Worker fatalities increase in Wyoming for second year

JACKSON — Wyoming has been in the spotlight for years as a state that struggles to keep workers safe, and a recent report shows deaths are again on the rise.

Workplace fatalities in Wyoming increased 25% in 2022, from 27 deaths in 2021 to 34 in 2022 — the most recent figures available — according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It was the second consecutive year the number of workplace deaths increased in the state. The national average has hovered around 3.5 worker deaths per 100,000. Wyoming’s rate has stood between 10 and 12.

Since 2013, Wyoming has seen somewhere between 26 and 37 deaths a year. Of the 34 deaths from 2022, OSHA had jurisdiction over just six of them, according to Wyoming OSHA Deputy Administrator Karen Bebensee. Two of those, both related to roofing, occurred in Teton County.

In a recent interview, Bebensee defended those figures, shedding light on the makeup of Wyoming workplace fatalities. She also explained why safeguarding roofers is such a challenge for the state’s OSHA inspectors, addressed the rising suicide rate among workers and made a pitch to employers to use the agency as a positive resource.

“You can call OSHA and ask a question; it doesn’t mean we’re running out to cite you,” Bebensee said. “We have a whole branch to help you.”

Bebensee has served as a deputy administrator for the last four years and previously worked as a compliance officer and consultant for the Department of Workforce Services for 12 years.

While the BLS report is “alarming” — fatal work injuries in the U.S. increased 5.7% in 2022, translating to a worker dying every 96 minutes, the report found — it doesn’t explain certain dynamics, Bebensee said.

The six fatalities under OSHA’s jurisdiction are consistent with the number of deaths the state agency historically investigates a year, she said, and the majority of worker accidents and deaths reported occur on the road, falling under the jurisdiction of the Wyoming Department of Transportation or local law enforcement.

“We have two major interstates. We have bad weather. We have truckers and people who come in who aren’t familiar with our roads,” Bebensee said.

Indeed, federal figures showed that the transportation sector accounted for the most workplace fatalities, at 38% of on-the-job deaths. Construction and extraction were close behind.

In Wyoming’s construction industry, Bebensee said, there’s been an increase in fatal falls statewide in the last few years, but “especially in Teton County.” In March 2022, a 43-year-old man died while working on a roof in Wilson. A little over a month later, a 42-year-old died when he fell off the roof of Cody House in Teton Village.

Both companies were cited for not having fall protection. One company paid less than $9,000. The other paid less than $13,000 and was cited for subpar training requirements.

Falls are also one of the top killers on the job nationally. Such deaths increased from 850 in 2021 to 865 in 2022.

One reason fall protection measures fall by the wayside is workers think a task will only take a second, Bebensee said, or they forget, or they feel pressure to get a job done quickly while working within weather, material and project deadlines.

Bebensee said that policing roofing is a “challenge” — companies often designate roofing employees as “independent subcontractors,” which makes it hard for OSHA to impose safety standards.

“OSHA exists to look at the employee-employer relationship,” Bebensee said, “meaning that someone is working for that specific company. Roofers work under a lot of various contracts that makes it difficult to establish an employee-employer relationship. They’re an ‘independent subcontractor,’ which essentially means, ‘I work with myself.’

“You have to be an employee for us to impose standards,” Bebensee continued. “A lot of times that is very difficult and time consuming to try and establish.” Around 10 people handle compliance statewide.

How to police out-of-state companies that come into Wyoming for work also is a challenge.

“Those roofing contractors are not in-state employers or in-state employees. They are difficult to chase down,” Bebensee said. “Often they don’t give us valid information when we’re on site. Or they don’t accept our mail.”

Building and construction permits at the local level could help in enforcement, Bebensee said.

“We could put different infrastructure in place to make sure people coming into the state to work are held to the same standard,” Bebensee said. “Permitting is an important part of being able to hold different contractors accountable.”

Suicides also increased 13% in 2022, the BLS report found. Wyoming OSHA doesn’t investigate those, Bebensee said, but they are reported to her and she hears what workers — predominantly in the construction, health care, oil and gas industries — are struggling with.

“Suicide is a big problem,” Bebensee said. “People get injured and then they use things to manage the pain and that creates an addiction.”

She said she’s working with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention to corral and broadcast resources to Wyoming workers.

The last week of May, funding for Wyoming OSHA was cut.

“Federal funds were cut for all state plans,” Bebensee said, citing federal budget issues. However, Wyoming has since increased its portion to cover the costs and fully fund the programs so that positions were not cut and services remained intact.

Some states operate under federal OSHA, but Wyoming is a “state plan,” which means that Wyoming holds jurisdiction of everything in the state outside of federal employees. Funding is typically a 50-50 split between state and federal.

“It allows the state to understand trends in employee injuries and illnesses,” Bebensee said. “Citations go back to the school district in which the citation was found.”

Bebensee is taking a proactive approach. After identifying that Teton County is seeing an increase in fatalities, she and her team organized a new pilot program to bring safety training here. It’s called the “OSHA Roadshow.”

Around 85 Teton County workers attended the pilot program May 14 to 15, taking fall protection classes, having their equipment and mock job sites inspected, and learning about the “Fatal Four” — falls, excavation, struck by or hit by, and electrical.

Bebensee and her team held that training in Afton because they couldn’t afford a space in Teton County that met their needs and also allowed them to offer the training for just $50 per attendee.

“We couldn’t get hotels to meet a state rate or work with us,” she said.

She hopes to hold that roadshow once a year going forward, in different parts of the state.

Four consultants work with employers proactively, helping them fix what they need to without imposing fines. There’s also a public sector consultation that works with towns and local governments to ensure compliance on projects.

That’s an underutilized resource, Bebensee said.