June is National Safety month, and one topic that is highlighted throughout the month is safety within the workplace.
Job-site safety falls under the jurisdiction of OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA’s responsibility is to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards that must be followed and by also providing training, outreach, education and assistance.
When employers fail to follow OSHA’s standards and fail to properly train and ensure safety in the workplace, this can result in worker fatalities.
Last year, in Massachusetts the workplace death rate increased by 38%, stating that there were 62 fatalities in 2021 compared to only 45 fatalities in 2020. Although in 2020 many workers were not working on job site locations due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has still been increasing numbers throughout the years, and this number is far higher than it should be.
Out of these 62 workplace deaths, 30% of the fatalities were workers in the construction industry. And the top leading causes of these 62 deaths were transportation incidents, falls, and contact with objects or equipment.
Along with the fatalities in the workplace, there is a very large number of non-fatal injuries and illnesses that happen in the workplace. In 2020, that number was 70,000 in Massachusetts alone.
OSHA standards are meant to be enforced so that all workplaces and working conditions are safe, and workers are properly trained with the equipment they use for their jobs. When employers ignore OSHA’s safety standards, it is predictable that workers will suffer serious injury or death and the employers who ignore jobsite safety may be responsible for jobsite injuries or death.
If you have questions/concerns regarding serious injuries or death occurring in the workplace, you should consult an experienced lawyer at Diller Law, LLP.