(Milwaukee, WI) Today the AFL-CIO, America’s largest labor federation, released its 32nd annual report, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, a comprehensive analysis of safety and health protections for America’s workers. Key findings from the report point to a troubling rise in worker deaths, particularly among Black and Latino workers, and illustrate the urgency of funding and support needed for critical job safety oversight and enforcement.
In Wisconsin, the report found that 105 workers died on the job in 2021, the year for which the most recent data is available. Of those workplace deaths, 21 were from assaults and violent acts, 36 resulted from transportation incidents, four were caused by fires or explosions, 13 were from falls, 13 were due to exposures to harmful substances or environments, and 18 were from contact with objects or equipment.
“Every worker in Wisconsin has a right to be safe on the job, and this report shows we still have a lot of work to do to address this moral imperative,” said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale. “We need to strengthen our collective bargaining rights to help ensure that safety concerns are addressed in the workplace so all fatalities and injuries that can be prevented are indeed prevented,” she said.
Nationally, the report shows 5,190 workers died on the job and that the fatality rate for Black workers grew from 3.5 to 4.0 per 100,000 workers and more than 650 died on the job, the highest number in nearly two decades. Latino workers have the greatest risk of dying on the job with a fatality rate at 4.5 per 100,000 workers that has grown by 13% over the past decade. There was also a slight uptick in deaths for Latino workers in 2021 and the overwhelming majority who died were immigrants.
The report, which includes data on the worker fatality rate in all 50 states as well as the most affected industries, also lays out recommendations for strengthening federal agencies tasked with enforcing worker safety. In 2021, there were 1,871 inspectors—900 at the federal level and 971 at the state—for the more than 10.8 million workplaces under the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s jurisdiction. That equates to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) having the ability to inspect every workplace once every 190 years and just $3.99 in OSHA’s budget to protect each worker. Penalties for employer violations also remain too low to be a deterrent, and fewer than 130 worker deaths have been criminally prosecuted since 1970.
“The federal agencies responsible for safeguarding workers were created for a reason, and it’s past time that they received the funding and staffing they need to create and enforce worker protection standards,” said AFL-CIO Safety and Health Director Rebecca Reindel. “These deaths are preventable. Employers should be held accountable for the working conditions on jobsites, and our lawmakers at every level must use their power to properly enforce the policies designed to protect us.”
To view the full report, including the Wisconsin data mentioned in this release, click here.
