In 2015, 4,836 workers were killed on the job and another 50,000 to 60,000 workers died from work-related illnesses, according to the AFL-CIO’s Death on the Job report, released this week in observance of Workers’ Memorial Day on April 28. That means that the fatal injury rate held steady from 2014 at 3.4 deaths per 100,000 workers.
Workplace deaths aren’t evenly distributed. Some states—led by North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana—have higher fatality rates, and some groups of workers face disproportionate risk:
Latino and immigrant workers continue to be at higher risk than other workers:
- The Latino fatality rate was 4.0 per 100,000 workers, 18% higher than the national average.
- Deaths among Latino workers increased significantly in 2015; 903 deaths, compared with 804 in 2014.
- Almost the entire increase in Latino deaths was among immigrant workers; 605 (67%) of Latino workers killed were immigrant workers.
- 943 immigrant workers were killed on the job—the highest since 2007.
Older workers are at high risk. In 2015:
- 35% of all fatalities occurred in workers ages 55 or older, with 1,681 deaths.
- Workers 65 or older have more than 2.5 times the risk of dying on the job as other workers, with a fatality rate of 9.4 per 100,000 workers.
The government doesn’t put the resources in to improve the situation: “Federal OSHA has enough inspectors to inspect workplaces once every 159 years.” And that was in 2015. Things will not be getting better under Donald Trump, who, with the Republican Congress, has already taken steps to weaken workplace safety protections.
from Daily Kos http://ift.tt/2pwbS1e
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