Safe Jobs Save Lives

The workplace is where people go to earn a living. All of us depend on workers to make the clothes we wear, plant and process the food we eat, and manufacture the products we use every day. The shirt I am wearing today was made in Bangladesh. The Fair Trade coffee I drank earlier this morning came from Colombia.The global village is a reality and we are all members of it.

For many workers the workplace is not a safe place. It is a dangerous place. The International Labor Organization reports that worldwide:
     every 15 seconds a worker dies in a work-related incident
     every day 6,300 workers die in work-related incidents
     every year 2.3 million workers die in work-related incidents
Most of these deaths could have been prevented.

My friend the Reverend Dr. Anton Jacobs has been doing some research on workplace deaths in America. He learned that logging is the most dangerous occupation in the United States.Workers in this industry experienced 88.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2007. That is the same rate of deaths per 100,000 that the military reported in 2010--in a time of war. In peacetime, in 1999, the military reported 55 deaths per 100,000.

Those of us living in Kansas remember that on October 29, 2011, an explosion at the Bartlett Grain Company elevator in Atchison killed six people. The four workers killed in that incident were all in their early 20s. The two inspectors killed in the explosion were 34 and 43 years of age.

On April 12, 2012, the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) accused the Bartlett Grain Company, which FORBES ranks as among the largest private companies in the United States, of ignoring workplace safety rules, leading to the explosion that caused these deaths. The Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis proposed fines against the company of $406,000 for five willful workplace violations, and $67,500 for eight serious workplace safety violations. The company is contesting the accusations.

The story was reported in the Kansas City Star (April 12, 2012) by Mike McGraw, who wrote that working in grain elevators has "become one of the most dangerous jobs in what has become America's most dangerous industry: agriculture." OSHA reports that in the past 35 years there have been more than 500 explosions in grain handling facilities in the United States, resulting in the deaths of 180 people and causing injury to more than 675 people.

Data complied by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that in Kansas there were 84 workplace fatalities in 2010; 76 workplace fatalities in 2009; 73 workplace fatalities in 2008; and, 101 workplace fatalities in 2007. National data shows that every day there are 14 workers killed in work-related incidents in America. Thousands of workers die every year from work-related diseases, and millions are injured on the job.

The International Workers Memorial Day is a time to remember and mourn the loss of those who died in work-related incidents.

The first observance of International Workers Memorial Day was held in 1989. The United Nations declared April 28 International Workers Memorial Day in 2001. President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation designating April 28 as Workers Memorial Day in 2010, marking the 40th anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act.

The International Workers Memorial Day is a day to mourn those who have died in work-related incidents. It is a time to call attention to the need for laws that protect worker safety. It is a time to demand that state and federal agencies charged with enforcing these laws remain vigilant.

This year the AFL-CIO Wichita Hutchinson Labor Federation will observe Workers Memorial Day on April 19. People of faith are asked to remember workers and their families this weekend or next weekend as you gather for worship. The motto for this year's observance is: Safe Job Save Lives.