The 16th edition of “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” published by the AFL-CIO reporting on the state of safety and health protections for America’s workers. The report includes state-by-state profiles of workers’ safety and health and features state and national information on workplace fatalities, injuries, illnesses, the number and frequency of workplace inspections, penalties and public-employee coverage under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA act).
Since 1970, when the OSHA act was passed, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. Unfortunately, too many workers remain at risk, and face death, injury or disease as a result of their jobs.
Progress in protecting workers’ safety and health is unfortunately slowing, and for some groups of workers jobs are becoming more dangerous. The most recent job fatality data (2005) show 5,734 fatal workplace injuries reported in 2005, with significant increases in fatalities among Hispanic, Black or African–American, foreign-born and young workers. As the economy, the workforce and hazards are changing, we are falling further and further behind in our efforts to protect workers from new and existing problems.
Recent Comments