Report Blames Safety Lapses for Epidemic of Deaths at Wyoming Job Sites

Wyoming had the highest workplace fatality rate in the country for all but one year from 2003 through 2008

A report compiled by an epidemiologist hired by the state and released on Jan. 3, found that Wyoming’s work sites lacked what it called a culture of safety and that proper safety procedures were not followed in the vast majority of cases when someone was killed on the job.

The report also noted that Wyoming had the highest workplace fatality rate in the country for all but one year from 2003 through 2008. In 2010, the last year that data was provided, Wyoming’s estimated occupational death rate was three and a half times the national average, the report said.

The report also found that nearly half of the state’s 622 deaths from 1992 to 2009 were transportation-related. Fatigue and failure to wear seat belts were factors, the report said.

(More on Wyoming's safety epidemic . . . )

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