Ahead of Workers Memorial Day, the AFL-CIO released its 34th annual “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect” report, a comprehensive analysis of the state of workers’ health and safety at the national and state levels. Workers are dying and being injured on the job, and the Trump administration and DOGE are putting them at greater risk by enacting policies that will create deplorable working conditions, according to the report.
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385 workers died each day from hazardous working conditions.
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5,283 workers were killed on the job in the United States.
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An estimated 135,304 workers died from occupational diseases.
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The overall job fatality rate decreased to 3.5 per 100,000 workers.
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Workers of color die on the job at a higher rate: Black and Latino worker job fatality rates are disproportionate compared with all other workers and they continue to remain high.
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Employers reported nearly 3.2 million work-related injuries and illnesses, a decrease from the previous year.
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At least 55 workers died from heat on the job, a 28% increase from 2022; fatal and nonfatal data are an undercount of the real problem.
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Workplace homicides continue to be a significant problem, even though they decreased 12.6% since 2022; workplace suicides increased 5.2% from 2022.
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Separately, unintentional overdoses at work decreased nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, due to increased attention paid to and efforts to combat the opioid crisis.
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The rate of serious workplace violence injuries has increased to 4.3 per 10,000 workers.
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Musculoskeletal disorders from repetitive motion injuries continue to be a major problem, accounting for approximately 28% of all serious work-related injuries and illnesses in private industry.
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Underreporting of all workplace injuries and illnesses is widespread—the true toll of work-related injuries and illnesses is 5.2 million to 7.8 million each year in private industry.
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Chemical exposures continue to plague working people, leading to debilitating, life-threatening diseases that are totally preventable.
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The cost of job injuries and illnesses is enormous, estimated at $174 billion to $348 billion a year—an undercount of the real impact on society, families and communities.
The report also suggests solutions to these problems—actions that can be taken to improve these numbers.
