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Wyoming Workplace Deaths Up In 2014

Wyoming Department of Workforce Services

Wyoming saw a spike in workplace fatalities in 2014. Thirty-four people died on the job last year, up from 21 in 2013, according to a new report from the state.

 

Transportation-related accidents accounted for almost half of the deaths, and also for the largest increase.

 

“But why we had a jump in transportation fatalities, I don’t really have a clear explanation for that,” said Meredith Towle, the state’s occupational epidemiologist.

 

The oil and gas industry was the most dangerous, with ten worker deaths. Of those, seven were transportation-related. That way of classifying worker deaths is a shift from Towle’s predecessor, who attributed all transportation deaths to the transportation sector.

 

“Industry activity is not just limited to what’s going on at the oil field, but it also includes the transportation of your equipment and your people and your product,” Towle said. “I think that [this way of classifying them] drives a different message home and hopefully gets employers thinking a little bit more broadly about what safety means.”

 

Transportation itself was the second-most deadly industry.

 

Wyoming consistently ranks near the top of the nation for worker fatalities, despite recent efforts to address the issue. Even compared to other states with small populations and a high concentration of employment in dangerous industries, Wyoming is among the worst, the report found.

 

“I think we want no fatalities on the job in any given year, but just looking at that comparison group, I think it serves as an example that we have an opportunity to make a change,” Towell said.

 

Federal statistics for the nation and other states will be released next week.

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