NSC study puts Colorado in the top five for work safety
The National Safety Council, the nonprofit organization committed to using leadership, research, education and advocacy as a means to eliminate preventable deaths, recently released a fascinating study ranking all 50 states and the District of Columbia on their individual efforts to prevent home, auto and work accidents.
Specifically, the report, entitled The State of Safety, provided each state with an overall grade based on the strength of their rules, regulations, laws and policies concerning those issues most responsible for preventable deaths and injuries. It also handed out grades in three separate areas, including road safety, home and community safety, and workplace safety.
Shockingly, no state was given an “A” for overall safety. Rather, the top performers all earned a “B,” including Maryland, Illinois, Maine, Oregon, Connecticut, California and Washington.
While Colorado earned a “C” in its overall grade, it did perform well in the workplace safety category, taking third place with a “B.” Indeed, the NSC found that our state was “on track” in all three sub-categories, including workers’ compensation, worker health and wellbeing, and prevention, preparedness and enforcement.
As gratifying as it is to see that we’re in such a good place on a state level, it would be remiss not to discuss what the NSC found on a national level:
- 13 people are killed in workplace accidents every day with transportation, construction, warehousing, mining, and agriculture being the most dangerous industries
- Over 12,000 people are injured in workplace accidents every day
- The leading causes of fatal workplace accidents are motor vehicle crashes, falls, contacts with objects/equipment and workplace violence, while the leading causes of worker injuries are overexertion, slips, trips, and falls, and incidents with objects/equipment
What all of this serves to underscore is that we, as a nation, need to do more to make workplace safety a priority at the state and federal level. Furthermore, it demonstrates that Colorado can’t afford to rest on its laurels, but rather must always be working to improve working conditions.
If you’ve been seriously injured in a workplace accident and would like to learn more about your options relating to workers’ compensation, consider speaking with a skilled legal professional as soon as possible.
