Deaths at work decreased slightly in 2023: report
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Fewer workers died on the job in 2023, though nearly 400 fatalities a day were still attributed to dangerous conditions, according to the latest installment of the AFL-CIO's annual health and safety report.
The big picture: The findings, first shared with Axios, come as the Trump administration moves to eliminate nearly all roles at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's occupational safety arm and the only federal agency dedicated to researching worker health and safety, the union said.
- "The most recent policy decisions that we're seeing at the national level are only going to make the situation worse," said Rebecca Reindel, AFL-CIO's safety and health director.
What they found: The 2023 job fatality rate in the U.S. was 3.5 deaths per 100,000 workers. That's down slightly from 3.7 deaths per 100,000 workers the prior year, per AFL-CIO's analysis of federal data.
- About 385 workers died each day in 2023 from hazardous working conditions.
- 5,283 workers died on the job throughout the year, and an estimated 135,304 people died from illnesses associated with their job functions.
- Black and Latino workers were more likely to have work-related deaths than their white counterparts, at 3.6 and 4.4 deaths per 100,000, respectively. More than one third of fatalities were among workers age 55 and older.
Agriculture, forestry, and fishing and hunting jobs had the highest fatality rate (20.3 per 100,000), followed by mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction (16.9 per 100,000)
- At least 55 people died from heat exposure in 2023, a 28% increase from the year before.
- Between 2022 and 2023, unintentional drug overdoses fell nearly 5%, while workplace suicides increased 5.2%.
Zoom out: The Health and Human Services Department reportedly eliminated 85% of roles within NIOSH earlier this month during its DOGE-led agency reorganization.
- The office's tasks include certifying masks that protect workers against harmful exposures, overseeing medical examinations for miners and 9/11 responders, and monitoring and researching workplace safety hazards.
- Republican lawmakers have started asking Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse the cuts.
- "I believe in the President's vision to right size our government, but I do not think eliminating the NIOSH coal programs and research will accomplish that goal," Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) wrote to Kennedy on Monday.
- The AFL-CIO's report also says the administration's rollback of labor union protections and its unclear direction for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could hurt worker safety.
Follow the money: Job injuries and illnesses cost the country somewhere between $174 billion to $348 billion annually, the union said.
- Financial penalties for workplace health and safety violations aren't high enough to hold employers accountable, Reindel said.
- Employers faced an average $4,083 fine for a serious federal violation in fiscal year 2024. The median penalty for killing a worker under federal regulations was $16,131.
Go deeper: Recent hospital violence fuels effort to create workplace protections
