New Worker Memorial in Bushnell Park
• This year marks the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. 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. It also marks the 41sth anniversary of the Coal Mine Health and Safety Act, and 33nd anniversary of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act.
• Since 1970, workplace safety and health conditions have improved. More than 410,000 workers can now say that their lives have been saved since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
• But many workers remain in serious danger, as demonstrated by the Massey Energy West Virginia coal mine disaster that killed 29 miners, the Tesoro Refinery explosion in Washington State a few days earlier that killed six workers, and the Kleen Energy explosion in Middletown, Connecticut in February that also claimed six workers’ lives.
• Eight years of neglect and inaction by the Bush Administration seriously eroded safety and health protections. Major hazards were not addressed. The job safety budget was cut. Voluntary compliance replaced strong enforcement. In the absence of strong government oversight and enforcement, many employers cut back their safety and health efforts.
• The Obama Administration has increased the job safety budget, is stepping up enforcement and moving on much needed standards, including rules on silica, cranes and derricks, infectious diseases and coal dust. But there are weaknesses in the OSH Act that must be addressed through Congressional action. The Protecting America’s Workers Act (H.R. 2067, S. 1580) would extend OSHA coverage to all workers, strengthen anti-discrimination protections, increase civil and criminal penalties, and enhance worker and union rights. In the wake of the Massey mine disaster Congress is examining whether there are deficiencies in the MSH Act that need to addressed.
MILLIONS OF WORKERS ARE KILLED, INJURED OR DISEASED ON THE JOB EACH YEAR.
• In 2008, 5,071 workers were 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 5,071 workplace deaths due to traumatic injuries in 2008, a decrease in the number of deaths in 2007, when 5,657 workplace deaths were reported.
• On average, 14 workers were fatally injured each day during 2008.
• The fatal injury rate in 2008 was 3.6/100,000 workers, down from a rate of 4.0/100,000 workers in 2007.
• Some groups of workers are at much greater risk. The 2008 fatality rate among construction workers was 9.6/100,000, and the rate in mining was 18.0/100,000. The fatality rate among Hispanic workers was 4.0/100,000.
• In 2008, approximately 3.7 million injuries and illnesses were reported in private sector workplaces. An additional 938,000 injuries and illnesses were reported among state and local public employees.
• In 2008, the national private sector injury and illness rate reported by employers was 3.9/100 workers. The injury and illness rate in 2007 was 4.2/100 workers. In 2008, the injury and illness rate for state and local public sector workers was 6.3/100 workers – more than 60 percent higher than the reported private sector injury rate.
• In 2008, BLS reported 317,440 musculoskeletal disorder cases that resulted in days away from work. MSDs account for 29 percent of injuries and illnesses involving all days away from work, demonstrating that MSDs remain the biggest category of job injuries and illness.
• Recent research has documented that the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, which is based upon data from employers’ OSHA injury and illness logs, fails to capture a large proportion of work-related injuries and illnesses. This research indicates that the true toll of job injuries is two to three times greater than the numbers and rates reported by BLS.
OVER THE YEARS WORKPLACE SAFETY IMPROVED, BUT SIGNIFICANT PROBLEMS REMAIN
• According to data from the National Safety Council and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job fatality rate has been cut by 80 percent since 1970 from 18.0/100,000 to 3.6/100,000 in 2008. In the construction industry, the fatality rate has fallen by 85 percent, from 63/100,000 workers in 1970 to 9.6/100,000 workers in 2008. In the manufacturing sector, the fatality rate has fallen by 72 percent from 9.0/100,000 in 1970 to 2.5/100,000 in 2008.
• Fatality rates in the mining industry have also dropped significantly, from a rate of 100/100,000 workers in 1970 to 18/100,000 in 2008. The number of mine fatalities in 2009 was the lowest on record with 35 deaths – 18 in coal, 17 in metal and non-metal mines. But on April 5, 2010 an explosion at the Massey Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia killed 29 coal miners, in the worst coal mining disaster in 40 years.
• Hispanic workers are at high risk of job related deaths. The number of workplace fatalities among Hispanics increased significantly from 1992- 2006, with a peak in the fatal injury rate in 2001. Over the past two years the number and rate of fatal injuries among Hispanic workers has declined, with 774 deaths reported in 2008 compared to 990 in 2006. Fatal injuries among immigrant workers have also decreased from a high of 1,046 deaths in 2006 to 795 deaths in 2008. These declines are likely to be at least partially a result of declines in employment among Hispanic and foreign-born workers caused by the recession, particularly in hazardous industries like construction,
• Reported injury rates have fallen over the years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 11 injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in 1973; by 2008 the rate was 3.9 per 100 workers–a decrease of 65 percent. However, the injury data, unlike fatality data, are based solely on employer reports, and independent reviews have found them to grossly understate the true incidence.
• Throughout the years, OSHA and MSHA 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. But in recent years few standards have been issued, and many hazards have yet to be addressed.
WORKERS NEED MORE SAFETY AND HEALTH PROTECTION
• Although injury and fatality rates have fallen since the OSHAct was enacted, too many workers are being killed and injured on the job. On an average day, 151 workers lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and diseases (14 die from injuries and 137 from diseases), and another 12,696 are injured or become ill.
• Millions of workers still lack OSHA protection – more than 8.2 million state and local public employees are not covered by OSHA. Millions of workers in the transportation industry, including flight attendants, 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 30 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. New standards are needed on silica, coal dust, cranes and derricks, combustible dust and numerous other hazards.
• Immigrant workers have a disproportionate rate of injuries, illnesses and fatalities in the workplace largely because they work in dangerous industries and may be particularly vulnerable due to their immigration status and subject to employer exploitation.
• Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, a new set of workplace safety and security issues have emerged, among them security, bioterrorism and emergency response.
• The threat of pandemic influenza and other infectious diseases pose a serious risk to 9.4 million health care workers and other first responders who are on the front lines of caring for patients.
• 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 pace of work and inadequate staffing. 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 the approximately 135 million workers in the 8.8 million workplaces under its jurisdiction.
• Federal OSHA only has about 885 safety and health inspectors and can inspect workplaces, on average, once every 137 years. The state OSHA plans combined have a total of 1,333 inspectors and can inspect workplaces on average once every 63 years.
• In the United States, there is one OSHA inspector for every 60,723 workers compared to the International Labor Organization benchmark of one labor inspector for every 10,000 workers.
• OSHA's current budget (FY 2010) of $ 558.6 million amounts to $4.14 per covered worker.
• OSHA penalties are weak. In FY 2009, the average penalty for a serious violation of the law where there is a substantial probability of serious physical harm was only $965 for federal OSHA and $781 for the OSHA state plans combined.
• Even in cases of worker deaths, penalties are only a slap on the wrist. In FY 2009, the median total penalty in fatality cases investigated by federal OSHA was only $6,750, reduced to $5,000 after settlements. For the OSHA state plans, the penalties for worker fatalities were even lower – with the initial median total penalties at $5,225, reduced to $4,500 after settlement.
EIGHT YEARS OF NEGLECT AND INACTION BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION ERODED SAFETY AND HEALTH PROTECTIONS
• For eight years, the Bush Administration turned its back on workers and workplace safety. Siding with its corporate friends, the Administration overturned or blocked dozens of important workplace protections and weakened job safety programs.
• After repealing the OSHA ergonomics standard in 2001, the Bush Administration then moved to kill dozens of worker protection measures under development at OSHA and at MSHA. These included MSHA rules on mine rescue teams, self-contained self-rescue devices, and escape ways and refuges, all of which may have helped to prevent the fatalities at the Sago mine disaster
• The Bush Administration refused to set new standards on pandemic flu, combustible dust or the toxic chemical diacetyl which causes a deadly lung disease. Rules on silica and dangerous cranes were never issued, and the few rules that were issued came only as result of court orders or Congressional action.
• Voluntary compliance was favored over strong enforcement, and the job safety budget was cut. The number of OSHA staff was cut by 250 positions, reducing agency staff to the lowest level in the agency’s history.
• The lack of regulation and oversight resulted in an erosion in safety and health practices and conditions in many workplaces, leading to unnecessary worker deaths.
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION IS MOVING TO STRENGTHEN JOB SAFETY PROTECTIONS
• The Obama Administration is returning OSHA and MSHA to their mission to protect workers’ safety and health. The President has appointed strong, pro-worker safety and health advocates to head the agencies – Dr. David Michaels at OSHA, and Joe Main at MSHA.
• Last year Secretary Solis put employers on notice that there was “a new sheriff in town” and that the Department of Labor would strongly enforce the law. She has been true to her word. Both OSHA and MSHA have stepped up enforcement against employers who have serious, repeated and willful violations. OSHA has launched a national emphasis program to investigate the under reporting of injuries and employer practices that discourage workers from reporting job injuries.
• The Administration has increased the job safety budget and hired hundreds of new inspectors, restoring the cuts made during the Bush Administration.
• Both OSHA and MSHA are moving forward to develop and issue new standards on major hazards including standards on silica, cranes and derricks, infectious diseases and coal dust. OSHA has proposed a rule to reinstate the requirement for employers to identify musculoskeletal disorders on the job injury log – a requirement repealed by the Bush Administration.
• In the wake of the Massey disaster, President Obama has announced that MSHA will step up inspections at mines with troubling safety records, and that the Administration will work with Congress to strengthen the mine safety law.
THE JOB SAFETY LAWS NEED TO BE STRENGTHENED
• The Occupational Safety and Health Act is nearly 40 years old, and is out of date. Millions of workers lack coverage, penalties are weak and worker and union rights are very limited.
• The Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA – H.R. 2067, S. 1580) would strengthen the OSHA law by expanding coverage to all workers, including the millions of public employees who lack protection. It would strengthen both civil and criminal penalties, particularly when workers are killed or injured. It would strengthen workers’ anti-discrimination protection and expand worker, union and victim rights.
• The Mine Safety and Health Act is a stronger law than the OSH Act and was strengthened in 2006 after the Sago mining disaster. But the Massey coal mine disaster has revealed problems and weaknesses that need to addressed, particularly the ability of coal operators who have a pattern of serious violations to avoid tougher enforcement by contesting all citations.
• The Congress should act to strengthen both the OSHA and MSHA laws to protect workers for injury, illness and death and to prevent future tragedies like the Massey mine disaster and Tesoro Refinery and Kleen Energy explosions.
Prepared by: AFL-CIO Safety and Health
April 16, 2010
Note: The 2008 fatality information in this document is based on preliminary data from BLS. An updated version of this document will be posted on the AFL-CIO website after the final 2008 fatality data is released by BLS, which is expected on April 22.
