Maps

Mapping Workplace Safety and Vulnerability by State

A series of interactive state-level maps examining OSHA coverage and enforcement, heat standards, fatal workplace injuries, temporary work, immigrant concentration, and incarceration rates.

Workplace safety depends on the protections workers receive, the hazards they encounter, and the economic and social conditions that shape their ability to work safely and exercise their rights. With this tool, CLASP aims to bring these conditions together through a series of interactive state-level maps examining Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) coverage and enforcement alongside heat standards, workplace hazards and indicators of worker vulnerability including fatal workplace injuries, temporary work, immigrant concentration, and incarceration rates.

The project comes at a critical moment for occupational safety and health. Extreme heat continues to expose workers to serious and potentially fatal hazards. This summer, the hottest on record, workers have faced dangerous heat conditions while protections remain uneven across the country. States like California, Oregon, and Washington have established heat protections with different levels of coverage, while OSHA continues to rely primarily on the General Duty Clause for heat hazards as a specific federal heat standard remains under development. Recent heat events have brought these differences into sharp focus, with state agencies issuing warnings as temperatures reached well above 100 degrees and emphasizing the need for water, rest, shade, and other protections. OSHA itself recognizes heat illness as a serious hazard that causes preventable workplace injuries and fatalities each year.

Three Dimensions of Workplace Vulnerability

The maps examine three dimensions of workplace vulnerability: regulatory protection, workplace hazard, and structural vulnerability. Together, they show how the safety landscape varies across states and where multiple conditions associated with workplace vulnerability converge.

These indicators also identify states where workers may face overlapping regulatory, workplace, and structural risks. The index is intended as a tool for identifying patterns and areas for further investigation, while the individual maps allow users to examine the conditions contributing to each state’s profile.

Explore the Maps

Vulnerability Index

Each state receives a composite score based on the indicators above. Scores fall into four tiers.

Highest Vulnerability States

The 15 states with the highest composite scores.

State experiences can offer practical models for addressing hazards such as extreme heat, strengthening OSHA systems, and protecting workers in high-risk and precarious jobs. At a time when federal workplace safety standards and enforcement face significant policy pressure, the state-level landscape underscores the importance of both effective state systems and a strong federal foundation for protecting workers nationwide.