State profile · OSHA ITA
South Dakota workplace safety
How 1,778 OSHA-reporting employers across South Dakota compare on workplace injuries, 2016–2024.
- 1,778
- Employers
- 6.4
- Avg TCR
- 36,517
- Injuries
- 23
- Fatalities
The state picture
South Dakota's reporting employers average 6.4 recordable injuries per 100 workers, 2.4 times the ~2.7 all-industry private-sector norm.
- 6.4
- avg TCR · per 100 workers
- 1,778
- employers reporting
- 36,517
- recordable injuries
- 23
- worker fatalities
State average reflects each state's industry mix. Sort the table below by each employer's own grade against its industry benchmark.
32% of South Dakota's reporting establishments earn an F and 10% an A, each measured against its own industry benchmark, not the state line. These grades are a transparent derived index, not an official OSHA rating; see the Methodology for the exact formula.
Where South Dakota ranks among states
54 states & territories by avg TCRSouth Dakota's average TCR of 6.4 is lower than 15% of states, a state average reflects industry mix as much as workplace safety.
A second cut tells a different story: ranked by injury rate alone, South Dakota is #46 of 54. Ranked instead by fatalities per employer establishment, it's #30 of 54, a 16-place swing. A state can run a moderate everyday injury rate while its rarer, most severe incidents cluster differently; the two metrics measure different things and shouldn't be read as interchangeable.
How South Dakota Workplaces Compare
South Dakota hosts 1,778 employer establishments currently reporting to OSHA's Injury Tracking Application. These are not small shops: federal rules require ITA submission from workplaces with 250+ employees in any industry, plus workplaces with 20+ employees in the roughly 60 NAICS codes classified as high-hazard (construction, manufacturing, healthcare, warehousing, agriculture, and others). Across this South Dakota cohort, workers have logged 36,517 recordable injuries, producing a state average Total Case Rate (TCR) of 6.4 injuries per 100 full-time workers per year during 2016–2024.
The state has recorded 23 workplace fatalities in the reporting window, which is tracked separately from non-fatal injury counts because fatal events have their own investigation trail under 29 CFR 1904.39. Reading state-level TCR requires context: the headline figure is driven by a state's industry mix. A state with a heavy construction, logging, or meatpacking footprint will mechanically post higher TCR than a state dominated by finance or professional services, even when individual employers are equally well-managed. That is why the employer table below sorts each establishment by its own TCR and letter grade, against the BLS benchmark for its specific industry, not against the state average.
For jobseekers, relocators, investors, and local safety professionals, state-level pages function as an entry point: use the grade-sorted list to spot the safest and highest-risk employers in South Dakota, then click through to an individual establishment for its year-by-year injury, illness, DART, and fatality trajectory. Compare multiple years before drawing conclusions, a single outlier year can reflect a specific event, whereas a sustained pattern across reporting cycles is a more reliable risk signal. All data comes directly from employer-submitted OSHA Form 300A summaries. State OSHA plans in 22 states operate their own enforcement programs in parallel, but the injury data above is harmonized through the federal ITA system.
Employers in South Dakota, by injury rate
Page 16 of 36| Employer | City | Industry | Grade | Avg TCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| West-Con (Twin Brooks) | Twin Brooks | Farm product warehousing and | C | 5.8 |
| Mitchell | Mitchell | Sales and Support of Agricul | F | 5.8 |
| Persona Madison | Madison | Electrical signs manufacturi | D | 5.7 |
| Sterling Technology | Brookings | Milk processing (e.g., bottl | D | 5.7 |
| Midstates Printing | Aberdeen | Offset printing (except book | D | 5.7 |
| Black Hills Electric Cooperative | Custer | Distribution of electric pow | F | 5.7 |
| South Dakota #47 | Parkston | Tuck pointing contractors | F | 5.7 |
| Sioux Falls Branch | Sioux Falls | Glazing contractors | F | 5.7 |
| 3237 | Sioux Falls | Warehouse Clubs and Supercen | D | 5.7 |
| Thermo Bond Buildings, LLC | Elk Point | Buildings, prefabricated, wo | D | 5.7 |
| SD,CLEAR LAKE - Medical Center Campus - General Medical and Surgical Hospitals | Clear Lake | General Medical and Surgical | B | 5.7 |
| Compassionate Care Hospice of Sioux Falls | Sioux Falls | Hospice care services, in ho | C | 5.7 |
| SD,Vermillion-Care Center-Nursing Care Facilities (Skilled Nursing Facilities) | Vermillion | Nursing homes | C | 5.7 |
| 9282-520327 | Sioux Falls | Frozen Food and Freezer Meal | D | 5.7 |
| Dakotaland Transportation Inc. | Sioux Falls | Motor freight carrier, gener | D | 5.7 |
| 6458-ZSFL | Sioux Falls | Local Messengers and Local D | D | 5.7 |
| Baker Timber Products Inc. | Rapid City | Sawmills | D | 5.7 |
| Avantara Groton | Groton | Skilled nursing facilities | C | 5.7 |
| Aberdeen, SD | Aberdeen | General freight trucking, lo | D | 5.7 |
| Rinker - Rapcp | Rapid City | Concrete Pipe Manufacturing | D | 5.7 |
| Dakotaland Manufacturing | Sioux Falls | Mauls, metal, manufacturing | D | 5.7 |
| 467146-Rapid City Po | Rapid City | Mail and Parcel Delivery | D | 5.6 |
| Maintenance Department | Aberdeen | Millwrights | F | 5.6 |
| Fimco | North Sioux City | Farm tractors and attachment | D | 5.6 |
| Rapid City Branch Office | Rapid City | Distribution of electric pow | F | 5.6 |
| LifeScape Adult Services Western | Sioux Falls | Rehabilitation job counselin | D | 5.6 |
| TKI Mitchell | Mitchell | Manufacturing, Trucks_Traile | D | 5.6 |
| Good Samaritan Society - Canton | Canton | Skilled nursing facilities | C | 5.6 |
| Sesdac | Vermillion | Group homes for the disabled | D | 5.6 |
| Coca - Cola Bottling Company High Country - Aberdeen | Aberdeen | Other Grocery Related Produc | F | 5.6 |
| Wm 1483 | Yankton | Warehouse Clubs and Supercen | D | 5.6 |
| Midwestern Mechanical - Rapid | Rapid City | Mechanical contractors | D | 5.6 |
| Medspeed Sioux Fall | Sioux Falls | Courier services | C | 5.6 |
| Black Hills | Rapid City | Other Grocery&Related Produc | F | 5.5 |
| WEL-Life at Elk Point | Elk Point | Assisted-living facilities w | D | 5.5 |
| US AutoForce Sioux Falls Warehouse/Lubes Plant | Sioux Falls | - | F | 5.5 |
| Elkton | Elkton | Fans, industrial and commerc | D | 5.5 |
| Avera State Street Medical Square | Aberdeen | Family physicians' offices ( | D | 5.5 |
| SFL | Sioux Falls | General freight trucking, lo | D | 5.5 |
| Avnatara Clark City | Clark | Skilled nursing facilities | C | 5.5 |
| Runnings of Watertown | Watertown | General stores | D | 5.5 |
| Avantara Pierre | Pierre | Skilled nursing facilities | C | 5.5 |
| Silverstreak Dairy LLC, Warner Dairy | Warner | Dairy cattle farming | D | 5.5 |
| Sun Dial Manor, Inc | Bristol | Nursing homes | C | 5.5 |
| Riverview IL Operations, LLC | Flandreau | Nursing homes | C | 5.5 |
| 2025 Coborn's Mitchell | Mitchell | Retail Grocery | D | 5.5 |
| Watertown SD Skilled Nursing Facility LLC | Watertown | Nursing homes | C | 5.5 |
| Yankton - Main Store | Yankton | Supermarkets and Other Groce | D | 5.5 |
| Component Manufacturing Company - Plant 2 | Sioux Falls, | Floor trusses, wood, manufac | D | 5.5 |
| Avera McKennan Avera St. Luke's Hospital | Aberdeen | General medical and surgical | B | 5.5 |
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
What South Dakota's safety record means for you
South Dakota averages a TCR of 6.4 - about 2.4× the ~2.7 national private-sector norm. A state average hides wide employer-by-employer variation.
- Look up a specific South Dakota employer rather than relying on the state average. Look up an employer
- Compare this state against the rest of the country. All states
- Understand what the average TCR actually measures before you read it. Understand the rates
State averages use the credible-subset mean across reporting establishments; they are statistical summaries, not regulatory assessments.
Every figure and grade on PlainSafetyScore is computed directly from OSHA's published Injury Tracking Application data and BLS industry benchmarks, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these safety grades, or report a data error. Data current as of 2016-2024 OSHA ITA release.