A new report out from the AFL-CIO titled Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect says there were thirty-one workers killed in South Dakota in 2011. The report says that in the last three years the job fatality rate in America has not gone down, and that means more could be done to protect workers.
Mark Anderson is the President of the South Dakota Federation of Labor. He says South Dakota ranks in the top five of the most dangerous places to work in the country.
“Per one-hundred-thousand workers we have almost twice the national average of workers killed on the job. South Dakota is one of the states that doesn’t have a state OSHA so I’m sure that falls into it. I don’t know that it’s necessarily more dangerous to work here than any other state, I just think it’s probably less regulated,” says Anderson.
The report says that North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming are also ranked among the states with the highest workplace fatality rates, while New Hampshire and Rhode Island are among the safest. The report takes into consideration issues like workplace illnesses, injuries, fatalities, and frequency of workplace inspections.