Sixty-Nine Workers Killed on the Job in 2017, Says Report

Pennsauken, NJ (Law Firm Newswire) September 30, 2019 – In its newly published annual report, titled Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) says that 69 people in New Jersey were killed while working in 2017.

The trade union organization published the report in April. The data was drawn from the U.S. Department of Labor statistics for 2017, the most recent year. In total, 5,147 workplace fatalities were reported in the United States, and an estimated 95,000 more succumbed to a work-related illness. New Jersey’s 69 deaths in 2017 were down from 101 the previous year. In Pennsylvania, there were 172 deaths, up slightly from 163 in 2016.

The AFL-CIO’s key findings in the report were that 275 American workers die per day from workplace injuries and that there are insufficient protections in place to protect workers from harm. There is only one Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector per every 79,000 workers.

According to the data, Latino and immigrant workers, and older workers age 65 and up were more likely than average to be injured at work. Women are twice as likely to become victims of workplace violence, which is now the third leading cause of work-related fatalities and injury. Those who work in the health care and human services fields also face higher rates of violence.

“These numbers reflect the sad reality that too many people are killed and injured while working,” said workers’ compensation and personal injury attorney Scott M. Goldberg of Petrillo & Goldberg Law. “Worker safety in New Jersey and everywhere in the United States should be of the utmost priority for businesses and lawmakers alike.”

To read the full AFL-CIO report, click here.

Injured or killed while on the job? Contact the caring attorneys of Petrillo & Goldberg Law at 856.249.9288 or online at https://www.petrilloandgoldberg.com/

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