Inaction by the Trump administration on rules to mitigate workplace violence is among the top concerns voiced by the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) in its 27th annual Death on the Job survey and report.
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The report covers 2016, which saw 5,190 workers killed on the job in the United States—an increase from the 4,836 deaths that occurred in 2015. Moreover, 50,000 to 60,000 additional workers died from occupational diseases in 2016. Overall, the job fatality rate increased from 3.4 per 100,000 workers in 2015 to 3.6 per 100,000 workers in 2016.
500 Homicides
“Startlingly, workplace violence is now the second, leading cause of workplace death, accounting for 866 workplace fatalities [up from 703 workers in 2015], including 500 homicides,” states the AFL-CIO. “Yet even as deadly violence increases in the workplace, the Trump administration has sidelined a proposed OSHA workplace violence standard.”
The report notes that during the Obama administration, OSHA enhanced enforcement on workplace violence using the General Duty Clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), updated guidance documents, and committed to developing a workplace violence standard.
“Future action on this serious workplace hazard is uncertain,” the report states. “Enforcement on workplace violence under the general duty clause is being challenged by employers, and the Trump administration has sidelined OSHA’s workplace violence standard, leaving workers with inadequate protection from this growing threat.”
Other Obama-era worker-safety actions that are being delayed by the Trump administration include standards affecting combustible dust, chemical process safety management, infectious diseases, and silica in mining, according to the AFL-CIO.
Deaths Down for Mexican Immigrants
The 224-page report provides a comprehensive breakdown of fatalities according to industry sector, worker age, number of deaths per total hours worked, location (states), and nationality, with a particular emphasis on Latino and immigrant workers. The report noted that there was a significant decrease in fatalities among Latino workers (879 in 2016 compared to 903 in 2015) and Latino immigrant workers (588 in 2016 compared to 605 in 2015.) A decrease in fatalities among immigrant workers from Mexico accounted for much of the decline in Latino worker deaths.
Age a Major Factor
Additional statistics include the following:
- 36 percent of all fatalities occurred among workers aged 55 and older, with 1,848 deaths. Workers 65 and older have more than 2.5 times the risk of dying on the job as other workers, with a fatality rate of 9.6 per 100,000 workers.
- 991 construction workers were killed in 2016, which is the highest number in any sector. The number of construction deaths increased (from 937), but the rate was unchanged at 10.1 per 100,000 workers.
- Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (considered a single sector) had the highest fatality rate (23.2 per 100,000).
- 825 transportation and warehousing workers were killed in 2016. The fatality rate was 14.3 per 100,000 workers, the second-highest of any major industry sector.
- There were 25 deaths in coal, metal, and nonmetal mines in 2016, which is a record low. However, preliminary 2017 data show a significant increase in coal mine deaths (from 8 to 15) and increases in coal mine fatality and injury rates.
- There were 63 deaths in oil and gas extraction in 2016, which is the lowest since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started reporting these data in 2003.
- Wyoming led all states in worker death rate (12.3 per 100,000 workers), followed by Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, and North Dakota. Each of these states had high rates of transportation fatalities, presumably because of long distances workers must travel.
Recommendations
“OSHA [must] keep its promise to develop a workplace violence standard,” says the AFL-CIO. “Workplace violence is a growing and serious threat—particularly to women workers and workers in health care and social services.”
Other recommendations for OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) include:
- Defending and fully implementing new rules on silica, beryllium, injury reporting/antiretaliation, and coal dust;
- Completing and issuing rules on infectious diseases, combustible dust, chemical safety, and silica in mining; and
- Increasing attention to the safety and health problems faced by Latino, immigrant, and aging workers.
President Donald Trump and Congress are also called on to increase, not cut, funding and staffing at job safety agencies; stop “regulatory reform” legislation that would require the repeal of existing rules and make it more difficult, if not impossible, to issue new regulatory safeguards; and pass the Protecting America’s Workers Act to extend OSHA’s authority to workers currently excluded, strengthen civil and criminal penalties for violations, enhance antidiscrimination protections, and strengthen the rights of workers, unions, and victims.
AFL-CIO’s report is at https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2017-03/1647_DOTJ2016_0.pdf.