June 1 was “Get Home Safe Day." Government and business leaders highlighted the importance of workforce safety at an event at the North Dakota Heritage Center.
Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) director Art Thompson said they try to instill that workplace safety is a value, to everyone in North Dakota, and to put safety top-of-mind.
"We want to get them to think, 'Why do I work?' and 'What would happen if I took a shortcut and became injured? How would I take care of my family? How would I go fishing on the weekends, or pursue whatever hobbies I might have?' So, it's really trying to change that mindset of 'Let's get the job done at any cost' to 'Let's get the job done safely, so everybody goes home in the same condition at the end of every day.'"
WSI is the state’s workers’ compensation agency. Thompson said from a claims perspective; the numbers are tending in the right direction.
"We are covering 420,000 North Dakotans, that work at about 28,000 businesses," Thompson said. "Those are record numbers. At the same time, we are seeing the number of claims filed with our agency driving down."
Thompson said 16,500 claims were filed last year. He said those were record low numbers as well.
"Anytime we cover more workers and have less claims coming in — I like those trends," Thompson said.
