FACTS ABOUT WORKER SAFETY AND HEALTH

FACTS ABOUT WORKER SAFETY AND HEALTH

	This year marks the 30^th anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Act – which guarantees every American worker a safe and healthful working environment – created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to set and enforce standards and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct research and investigations.
	Since 1970, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. More than 236,800 workers can now say that their lives have been saved since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Unfortunately, too many workers remain at risk.

MILLIONS OF WORKERS ARE KILLED, INJURED OR DISEASED ON THE JOB EACH YEAR.

	In 1999, 5.7 million workers were injured, more than 6,000 killed by traumatic injuries and an estimated 50,000 - 60,000 died from occupational diseases.
	According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were 6,023 workplace deaths due to traumatic injuries in 1999, virtually the same number of deaths as in 1998, when 6,055 workplace deaths were reported. Alaska led the country with the highest fatality rate (15.6/100,000); the lowest state fatality rate (2.3/100,000) was found in Connecticut. These statistics do not include deaths from occupational diseases, which claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 workers each year.
	Transportation incidents, in particular highway crashes, continue to be the leading cause of workplace deaths, responsible for 2,613 or 43 percent of all fatalities in 1999.
	The construction industry reported the largest number of workplace fatalities, with 1,190 work-related deaths (20 percent of all fatalities). This is an increase from the number of deaths in the construction industry the previous year.
	The occupations at greatest risk of work-related fatalities, based on the number of fatalities per 100,000 employed, were fishers (162.5/100,000), timber cutters (129.5/100,000), and sailors and deckhands (93.8/100,000).
	The leading causes of workplace fatalities for women were highway-related incidents and homicide; for men they were highway-related incidents and falls.
	On average, 17 workers were fatally injured each day during 1999. There were 235 multiple-fatality incidents, which resulted in 617 job-related deaths.
	In 1999, more than 5.7 million injuries and illnesses were reported in private sector workplaces. An additional 606,900 injuries and illnesses occurred among state and local employees in the 28 states and territories where this data is collected.
	In 1999, BLS reported 2.7 million injuries that resulted in restricted activity or lost-time; 1.7 million of these injuries resulted in at least one lost-work day.
	The national private sector injury rate decreased slightly, falling from 6.7/100 workers in 1998 to 6.3/100 workers in 1999. The largest decline came in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, while there was no change in the rates for the transportation and public utilities industries.
	In 1999, BLS reported more than 582,000 serious musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). These cases made up 34.2 percent of all lost-workday injuries, making them the nation’s leading job safety problem. In 1999, serious cases of carpal tunnel syndrome increased to 27,900 reported cases from 26,300 cases reported in 1998. However, these numbers understate the true magnitude of the problem. Research and experience shows that many MSDs go unreported; OSHA has estimated that for every reported MSD, another MSD goes unreported. In addition, the BLS numbers do not include the many ergonomic injuries that occur among state and local workers.

OVER THE YEARS, WORKPLACE SAFETY HAS IMPROVED

	According to the National Safety Council and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job fatality rate has been cut by 75 percent since 1970.
	Injury rates have also fallen. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 11 injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in 1973; by 1999, the rate was 6.3 per 100 workers—a decrease of 42 percent.
	Declines in workplace fatalities and injuries have been much greater in those industries where OSHA has targeted its standards and enforcement activities. In manufacturing, the fatality rate has declined by 60 percent and the injury rate by 40 percent since the passage of OSHA. Similarly, in construction, the fatality rate has declined by 80 percent and the injury rate by 57 percent.
	In those sectors where OSHA has focused limited attention, injury rates have changed very little. For example, in the service sector, the injury rate in 1973 was 6.2 per 100 workers; in 1999, it was 4.9.
	Throughout the years, OSHA standards have significantly reduced worker exposure to serious hazards and prevented unnecessary injuries, illnesses and deaths. For example, OSHA’s 1978 cotton dust standard virtually eliminated new cases of byssinosis, the 1978 lead standard dramatically reduced occupational lead poisoning, and standards on confined space entry, lock-out of dangerous equipment and grain dust prevented thousands of unnecessary deaths.
	Moreover, many OSHA standards have saved employers money and increased productivity. Compliance with OSHA's vinyl chloride standard led to improvements in the production process, increased profits and lowered worker exposures. The OSHA cotton dust standard spurred new investment in the textile industry, making textile mills more productive and healthier for workers.

WORKERS NEED MORE SAFETY AND HEALTH PROTECTION

	Although injury and fatality rates are falling, too many workers are being killed and injured on the job. In 1999, 6,023 workers died from traumatic injuries, and more than 50,000 died from occupational diseases. More than 5.7 million workers were injured on the job.
	On an average day, 153 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and illnesses, and another 15,600 are injured. That's one workplace death or injury every five seconds.
	Millions of workers still lack OSHA protection – 8.39 million state and local public employees are not covered by OSHA. Millions of workers in the transportation industry do not benefit from OSHA protections.
	For many serious hazards, standards are of out of date or non-existent. Since OSHA was enacted, comprehensive standards have only been issued for 29 toxic chemicals. Permissible exposure limits for toxic chemicals adopted in 1971 have never been successfully updated. Ergonomic hazards, the major source of workplace injury and illness still have no standard, since OSHA’s November 2000 ergonomics regulation was repealed by Congress and President Bush.
	Other major safety and health concerns facing workers today include issues of work organization such as increased hours of work, intensification of work due to downsizing, increased paced of work and other changes in technologies and work processes. Many of these changes have been associated with repetitive strain injuries, stress, workplace violence and even fatalities.
	Thousands of workers are retaliated against by their employers each year for raising job safety concerns or reporting injuries, fired or harassed simply because they want a safe place to work. OSHA whistle-blower and anti-retaliation provisions are too weak to provide any real protection to workers who try to exercise their legal rights.
	At the workplace the move toward behavior-based safety and incentive programs is particularly alarming. Rather than examining how core work processes affect health and safety, behavior-based safety programs claim that an overwhelming majority of job injuries and illnesses are the result of the unsafe acts of workers themselves. Behavior-based safety programs attempt to place the responsibility for a safe workplace squarely on the backs of workers, rather than addressing workplace hazards.
	OSHA is a small agency that does not have the funding or staff to oversee the safety and health of 109 million workers in 7.6 million workplaces under its jurisdiction.
	Federal OSHA only has about 850 safety and health inspectors and can inspect workplaces, on average, once every 109 years.
	OSHA's current budget of $425 million amounts to $3.96 per private sector worker.

BUSINESS OPPOSITION TO SAFETY AND HEALTH PROTECTIONS HAS INCREASED

	Employer groups are fighting each and every attempt by OSHA to regulate any hazard, no matter how serious a problem it is for workers. Even negotiated rulemakings are being challenged in court. A coalition of steel and metal manufacturers recently challenged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's steel erection safety standard, which was issued following negotiated rulemaking between the agency, labor, and industry.
	It is very clear that many in the business community and right wing Republicans have a strong anti-regulatory ideology that allows no room for common sense regulation to protect workers and their communities.
	In an extreme action, in response to employer demands, the Republican-controlled Congress and President Bush repealed OSHA’s November 2000 ergonomic standard which would have prevented these crippling injuries. Now, workers are left with no protection.
	Employer groups, led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and some Republicans, are likely to push legislation that would weaken OSHA enforcement, take away workers’ rights and delay the adoption of important safeguards. In the past, they have pushed legislation to allow employers to keep safety and health audit reports secret, require OSHA to waive penalties for violations by small business if the violations are corrected within a set period of time and require industry-specific risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses for each industry affected by a proposed rule making. We will no doubt continue to see more of the same during the 107^th Congress, with opponents of mandatory protections emboldened by their successful repeal of the ergonomics standard.

Prepared by: AFL-CIO Department of Occupational Safety and Health
Revised April 2001

AFL-CIO Fact Sheet