by Shane Henson — June 11, 2012—States that report low numbers of nonfatal injuries among construction workers tend to have high rates of fatal injuries, while those with low fatality rates tend to report higher numbers of nonfatal injuries, is the somewhat surprising result of a new study from the RAND Corporation.
The study also revealed that the region in which construction workers live, and their benefits and wages also can increase their chance of having a certain type of injury. Researcher found that the states with the low nonfatal injury rates and high fatality rates tended to be in the South, have lower worker compensation benefits, be less unionized, and pay lower wages. In contrast, states with high nonfatal injury rates and lower fatality rates tended to be in the West, pay higher benefits and wages, be more strongly unionized, and carry out more workplace inspections.
The study found states with the highest number of nonfatal injuries and lowest number of fatal injuries were Arizona, California, Maine, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. States with the highest number of fatalities and lowest number of nonfatal accidents were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee.
For the study, researchers used data collected by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and then examined fatal and nonfatal injuries in the construction sector on a state-by-state basis for the years 2003 to 2005 and 2006 to 2008. The construction industry is reported to have the largest number of fatalities among all industrial sectors.
