Workplace Hazards Take American Lives

Workers Memorial Day, April 28th, serves as a reminder of how far our workplace safety laws have to go to provide protections for America’s workers.

Today the AFL-CIO releases its annual Death on the Job report, which tracks all workplace fatalities and injuries in the past year.  This year’s report emphasizes what we already know — that our workplace safety laws are not keeping up with our country’s changing economy and emerging job hazards.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA) was landmark legislation enacted by the Congress with the goal of assuring “so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions.

In 2005, there were 5,734 fatal workplace injuries, with significant increases in fatalities among Latino, African–American, foreign-born and young workers.  On average, 16 workers were fatally injured and more than 12,000 workers were injured or made ill each day of 2005.  These statistics do not include deaths from occupational diseases, which claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 workers each year. Overall, the rate of workplace fatalities decreased slightly from 4.1/100,000 workers in 2004 to 4.0/100,000 workers in 2005. However, the fatality rate among Latino workers in 2005 was 23 percent higher than the fatal injury rate for all U.S. workers.  In 2005, fatal injuries among Latino workers increased by 2 percent over 2004, with 923 fatalities among this group of workers, the highest number ever reported.

Under the Bush Administration, voluntary efforts and partnerships with employers have been favored over mandatory standards and industry-wide enforcement initiatives.  With this approach, OSHA has abandoned its leadership role in safety and health, choosing to work with individual employers, rather than taking bold action to bring about broad and meaningful change in working conditions on an industry-wide and national level.

The current level of federal and state OSHA inspectors provides one inspector for every 63,670 workers.  This compares to a benchmark of one labor inspector for every 10,000 workers recommended by the International Labor Organization for industrialized countries.  At its current staffing and inspection levels, Federal OSHA can inspect workplaces on average once every 133 years.

As a result, as a nation we are falling further and further behind in protecting workers from serious hazards that cause death, injury and disease.

In 2007, the promise of a safe job for every American worker is far from being fulfilled.  Since OSHA was enacted in 1970, job fatalities, injuries and illnesses have been reduced significantly. Yet, as vividly demonstrated by the Sago mine disaster, too many workers remain at risk, and face death, injury or disease as a result of their jobs.

There are solutions to fight workplace fatality and injury in today’s world. Enforceable safety regulations and standards. More funding for OSHA inspectors. Voices for workers on the job. And Congress must pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which will give workers the opportunity to speak up without fear when something isn’t right at their workplace.  For Workers Memorial Day, join us in remembering the workers who were killed and injured in the last year.  Then, we call on Congress to work to assure that America’s safety laws are a shining example of how governments can protect workers from death on the job.