The price of going to work should never be death, injury or illness on the job. That’s why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was founded a generation ago, and why labor unions just commemorated Workers Memorial Day to remember victims of job hazards and to fight for safer workplaces.
Many job sites are safer since the establishment of OSHA. Yet, for thousands of workers — and children — a steep price for going to work continues to be paid. Every day, nearly 9,000 workers in the U.S. are sickened or injured on the job. And on average, 343 workers die from job-related injuries every day, not including an estimated 120,000 workers killed by occupational diseases (a statistic that does not include COVID-19).
