Study: North Dakota Has Highest Rate of Severe Workplace Injuries

North Dakota tops the list of states with the highest rates of severe workplace injuries, according to a new study of OSHA data covering the years 2015-2020.

With nearly 135 severe workplace injuries for every 100,000 workers since 2015, North Dakota ranks 1st in the U.S. and is 47% higher than the state with the next highest rate, according to the report from HelpAdvisor.com.

The Help Advisor research team analyzed new data from OSHA to identify North Dakota as the top state for injuries suffered at work, which includes broken bones, amputations, burns and traumatic injuries or disorders.

Other insights into North Dakota workplace injuries from Help Advisor’s Workplace Injuries Report and Benefits Resource Guide include:

• North Dakota led the nation in several categories of severe workplace injuries, having the highest rates of bone fractures, amputations, burns and traumatic injuries or disorders
• North Dakota had a rate of 38.4 amputations per 100,000 workers as a result of workplace injuries
• North Dakota had a rate of 41.2 bone fractures per 100,000 workers
• The rate of serious workplace burns in North Dakota was nearly twice the rate of Alabama, the next state on the list.

According to North Dakota Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI), in 2019 the average cost of an indemnity claim in the state was nearly $78,946 in indemnity payments and medical expenses. Medical only claims averaged approximately $1,514 in medical expenses.

Arkansas and Nebraska rank second and third in terms of the overall rate of workplace injuries, according to Help Advisor. Arkansas, where the concentration of logging jobs is 18% higher than the national average, had the second-highest rate of workplace amputations.

Nationally, workplace injuries declined in 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2019, 11,074 severe workplace injuries were reported in the U.S., the study found. In 2020, that number fell to 6,843, representing a 38% drop from the previous year.

The data used for the Health Advisor report comes from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Severe Injury Reports. The data was accessed on May 10, 2021. The data includes severe workplace injuries from 2015 to 2020.

To calculate per capita representation of injury frequency, the population of employed individuals in each state was used, from the 2019 U.S. Census. The calculation is as follows: (total number of injuries/population of employed people) multiplied by 100,000.

Source:HelpAdvisor.com