Death at Work on the Rise
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Workplace fatality rates
in Maryland, Virginia and the District of
Columbia rose last year after dropping for the
previous three years. The nation's workplace
safety laws are too weak to effectively protect
the nation's workers, according to the
AFL-CIO's annual Death
on the Job report, released Tuesday. The
report identifies how many people lost their
lives and were injured at workplaces in the
past year and provides in-depth state-by-state
analysis on workplace safety. The release
of the report coincides with Workers Memorial
Day, April 28th, which commemorates workers who
died or were injured in the past year.
Congress is holding two hearings this week
to investigate current job safety protections
in the United States. On Tuesday, the
House of Representatives investigated whether
OSHA standards are keeping up with workplace
hazards, and on Thursday, the Senate will hold
a hearing on the state of workplace safety
and health protections. In 2005, 4.2
million workers were injured and 5,734 workers
were killed due to job hazards. Another
50,000-60,000 died due to occupational
diseases. On an average day, 152 workers
lose their lives as a result of workplace
injuries and disease, and another 11,507
injured. Peg Seminario, the AFL-CIO Director of
Safety and Health, will testify before the
Senate committee, arguing that enforceable
safety regulations are crucial to protecting
today's workforce. The hearing will take place
in room 628 at Dirksen Senate Office Building
at 10A. The report shows that workplace
fatalities have increased since 2004 for Latino
and immigrant workers, who face substantially
higher risks of fatality. In 2005, the
fatal injury rate for all workers was 4/100,000
workers, compared to a rate of 4.9 for Latino
workers. Since 1992, the number of
fatalities among Latino workers has increased
by 73 percent from 533 fatalities in 1992
to 923 deaths in 2005. Among foreign-born
workers, job fatalities have increased by 63
percent, from 635 to 1,035 deaths.