Work-Related Death Statistics Remain Flawed

Deaths caused by work-acquired illness are hardly ever counted.  And the government and companies want to keep it that way.  This allows the government to falsely claim that workplace deaths have fallen to lowest level since 1992.  It makes them appear that they are protecting the public. It makes the companies look peachy clean.

Yet death from work related illness are significant. Illness acquired from work are constantly ignored or purposely covered up. 

Chemical exposure can cause respiratory problems, neurological illness, brain damage and cancer.  New emerging technologies such as genetically engineered infectious agents, synthetic biology and nanotechnology can also cause a variety of work-relatted illness.   They all can kill. Yet no accountability is seen in oversight or regulations to assess this large population of work-related illness causing deaths.  The majority are never counted.

Reports that indicate that workplace deaths are low need to be examined carefully.  Many of these reports are a way to hide inefficiencies in protecting workers, as well as, the public, as new dangerous technologies are created which can cause numerous illness and fatalities. Yet they continue to go unreported and undetected.

Below is one such report which does not provide statistics on any work-related acquired illness and fatalities.

Workplace deaths fall to lowest level since 1992
By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer – Thu Aug 19, 12:33 pm ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_workplace_deaths


WASHINGTON – The number of workers who died on the job fell by 17 percent last year to the lowest level in nearly two decades, as workers logged fewer hours during the recession, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The 4,340 workplace fatalities recorded in 2009 was the smallest total since the Bureau of Labor Statistics first began tracking the data in 1992. It's the second straight year that fatal work injuries have reached a historic low, following a 10 percent drop in 2008.

High unemployment and layoffs in more dangerous industries like construction played a major role in the decrease, the agency said. The construction unemployment rate is 17.3 percent, nearly double the overall jobless rate of 9.5 percent.

Workers on average logged 6 percent fewer hours last year than in 2008. Employees in construction worked 17 percent fewer hours in 2009 than the previous year.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis called the decrease encouraging and pledged to continue her agency's stepped-up enforcement of workplace safety laws.

"As the economy regains strength and more people re-enter the work force, the Department of Labor will remain vigilant to ensure America's workers are kept safe while they earn a paycheck," Solis said.

Workplace suicides declined by 10 percent to 237 after reaching a historic high in 2008. But that count is still the second-highest total recorded since the agency began tracking workplace deaths.

For the second straight year, commercial fishing was the deadliest occupation in the country, with a fatality rate about 60 times higher than the average rate for all workers.

One of the few sectors where the fatality rate increased was in building and grounds maintenance, where the number of deaths rose 6 percent.

The report is based on preliminary numbers. A final report is scheduled to be released next year.

In other findings:

_Transportation incidents, which accounted for nearly 40 percent of all work fatalities last year, fell 21 percent from 2008.

_Fatalities among black workers declined 24 percent. Black employees also saw a larger decline in the number of hours worked than white or Hispanic workers.

_Workplace homicides declined 1 percent to 521 cases. That is nearly half the all-time high of 1,080 homicides recorded in 1994.