Today’s post comes from guest author Edgar Romano from Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano of New York.
The AFL-CIO has released its 2012 report on worker fatalities which also examines the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA’s) role in ensuring safe workplaces. The AFL-CIO has been producing this report for 21 years, and we hope they continue to do so.
Since Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. But too many workers’ remain at serious risk of injury, illness or death.
In 2010, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4,690 workers’ were killed on the job—an average of 13 workers’ every day—and an estimated 50,000 died from occupational diseases. Workers suffer an additional 7.6 million to 11.4 million job injuries and illnesses each year. The cost of job injuries and illnesses is enormous—estimated at $250 billion to $300 billion a year.
The risk of job fatalities and injuries varies widely from state to state—from 13.1 fatalities per 100,000 workers’ in West Virginia to 0.9 fatalities per 100,000 in New Hampshire. Latino workers’ continue to be at increased risk of job fatalities, with a fatality rate of 3.9 per 100,000 workers’ in 2010.
This year’s edition of “Death on the Job” details not only the data about workplace death, injuries and illnesses, but also the reasons behind them and what must be done to save lives.
