Work-related deaths statistics

In order to understand the importance of the issue of work-related death, it is important to gauge how many fatalities of this sort actually occur. Attempting to do so illustrates three key points the sheer volirme of harm that occurs as a result of corporate behaviour, the difficulty of measuring this harm, and the key role that statistics play in redefining... 

Official statistics fortunately show that reported occupational accidents have been on the decrease since several years. The National Safety Council (USA) reports that "between 1912 and 1984, accidental work-related deaths per 100.000 inhabitants decreased by 76 per cent, from 21 to 5. In 1912, an estimated 18.000 to 21.000 workers lives were lost. In 1984, in a work force which had more than doubled in size and which had increased by more than a factor of ten, only 11.500 work-related deaths were reported." (National Safety Council, 1985). This quite satisfying result can be attributed to measures taken in the areas of safety technology, education and law. The problem of occupational accidents - as well as of accidents involving motor vehicles and home accidents - has, however, not become less serious. In the USA today, a fatal accident occurs every 6 minutes,... 

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) BLS, an agency within the U.S. Department of Labor, compiles work-related injury, illness and death statistics for workers in the United States. BLS refers to this activity as the Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities (IIF) program. While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) sets rules for work-related injury and illness recordkeeping, BLS compiles information from data submitted by employers. Refer to BLS annual and other reports for detailed statistics on injuries, illnesses, and deaths broken down by age, industry, occupation, injury type, and other factors. 

The above are samples of injury and death statistics. The aim is to illustrate how well or badly modem society is preventing injuries and deaths. While work-related injury and death rates continue to go down, the need remains to ensure that workers and others return home safely each day. 

In addition, studies have revealed several other facts about motor vehicle accidents, injuries, and deaths. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2013 there were 4,628 work-related fataUties." Of those, 1,740 (38%) were transportation-related cases. Of the transportalion fatalities, 57% were roadway incidents involving motorized land vehicles, while the remainder involved off-highway, farm, and other kinds of vehicles. As a result, work-related transportation accidents are the leading cause of workplace injuries and deaths. The... 

Although job-related homicides have dropped in recent years, homicide remains a leading cause of job-related deaths, with many violent crimes committed while the victim is working or on duty. The motive behind many of these homicides is disputes among coworkers, customers, or domestic partners. These statistics summarize the vastness of the workplace violence epidemic ... 

Now, does this work There are some intriguing statistics to support this While in western countries 40% of all deaths are due to atherosclerosis (in which both inflammation and thrombocyte aggregation are important), this number stands at 7% among Greenland eskimos and at 12% in Japan both countries have more fish and less meat in their diets. However, it should go without saying that we cannot precisely gauge the contribution of EPA and related fatty acids to this remarkable statistics. 

Decision-makers have sometimes found presentations of comparative risk information a useful aid to the public discourse on risk acceptance. We referred in the last section, for example, to OSHA s use of statistics on the risks of job-related accidents to support decisions on risk reduction goals for workplace carcinogens. The agency noted that lifetime risks of death from injuries suffered in what most people perceive to be safe occupations do not go below about 1 per 1000. Data of these types were helpful in explaining why the agency settled on carcinogen risk levels in this range as sufficiently low to provide a safe work environment. 

---