The most dangerous state for workers
North Dakota is the nation's deadliest state in which to work, with an on-the-job fatality rate of more than four times the national average and the number of worker deaths more than doubling from 2007 to 2013.
That's according to an annual report compiled by the AFL-CIO, which found hazardous working conditions lead to the deaths of 150 workers across the country each day, with 4,585 people killed on the job and an estimated 50,000 dying from occupational diseases in the U.S. in 2013.
Nationwide, construction has the largest number of fatal work injuries (828) in 2013, followed by transportation and warehousing (733), then agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting (500). Industry sectors with the highest fatality rates were agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting, at 23.2 per 100,000; transportation and warehousing, at 14.0 per 100,000; and 12.4 per 100,000 in mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction.
"We're seeing a slight decrease in overall fatality rate for workers in the United States, but we have not seen a decrease in the number of illnesses and injuries," Rebecca Reindel, senior safety and health specialist at the AFL-CIO, told CBS MoneyWatch.
Over the past four years, the job fatality rate has fallen slightly each year, with a rate of 3.3 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2013 compared with 3.6 per 100,000 workers in 2010, according to the report, which is based in large part on Department of Labor statistics.
In North Dakota, the fatality rate came to 14.9 per 100,000 workers, the worst in the nation and more than four times the national average. The state's fatality rate and number of deaths have more than doubled since 2007, with 56 workers killed in North Dakota in 2013, found the report. It stated: "North Dakota continues to stand out as an exceptionally dangerous and deadly place to work."
Dying on the job in North Dakota has been increasing: The state had 30 deaths in 2010, 44 in 2011 and 65 in 2012, with 2013 marking the first decline in North Dakota job fatalities since 2009.
As is the case in about half of the states, North Dakota does not have a federally approved occupational safety and health regulatory program that regulates private sector workplaces with federal standards overseen by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).
"Now it's the third consecutive year that it's the most dangerous state to work in," Reindel said of North Dakota. "They have few oversight resources. It would take 126 years for OSHA to visit every establishment once in the state."
North Dakota's oil and gas industry is a major source of worker fatalities, the report found. That sector accounted for 11 worker deaths in 2013 -- nearly seven times the national average. Construction and extraction jobs accounted for 16 deaths, or a third of job-related fatalities in North Dakota in 2013. The states' fatality rate in construction was four times the national average.
The second-worst state for staying alive on the job is Wyoming, which had a rate of 9.5 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2013, followed by West Virginia's 8.6 deaths per 100,000 workers.
The data also revealed a trend of higher fatality rates among Latinos than other workers, a gap between them and other workers that increased in 2013 versus the prior year. Construction accounted for the greatest number of Latino worker deaths (241).
"A lot of the difference is coming from California. They had the largest increase in Latino and immigrant worker deaths. We saw a sharp increase among grounds maintenance workers," said Reindel.
In 2013, 194 Latinos died on the job in California, a 42 percent increase from the prior year, the report found.