Each day, over 145 million workers in the United States -- and several billion individuals around the globe -- face the risk of work-related injuries and illnesses that can cause serious immediate or long-term health problems. Members of the Occupational Health and Safety Section of APHA are individuals involved in preventing work-related injuries, illnesses, disabilities and deaths through research, training, treatment, advocacy and policy-making.
The OHS Section is one of the oldest within APHA, celebrating its 95th year in 2009. We have 700+ members, representing a multitude of disciplines from medicine, nursing, and industrial hygiene to epidemiology, environmental health, statistics, community organizing, teaching, history, law and journalism. The Section provides leadership and expertise on occupational health matters, recognizing the intrinsic link between the work environment, and the health and safety of families, communities and the environment at large.
Most of our highest priorities align with the fundamental mission of OSHA:
1. Ensure health and safety protection for all workers.
2. Count all occupational injuries and illnesses.
3. Increase worker participation.
4. Eliminate disparities.
Although we have made some progress in decreasing the numbers and rates of work-related injuries and illnesses, we still have a long way to go. The latest U.S. government data from 2007 showed that 15 workers each day lose their lives from work-related injuries, and four workers each minute suffer work-related injuries that cause them to miss work, modify their job tasks, or transfer to other jobs. These statistics do not include deaths from occupational illnesses, which annually claim the lives of an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 workers.
According to the National Academy of Social Insurance, the direct cost to U.S. employers for workers’ compensation alone was $87.6 billion; the total cost to society for all work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses is two to three times greater. Over the last eight years, federal OSHA and MSHA have not done nearly enough to enforce existing worker health and safety standards, and have done almost nothing to pass tougher new standards based on clear scientific evidence of harm to workers. The U.S. government counts work-related injury and illness every year based only on a survey of employer reports. We know these statistics do not tell the whole story about work-related injuries and illnesses, and we don’t do enough to target the riskiest industries for enforcement and prevention efforts.
Many vulnerable worker populations, including people of color and immigrant workers, are at especially high risk of work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses, and fear employer retaliation if they report their injuries and unsafe working conditions.
Keeping our workplaces safe and preventing work-related injuries, deaths and illnesses will:
· Enable workers to stay on the job, earn a living and take care of their families.
· Boost worker productivity and increase job retention.
· Reduce workers’ compensation and health care insurance costs.
Our first message to OSHA is this: ENSURE HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTECTION OF ALL WORKERS through tough enforcement of existing regulations, adoption of new worker protection standards such as a Health and Safety Program Standard, well recognized
yet inadequately regulated hazards, such as construction-related confined spaces and excessive noise, combustible dust, respirable crystalline silica and aerosol infectious agents.
Our next message to OSHA is: COUNT ALL OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND ILLNESSESS. All work-related injuries and illnesses should be completely reported, counted and tracked as part of a comprehensive state and federal public health surveillance system. Such data is vital for public health prevention efforts, including targeted enforcement of the riskiest industries and occupations. OSHA and MSHA should conduct robust enforcement audits of employers’ injury and illness records to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the annual Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (SOII). The Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses should include all employer groups, including federal, state and local employees and farms with fewer than 11 workers.
The next message to OSHA: INCREASE WORKER PARTICIPATION.
A safe workplace must include workers in identifying and correcting hazards. All workers must be protected from harassment, firing and other forms of discrimination if they report an unsafe workplace or file complaints with OSHA or MSHA. OSHA Susan Harwood grants should be used exclusively for training programs that build workers’ capacity to exercise their rights under the OSH Act, and serve a meaningful and effective role in injury and illness prevention. OSHA should promulgate standards requiring safety and health committees and annual training in all workplaces, with paid time for worker participation.
Our final message to OSHA is ELIMINATE DISPARITIES. The unacceptably high rates of deaths, injuries and illnesses among vulnerable populations, including African-American, Hispanic and immigrant workers, must be eliminated. All workers -– regardless of their ethnicity, race, nationality or the industrial sector in which they work -- have the right to the same safe and healthy working conditions. OSHA should initiate a new Special Emphasis
Program in industries with high rates of injuries and illnesses among vulnerable workers including both teen workers and older workers, and should eliminate barriers that prevent immigrant workers from accessing health and safety protections.
This testimony is based on the “Protecting Workers on the Job” agenda document which can be found at the Occupational Health and Safety Section’s Web site.
http://www.apha.org/membergroups/sections/aphasections/occupational/
Current Chair, Kathleen M. McPhaul, PhD, MPH, RN
Immediate Past Chair, Celeste Monforton, DrPH
Chair Elect, Tim Morse, PhD, CPE