North Dakota
North Dakota on track to be one of the deadliest states to work
FARGO — North Dakota appears to be on course to be one of the deadliest states to work after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest report for 2022.
The state-by state comparison is pending a report evaluation, which the AFL-CIO typically releases in late April. The AFL-CIO, a national labor organization, has been compiling reports on worker safety for more than 30 years.
The number of
fatal work injuries
in North Dakota totaled 37 in 2022, which was up by three deaths from the year before, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
Last year, Atticus, a law firm which tracks the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data and focuses on workplace safety,
labeled North Dakota as the most dangerous state to work in.
Minnesota came in as the eighth most dangerous, according to the study.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that self-employed fatal incidents in North Dakota decreased from 11 in 2021 to 10 in 2022. Across the state, there are about 417,000 workers, according to the bureau’s statistics.
Minnesota’s
workforce was about 2.9 million
in 2022, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Transportation incidents topped the chart in North Dakota, resulting in 13 fatal work injuries, up from 10 and accounting for 35% of all fatal workplace injuries.
A total of eight deaths across North Dakota were related to contact with objects or heavy equipment. Exposure to harmful substances or environments was the third-most prominent fatal work event with seven fatalities, up from six in 2021.
Some of the deaths from 2022 included a man who was crushed when a lawn mower overturned, two people who were crushed by an excavator and a load that fell from a truck, and one person who died after falling down stairs.
According to the
National Safety Council,
North Dakota’s fatality rate is slightly worse than in 2021, which saw nine out of every 100,000 workers die while on the job, a number that far outpaced Minnesota’s rate of roughly three of every 100,000 workers dying on the job.
Minnesota saw a total
of 81 fatal work injuries in 2022, up one from 80 in 2021, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, which coincided with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ number.
Minnesota’s fatal-injury rate was listed at 2.8 per 100,000 workers, the same rate as the previous year.
The national fatal-injury rate per 100,000 workers was 3.7 people, according to the bureau’s statistics.
North Dakota’s fatality rate exceeded the national average in all fatal injury categories except transportation and violence by persons or animals. Nationally, transportation-related injuries comprised 38% of workplace deaths, according to the bureau’s statistics.
Contact with objects or equipment and exposure to harmful substances deaths comprised 14% and 15%, respectively, of the U.S. total, but in North Dakota comprised 22% and 19%.
Additionally, men accounted for 95% of the work-related fatalities in North Dakota compared to 92% of national share, according to the bureau’s statistics. Most of the people who died (78%) while on the job were listed as white non-Hispanics.
Out of the 37 fatal work injuries in North Dakota, 73% worked for wages and salaries while the rest were self-employed.
Nationally, there were 5,486 fatal work injuries in 2022, which is a 5.7% increase from 2021 with 5,190 incidents, the bureau reported.
The number of deaths in 2022 was the highest since at least 2011, which had 4,693 recorded fatal incidents. The most dangerous years since then were 2016 and 2021 with 5,190 deaths, 2018 with 5,250 deaths and 2019 with 5,333 deaths.
“A worker died every 96 minutes from a work-related injury in 2022, compared to 101 minutes in 2021,” the bureau reported.
Also, the amount of unintentional overdoses increased 13.1% to a high of 525 fatalities in 2022, up from 464 in 2021, which continues a trend of annual increases since 2012, according to the bureau’s statistics.
While the death rate across the nation appeared to be increasing, so did the nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses rate, with 2.8 million incidents in 2022, up 7.5% from 2021. Illnesses that year, which was during the coronavirus pandemic, increased 26.1% to 460,700 cases, according to the bureau’s statistics.
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Here’s something North Dakotans can take pride in: North Dakota has the third-highest average IQ in the nation, tying with Vermont at 103.8. That is 3.5 points above the national average.
The state with the highest average is Massachusetts at 104.3 and the state with the lowest average is Mississippi at 94.2.
Ninety-four percent of North Dakotans graduate high school, making it the state with the sixth-highest graduation rate in the nation.
Copyright 2026 KFYR. All rights reserved.
WEST FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – Authorities have identified the man killed and the driver involved in a fatal overnight crash in West Fargo.
Jose Rodriguez, 38, of West Fargo, died after being struck by a vehicle early Wednesday morning, according to the North Dakota State Patrol.
The driver, Carly Vizenor, 25, of West Fargo, was not injured. Charges and restraint use remain under investigation.
The crash happened at approximately 2:46 a.m. Wednesday near the intersection of 32nd Avenue South and 9th Street West.
According to the State Patrol, a 2016 Ford Fusion was traveling westbound on 32nd Avenue South when it struck Rodriguez, who was crossing the street approximately 20 to 30 yards east of the 9th Street intersection.
The driver left the scene and returned approximately 10 minutes later.
Rodriguez was pronounced dead at the scene.
The North Dakota State Patrol, West Fargo Police Department, and West Fargo Fire Department all responded to the crash.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Copyright 2026 KVLY. All rights reserved.
Getty
NDSU could make the CFP in 2026.
Winning has been the standard at North Dakota State for decades, and one college football analyst expects a similar result in the FBS right away.
Brett McMurphy of On3 believes NDSU will run the table 12-0 with a Mountain West Conference championship and make the College Football Playoff. McMurphy projects the Bison to face Oregon in the CFP, the Fargo Forum’s Jeff Kolpack reported.
That would mean the Bison would go on the road to Eugene against a perennial FBS contender, which didn’t go well for the last Group of Six team to play the Ducks. Oregon steamrolled James Madison 51-34 in last season’s CFP before the Ducks took down Texas Tech and lost to eventual national champion Indiana.
It’s not impossible for the Bison to get that far based on Sagarin Ratings and the program’s history of success against FBS teams. The Bison would need to maximize what they can control and to have a few things fall their way.
That said, all of this would be contingent upon the Bison receiving clearance for postseason competition from the NCAA on Thursday. Transitioning teams normally face a two-year postseason ban, and NDSU had been in a similar situation before, with a four-year postseason ban during the move from Division II to the FCS in 2004.
NDSU Looking to Pass JMU Again
In 2016, the JMU interrupted NDSU’s five-year FCS championship run with a playoff upset at the Fargodome.
NDSU then beat JMU in the 2017 season championship to win a sixth title in seven years. The Bison beat JMU again in the FCS championship game again for the 2019 season before the Dukes joined the FBS in 2022.
JMU’s success at the FBS level has resulted in two bowl game appearances and Sun Belt Conference title. Amid the conference crown, the Dukes slipped into the CFP as the ACC went topsy-turvy when a 5-5 Duke Blue Devils team at the time upset Virginia.
JMU made the CFP, and Miami represented the ACC while Notre Dame sat at home despite a 10-2 record and a close early-season loss to the national runner-up Hurricanes. NDSU, meanwhile, had a 12-0 regular season in the FCS and got stunned in the FCS playoffs by Illinois State, the second team ever to win a playoff game in Fargo.
The Bison looked like a program retooling to get back up from a postseason disappointment in January, but February brought the news of NDSU’s long-anticipated move up to the FBS. The Mountain West Conference invited the Bison amid the conference’s restructuring with five teams leaving for the Pac-12.
That made the former FCS titan attractive to the Mountain West, which notably lost former CFP entrant Boise State. Whether or not NDSU can become the Mountain West’s new Boise State or pass JMU as a premiere Group of Six team remains unknown.
Common Opponents Key For Bison
The Bison have the odds stacked against them in 2026 to make the CFP, but it’s not impossible.
NDSU doesn’t have a Power Four opponent, but the Bison can make up for that by margin of victory, especially with any Mountain West contenders that have Power Four opponents during the season.
New Mexico has the biggest Power Four opponent among Mountain West teams with Oklahoma, and UTEP faces Oklahoma and Michigan. San Jose State faces USC, another team with CFP hopes.
NDSU beating New Mexico, UTEP and San Jose State handily will especially help in making a run for the playoff.
Matthew Davis covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis
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