Preliminary results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries indicate a reduction in the number of fatal workplace injuries in 2012 compared with 2011. Based on preliminary counts, the rate of fatal work injuries dropped from 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2011 to 3.2 per 100,000 in 2012.
Despite the encouraging news, Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez released a statement insisting that more can still be done in terms of protecting workers.
"We can and must to better. Job gains in oil and gas and construction have come with more fatalities, and that is unacceptable. That's why OSHA has undertaken a number of outreach and educational initiatives, including a campaign to prevent falls in construction and the National Voluntary Stand Down of U.S. Onshore Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, co-sponsored by oil and gas industry employers and planned for Nov. 14,” Perez says. “Employers must take job hazards seriously and live up to their legal and moral obligation to send their workers home safe every single day. The Labor Department is committed to preventing these needless deaths, and we will continue to engage with employers to make sure that these fatality numbers go down further. No worker should lose their life for a paycheck."