Texas Scores Failing Grade In Safety

The NSC focused its rankings on leading indicators that states can arguably control through regulation and legislation, rather than basing rankings on lagging indicators like fatality numbers.

by, Robert Box

Texas gets a failing grade in Safety –at least that is the conclusion of the National Safety Council’s (NSC) premier The State of Safety report released last week, ranking Texas as the 26^th-safest state out of the 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.

The NSC focused its rankings on leading indicators that states can arguably control through regulation and legislation, rather than basing rankings on lagging indicators like fatality numbers.

The NSC’s report ranked states based on three broad categories:

• Road Safety
• Home & Community Safety, and
• Workplace Safety

Sixty-two (62) safety indicators were assigned weights based on their effectiveness in preventing fatalities and injuries.  If all or most safety indicators were present for a state, then that state was said to be “On Track.”  If a marginal number of safety indicators were present, the state was said to be “Developing.”  However, if a state had none or very few safety indicators, it was said to be “Off Track.”

Overall, Texas was said to be “Off Track,” scoring 48 percent of the total safety indicators available, earning a letter grade of “D” and a ranking of 26^th out of the 51 states and district in the study.

According to the NSC, no state was able to reach the 70 percent mark to earn an overall “A,” but the state of Maryland got the closest of all by meeting 69 percent of all indicators, crowning it the NSC’s “safest state.” 

Here is a summary of Texas’ performance:

Road Safety

Texas received a grade of “C” and was ranked 29^th overall in the road safety category based on mixed reviews.  For example, Texas was said to be “on track” on categories such as seat belt use, older drivers and alcohol-impaired driving.  However, Texas was also said to be “off track” on categories such as speeding, teen drivers, child passengers and vulnerable drivers (including motorcyclists and bicyclists).  Texas was said to be “developing” with regard to policies on distracted driving.

Home & Community Safety

Texas received a grade of “C” and was ranked 15^th in the nation in the category of home and community safety.  Texas was said to be “on track” with regard to youth sports-related concussions and older adult falls.  Unfortunately, the NSC rated Texas as “off track” when rating regulations pertaining to drownings, poisonings and home fires.  Texas state policies related to firearms were said to be “developing.” 

Workplace Safety

Texas was ranked 32^nd in the nation in the workplace safety category, earning an “F” from the NSC.  Workers’ compensation and worker health and well-being were said to be “off track.” 

State Grades In Rank Order

Safety First Consulting is a contributor of SM Corridor News and helps businesses identify OSHA compliance issues in their workplaces, manage their safety programs, and we become accountable for the results. In addition to offering custom written safety programs for companies, Safety First Consulting provides required safety training, industrial hygiene sampling, noise sampling, and workplace inspections. You can read more from Robert Box under Business.