 workers: 2,896.54
With as many as 2,896.54 occupational injuries per 100,000 workers, Vermont has the most non-fatal workplace injuries of any state. It’s home to large manufacturing and agriculture industries, which could partly account for the high accident rate.
2. Maine
Injuries per 100,000 workers: 2,811.11
The state with the second highest rate of non-fatal workplace injuries is Maine, where there were 2,811.11 injuries per 100,000 workers. While this could make the New England area seem like a dangerous place to work, no other state in the region made the top 10.
3. Nevada
Injuries per 100,000 workers: 2308.39
In third place, with 2,308.39 injuries per 100,000 workers, is Nevada. In addition to agriculture and manufacturing, as well as the tourism industry that Nevada is perhaps most famous for, the state is home to a large mining industry, with the notoriously dangerous occupation potentially boosting the number of injuries.
Fatal Occupational Injuries By State
1. Wyoming
Fatal injuries per 100,000 workers: 13
Wyoming is the state where you’re most likely to have a fatal accident at work, with 13 fatalities for every 100,000 workers. While only 31 deaths were recorded across the state, Wyoming’s small population means the rate is actually much higher than it initially seems.
2. Alaska
Fatal injuries per 100,000 workers: 10.7
Alaska has the second highest rate of fatal occupational injuries at 10.7 per 100,000 workers. The rugged terrain, icy conditions, and
remoteness of much of Alaska brings with it additional risks that could have translated into a higher fatality rate.
3. South Dakota
Fatal injuries per 100,000 workers: 7.8
In third place is South Dakota, which recorded a workplace fatality rate of 7.8 deaths for every 100,000 workers. South Dakota is closely followed by North Dakota, which came fourth with a rate of 7.4, showing that the similarities between the states run much deeper than a shared name.
Fatal Injuries By Industry
With 1,008 fatal injuries per 100,000 workers each year, the construction industry is the most dangerous industry to work in the United States. It’s the only industry to exceed 1,000 fatalities, with the second most dangerous industry being transportation and warehousing at 874.
The NiceRx report also examined fatal injuries by affected body part, sex, age, day of the week, and month. Click here to read the full report.
¹ Non-fatal injury data was not available for all 50 states: Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and South Dakota are not included in this section.