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MAY 2005
Mourn for the dead... fight for the living
by Rick S. Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO

Some people say government can’t do anything right. They’re wrong. 

Thirty-five years ago, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), promising every worker the right to a safe job. Unions and our allies have fought hard to make that promise a reality, winning protections that have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. According to the National Safety Council and Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job fatality rate has been cut by 70 percent since 1970, saving more than 306,706 lives.

Nevertheless, the job of ensuring workplace safety isn’t done. That’s why every year on April 28, Workers Memorial Day, we pause to give our thoughts to those workers who have died on the job.

“I kissed her that day, and that was the last I talked with her,” said Jerry Bishop of his wife, Tammie, who was killed last summer after a speeding car collided with the ice cream cart she was driving.  “She just loved kids,” he said. “She would buy Popsicles for them.”  Tammie Bishop was one of 82 Washington workers killed at work last year.

“We had so many hopes and dreams that died with him,” said Heidi Hedge who now faces life as a single mom with a 3-year old daughter and an infant son.  Her husband, Kristopher, was run over by a truck last November while he was working at a concrete company in Tacoma.

The daily cost of workplace fatalities is staggering, larger than in any war we’ve fought in the last 20 years. Day after day, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of traumatic workplace injuries. Another 50,000 Americans die from occupational diseases such as asbestosis every year.  

OSHA standards for such things as lead dramatically reduced cases of occupational lead poisonings. Safety standards on lock-out, tag-out procedures for dangerous equipment have saved thousands of lives. 

But lately, safety standards aren’t improving.

Comprehensive safety standards have only been issued for 29 toxic chemicals. And permissible exposure limits for toxic chemicals have not been updated for years. Since the terrorist attacks on September 11, a whole new array of workplace safety and security issues have emerged, including biohazards such as anthrax. 

In an administration friendly to business and supportive of deregulation, new safety standards aren’t on the radar screen. The Bush administration has derailed dozens of proposed workplace safety improvements, and has stopped new rules on cancer-causing substances, reactive chemicals and infectious diseases such as TB. 

While our federal government has turned its back on workplace safety and health improvements, we continue to push for better enforcement on the local level. Our state Department of Labor and Industries has tracked an overall decline of injury rates between 1992 and 2001, dropping by 33 percent over the decade. 

What’s especially remarkable about that record is the extremely high rate of reporting of workplace accidents in our state. While many states allow lax reporting of workplace injuries, our state’s laws are strict. Accurate reporting creates improvements in safety. We have nearly a 100 percent reporting rate for injuries, according to L&I.  And our workplace injury rate continues to decline, even with some of the world’s most dangerous occupations such as forestry, agriculture and heavy manufacturing as a large part of our workforce. Having the 8th lowest fatality rate in the county is an accomplishment we can point to with pride on this year’s Workers’ Memorial Day.

“Your life can change in a day,” is the observation of Sara Collett, whose husband fell and broke his neck. She is so right, and her pain remains, even with all the encouraging statistics in our state.  

I find the slogan for Workers’ Memorial Day the best reminder of what the labor movement does for workers’ safety and health. It was taken from a radical organizer named Mother Jones, who advised us to: "Mourn for the dead and fight like hell for the living."  Good advice, still.

Rick Bender is President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO,
the largest labor organization in the state.

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Copyright © 2005  Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO