APRIL 30, 2025 |
Photo – US Department of Labor Seal – Courtesy OSHA web page
According to just released data from the state, Wyoming occupational fatalities increased by over 32 percent in 2023.
In December, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services released the 2023 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries. According to the state agency, 45 workers died in workplace incidents in 2023, a 32.4 percent increase from 2022, which saw 34 workplace deaths.
The Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, released fatal accident alerts on just five of the 45 Wyoming deaths in 2023.
On June 6th, 32-year-old Levi Huston, working for Wild West Construction out of Glenrock, was crushed by the trailer of a semi-truck while inspecting work he had performed on the vehicle. OSHA attributed the incident to inadequate worker training and fined the company $4,144.
Twenty days later, on June 26th, another worker was crushed by a vehicle he was servicing. In this case, the unidentified employee parked his company vehicle on an embankment and crawled underneath to work on the transmission. While on the ground, the pickup truck rolled backwards, crushing the worker.
OSHA reported that the parking brake on the pickup truck had not been set and that the company lacked policies for blocking vehicles against hazardous movement before performing maintenance.
On July 27th, an unnamed roofer fell through a skylight and died. OSHA blamed the incident on a lack of employee training and the company allowing employees to use fall protection only when they felt unsafe.
A little more than a week later, on August 7th, fifty-year-old Curtis Kocerha died when he was thrown from the cab of his front-end loader after crashing into a pit. Kocerha was working for the Torrington fertilizer company, Panhandle Cooperative Association. The man was hospitalized but ultimately succumbed to his injuries roughly 26 days later. OSHA attributed the death to improper use of the front-end loader and the worker’s failure to wear a seatbelt and fined the company $9,488.
The last OSHA-reported Wyoming worker death in 2023 occurred on October 2nd. In that incident, 51-year-old Lorenzo Cortes was crushed during a trench collapse while working for MD Nursery & Landscaping in Jackson.
The Teton County coroner’s office listed suffocation as Cortes’s cause of death. OSHA fined the company $28,126 for a lack of cave-in protection, adequate training, and proper supervision.
In 2022, OSHA reported four worker deaths in Wyoming: two from falls off roofs, one due to a mowing accident, and one person who died after slipping on ice.
The previous year, 2021, OSHA listed seven fatal incidents in Wyoming, including a tanker rail car explosion that killed two workers and an employee who was crushed after being pulled into machinery. The remaining five deaths are attributed to the COVID-19 virus.
According to the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services data, 2023 was the third deadliest year for workers in the Cowboy State in the past 30 years, topped only by 2007, when 48 employees died in workplace incidents, and 2005, which saw 46 worker deaths. It is important to note that the state agency considers suicides and homicides that occur in the workplace as occupational fatalities.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wyoming had the highest rate of worker deaths per capita in 2023, with 16 fatalities per 100,000 workers. The second deadliest state, North Dakota, had 9.8 deaths per 100,000 workers.
In Wyoming, the agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting industries were the most dangerous in 2023, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting 83 deaths per 100,000 workers. Transportation and utilities ranked second, with 66.6 fatal incidents per 100,000 workers.
Official workplace fatality numbers for 2024 and 2025 have not been released at this time. However, at least one worker has died in Carbon County this year. On April 9th, 19-year-old Liam Cobb, a sky climber for Vestas, jumped to his death from a wind turbine near Medicine Bow. Cobb’s mother shared that her son’s mental health struggles likely led to his decision to take his own life.
