Labor study finds 150 job-related deaths a year

A new report from the AFL-CIO finds that an average of 150 workers are killed each day from workplace injuries and other conditions.

The AFL-CIO reported that workplace injuries killed 4,585 workers in 2013, while another 50,000 died from occupational diseases.

The workplace deaths were the focus of the AFL-CIO’s report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect.”

“America’s workers shouldn’t have to choose between earning a livelihood and risking their life, yet every day too many end up on the wrong end of that choice,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. 

“Corporations are prospering while working people suffer because of corporate negligence and insufficient government oversight,” he added. “We must go beyond mourning those we’ve lost, and take bold, decisive action to ensure that a day’s work brings opportunity, not the risk of death or injury.”

Trumka blamed the workplace deaths on poor oversight from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and weak penalties for companies that break the rules.

“OSHA has the resources and staff to inspect workplaces on average only once every 140 years,” he noted.

Public sector workers are 58 percent more likely than private sector workers to suffer injuries on the job, according to the report.

The report found workers in North Dakota, Alaska, Wyoming, West Virginia, and New Mexico suffered the highest fatality rates.