Posted: April 28, 2008
Editor’s note: This blog by Mike Hall appeared April 24, 2008 on the AFL-CIO weblog.
More workers are being killed on the job, but employers
who are found to have violated federal safety laws in fatality cases are paying
as little as $750 in penalties for each death, according to the latest edition
of the AFL-CIO’s annual report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.”
Released April 24, the 17th edition of the national and
state-by-state profiles on worker safety and health in the United States
reveals that in 2006, 5,840 workers died from workplace injuries, compared with
5,734 in 2005. The figures show a continued and significant increase in
fatalities among Latino and foreign-born workers. The year 2006 is the
most recent year for which U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures are
available.
The report shows that each day in 2006, 16 workers were
fatally injured on the job and more than 11,200 were hurt or made sick. But the
price workers pay for toiling in dangerous jobs climbs even higher when the
tally includes the 50,000 to 60,000 workers who die every year from
occupational diseases.
The report was released in conjunction with Workers Memorial Day, April 28, a day
set aside every year to honor workers killed and hurt on the job and highlight
the need for improved job safety standards.
New safety laws and protections for workers have ground to a halt under the Bush
administration, says Death on the Job.
“Important standards close to completion at the end of
the Clinton administration have been withdrawn or repeatedly delayed. Overall,
dozens of OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] and MSHA [Mine
Safety and Health Administration] standards were pulled from the
administration’s regulatory agenda, including MSHA standards on mine rescue
teams, self-contained self-rescue devices, and escape ways and refuges which
may have helped prevent the fatalities at the Sago mine.”
Along with blocking new safety standards, the Bush
administration has cut enforcement staff and enforcement budgets for OSHA and
MSHA and turned to voluntary programs for employers to provide safe workplaces
than relaying on strong enforcement of job safety laws. Even when workplace penalties
are assessed, the small fines provide little deterrence, the report points out.
The average national total penalty in fatality
investigations was just $10,133. Delaware had the lowest average penalties in
fatality cases, with no penalties assessed, followed by Alaska, with $750 in
penalties per fatality case, and Oregon with $793 in penalties.
In 2006, fatal injuries among Hispanic workers increased
by 7% over 2005, with 990 killed on the job, the highest number of Hispanic
worker deaths ever recorded. The fatality rate among Latino workers in 2006 was
25% higher that the fatal injury rate for all workers.
Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:
“Our nation’s system of rules and enforcement has fallen
embarrassingly short of its goal of ensuring workplace safety. America’s
workers simply can’t afford four more years of Bush administration-style cuts,
rollbacks, and opposition to new safety protections. Congress and the next
president must guarantee good jobs, safe jobs, for all.”
Both Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack
Obama (D-Ill.) have pledged to back tough new job safety laws and worker
protections if elected president. But Republican presidential candidate Sen.
John McCain (R-Ariz.) has a long record of voting against strong worker
protections. A flier that shows McCain’s votes on important health and safety
bills can be found at www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/upload/mccain_workersafety.pdf.
These include his votes against a bill to set field sanitation standards for
farm workers, mine safety laws, workplace ergonomics standards to prevent
millions of repetitive stress injuries a year and stronger penalties against
employers who violate workplace safety rules.
The report also breaks down the death and injury rates by industry, state and race; tracks trends in enforcement activities, regulations and funding; and examines other job safety statistics.