Workers were safer on the job during the 2020 Pandemic Year in most parts of the United States. This, according to the latest report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) on the danger of fatal on-the-job injuries in this country. In recently published findings, the BLS shows a 10.7% decrease in the number of worker deaths in 2020, as compared to the pre-Pandemic year 2019. The BLS statistics also show 2020 had fewer on-the-job fatalities than any year since 2013 when viewing the nation as a whole.
- Read “National Census Of Fatal Occupational Injuries In 2020,” published on December 16, 2021 in the annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries by the United States Department of Labor (“Report”).
Among the key findings in the Report were the following worker fatality statistics:
- The highest risk of death on the job remains in transportation accidents. The Report found that “transportation incidents” were responsible for over a third (37.3%) of all worker deaths in 2020;
- Combine worker death totals for those employed in (1) transportation (including material-moving jobs) and (2) in the construction industry (including extraction work), and almost half (47.4%) of all worker fatalities happened in these two industries alone; and
- More workers died in incidents involving exposure to harmful substances or environments in 2020 than any year since the BLS began tracking fatalities in this occupation.
For more on the dangers of working in the construction or transportation industries, read:
- Trade Stacking Construction Accidents: The Danger of Overcrowded Job Sites
- Excavation Accidents and Trench Injuries on the Construction Site
- Supply Chain Fatalities: Accident Injury Dangers with Material Handling and Storage in Indiana and Illinois
- Different Types of Fatal Semi-Truck Accidents and Tractor-Trailer Crashes
- Public Crisis Declared by DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg as Traffic Fatalities Have Largest Increase Since 1975.
Not every occupation was safer in Pandemic Year 2020. Three lines of work saw a jump in their fatality rates: law enforcement deaths rose 18.6% and healthcare support workers saw a rise in death rates of 15.8%. Additionally, those employed in the fishing and hunting industry saw an increase in the danger of death on the job. Of these fatalities, 71.4% involved transportation incidents.
Indiana Saw Increase in Fatal Worker Deaths in 2020
Unlike the national average, the State of Indiana saw an increase in worker fatalities in 2020 as compared to 2019. Last year also saw the second highest number of on-the-job deaths in the Hoosier State in the past five years. Report, Table 6.
Illinois, by comparison, had the lowest number of worker deaths in 2020 in the past five years. Report, Table 6.
There Remains an Unacceptably High Risk of Death on the Job
Even with the lower fatality rate of 2020, too many workers still suffered bodily injuries so severe on the job that they died. (The Report includes only accidents; it does not include worker deaths due to work-related illnesses.)
According to the BLS, a worker died every 111 minutes from a work-related injury in 2020. That means someone died in an on-the-job accident approximately every two hours during last year, despite the unique circumstances of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Employers have a legal duty to provide a safe workplace for workers. It is the breach of this duty of care and safety that results in many, if not most, of today’s worker fatalities. Having an American worker die every two hours during a calendar year is shocking and self-evident of the need for greater concern on the part of employers to protect workers from injury.
From American Society of Safety Professionals President Brad Giles:
“Most occupational incidents are preventable, given today’s technologies and proven safety and health strategies. Employers must be more proactive in adopting voluntary national consensus standards and implementing measures such as safety and health management systems to protect workers.”
Justice for Victims of Deadly Work Accidents in Indiana and Illinois
Each day, workers undertake their job responsibilities with an understanding that there may be a level of risk involved in their occupation. Construction workers and commercial truck drivers know they face particular dangers on the job, for instance.
Nevertheless, anyone working in Indiana and Illinois should be able to rely upon their employers to minimize the hazards they face at work by compliance with understood duties regarding safety placed upon the employer by law.
When workers are seriously injured or killed on the job, the employer may have legal liability to that accident victim as well as the victim’s loved ones for legal damages that can include medical expenses, pain and suffering, loss earning capacity, lost wages, funeral expenses, and more.
For more, read:
- The Increasing Danger of Dying on the Job: Fatality Risk Just Keeps Growing for Workers
- NSC Safety Experts Warn of Dangers Facing Workers in the OSHA Top Ten List of Violations
- Job Site Injury in Illinois or Indiana: When Accidents at Work Are Not Worker’s Compensation Claims
- Workers Compensation in Indiana and Illinois: Work-Related Injuries and the Fight Against Corporate Greed.
The latest BLS report is good news in that the numbers were lower for worker deaths in 2020. Whether or not that trend will continue once our country is on the other side of the unique Pandemic situation is unknown. The reality that Indiana workers still faced a rise in worker fatalities, even during the Pandemic, is disturbing.
Every worker in Indiana and Illinois has a right to be safe on the job. Fatality rates for on-the-job accidents remain unacceptably high in this country. Please be careful out there!
