OSHA Calls 5,702 Deaths on the Job Good News

[Omaha Steve]

Full story: http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/08/11/osha-calls-5702-deaths-on-the-job-good-news/

Aug 11

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OSHA Calls 5,702 Deaths on the Job Good News

A new government report shows the number of workers killed on the job in 2005. Although the total was down slightly from 2004, more Hispanic, African American, young and agricultural workers died on the job than in 2004. Nonetheless, the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) calls the latest report on workplace deaths “good news for all workers.”

Released Thursday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, 2005 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, shows that 5,702 workers died on the job last year, 62 fewer than the 5,764 killed in 2004.

However, deaths among African American workers rose for the third year in a row—to 577 in 2005, compared with 546 in 2004. Deaths among Latino workers rose to 917 from 902 in 2004; among immigrant Latino workers, the job death toll increased to 625 from 596 in 2004.

Among workers younger than 20, fatal injuries jumped by 18 percent to 166 in 2005. Shockingly, deaths among the very youngest of workers, those under 16, jumped 85 percent in 2005 to 24 fatalities.

[barb162]

1. Bush has done really bad things with Osha and the rest of the

regulatory agencies. Lightened up on rules, enforcement, staff, fines, etc

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

2. Gee I guess that IS good news compared with 2004...

when workplace deaths increased 2% over 2003 - the first time on-the-job fatalities had increased from the previous year since 1993.

And, as the article you cite notes, the current report does not mention the 50,000 to 60,000 deaths per year due to occupational disease, or the millions of workplace injuries.

I found this additional info at AFL-CIO Now:

In real dollars (adjusted for inflation), federal funding for job safety programs has decreased since fiscal year 2001, when the Bush administration began.

OSHA funding dropped by 3 percent, with state enforcement programs and job-safety standard setting taking the biggest hits, Death on the Job reports. Even more troubling, MSHA’s coal enforcement budget has been cut by 9 percent during the same period.

In a clear indication of the Bush administration’s skewed job safety priorities, officials have cut job-safety enforcement dollars while increasing spending for voluntary employer compliance programs.

In addition, the administration’s fiscal year 2007 budget proposes the complete elimination of funding for OSHA worker safety and health training programs.

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/04/25/worker-fatality-rate-increases-first-time-in-decade/

I remember when OSHA had teeth and was a real weapon in workers' arsenal against unsafe workplace conditions. This is unsurprising but still infuriating news.

[ashling]

3. Must be because

more Hispanic, African American, young and agricultural workers died on the job than in 2004.

must be because they are doing the jobs that American's won't do. ... oh, and because they don't speak English. :sarcasm:

This is more than were killed in all the "muslim -fascist" attcks on American soil. :sarcasm::sarcasm:

The head of OSHA must be a terrorist ..time to give him the medal of freedom. :sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

[ShockediSay]

4. Yeah, if your in the funeral business.

[w4rma]

5. Likely the only reason the deaths went down is that less manufacturing

jobs are located in the United States anymore. But I bet if we included the number of deaths from manufacturing facilities that build things for the U.S. but are located in another country the deathtoll will skyrocket.