Dying for Work Report - 2009



NEW REPORT: SHORT SHRIFT ON SAFETY COSTS MASS. WORKERS’ LIVES

 

Labor Unions and Workplace Safety Advocates Call for More Stringent Worker Safety Protections
to Reduce Workplace Injury and Death


Boston, Massachusetts, ISSUED April 27, 2009 – A Somerville laborer might be alive today had his employer conducted an inspection for electrical hazards. A Worcester factory worker may have lived to see his 27th birthday had his employer ensured that the machinery he was using was properly guarded. A road construction worker in Lawrence might have gone home safe if his company had provided adequate lighting and provided training in work zone safety.

 

A new report released today documents the loss of 66 workers killed on the job in the Commonwealth in 2008.  Many of these deaths could have been prevented had the employers instituted basic and often inexpensive safety measures.

 “This report demonstrates that the cost of cutting corners on safety is paid in human lives,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, Executive Director of MassCOSH and a report co-author.


"The names and faces of these fallen workers change from year to year, but one thing that remains remarkably consistent is the egregiousness of the health and safety violations at worksites where fatalities took place," remarked Robert Haynes, President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “The sixty-six workers who died on the job this year not only represent great personal suffering for their loved ones, but add a sense of urgency to our need to improve existing safety measures and their enforcement.”

The report released by the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupation Safety and Health (MassCOSH), Dying for Work in Massachusetts: The Loss of Life and Limb in Massachusetts Workplaces, comes on the eve of Workers’ Memorial Day. Every year on April 28th, workers killed, injured or made ill on the job are remembered and the call for improving workplace safety is renewed. This year, Workers’ Memorial Day will be commemorated on the steps of the Massachusetts State House on April 28, 2009 at noon.

Chris Augeri’s son Robert Augeri was killed while working on a road construction project in Lawrence. “Since the accident my family has been in survival mode. Talking about work zone safety and raising awareness is a good first step, however at the end of the day we need to take action,” said Augeri. “Reverse safety technology including rear mount day/night cameras, motion alarm systems and enhanced signaling can be installed for less than the cost of a two way radio. His children have lost him forever. We need to take action to keep other children from losing their fathers.”

Robert Harvey Sr. also lost his son Robert Harvey Jr., an ironworker who died on the job after being crushed by debris when a crane collapsed at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy. “Nothing can assuage the grief we feel every day with the tragic loss of our Bobby, but hopefully we can move forward knowing that something will be done so that some other family does not have to bear the burden of grief as we do now and forever,” said the senior Harvey.

In Massachusetts in 2008, the average fine assessed to an employer with OSHA violations resulting in the death of a worker was less than $10,000.  The report also found that at OSHA's current rate of inspection, it will take a staggering 130 years for the agency to complete inspections of all workplaces under its jurisdiction.

"It appears that some employers view fines as a cost of business," Goldstein-Gelb remarked.

 The report gives examples of deaths that could have been prevented. On January 22, 2008, while working the overnight shift at Creative Papers, a paper manufacturing plant in Worcester, 24 year old David Gonzalez was killed after a piece of his clothing had become caught in an unguarded piece of machinery, which pulled him in and crushed him.. The incident prompted an OSHA investigation which identified 12 health and safety violations at the plant, resulting in fines worth $16,125.

On May 29th, 2008, Douglas Chaffee, 54, fell 16 feet to his death from a hydraulic lift while working at the Peabody Supply Company; a plumbing and heating supply warehouse in North Andover. The company did not provide the fall protection that could have prevented the accident, and was cited for six other violations totaling $12,300 in fines.

Lloyd Benjamin, 50, died after falling 25 feet from an extension ladder while installing a pipe at the Haverhill Paperboard company on June 22, 2008. The company was cited for five violations related to ladder safety and the use of hand tools while working on a ladder, resulting in $16,500 in fines.

The report highlights several issues of growing concern:

  • A disproportionate number of immigrants were killed on the job: 24% (16 out of 66) of those killed were immigrants, while only 17% of the Massachusetts workforce are foreign-born.  Poor working conditions coupled with fear of retaliation for speaking out about hazards contribute to workplace deaths among immigrant workers. Too often, temporary agencies fail to provide workers with so much as the name of their employer; making it impossible for workers to pursue workers’ compensation should they become injured.
  • In all sectors of the economy, companies rush to increase profits at the expense of workers' health and lives by downsizing, understaffing, overloading workers, extending hours of work, combining jobs, and contracting out.
  • At present, 350,000 public sector workers in Massachusetts who work for the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions lack the protections afforded to their counterparts under the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The report calls for regulations on the state and federal level to be strengthened. These improvements would include protections for public employees, protection for immigrant workers, improvements in Massachusetts Workers' Compensation, and comprehensive workplace safety programs.


“If only one worker had lost his or her life on the job due to the neglect of basic safety measures, it would be considered an injustice. When it happens time after time, it moves beyond a simple injustice to a chronic problem that must be addressed,” remarked Haynes. “We will continue our fight to ensure that all workers are able to go to work and return home with their lives, limbs, and health intact.”

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The Massachusetts AFL-CIO is the largest umbrella labor organization in the Commonwealth, representing hundreds of thousands of working families from member unions and serves as the voice of working families in Massachusetts.

MassCOSH, a nonprofit coalition representing over 100,000 workers, health and safety professionals and unions, promotes safe, secure jobs and healthy communities throughout eastern and central Massachusetts.

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CONTACTS:

Tim Sullivan, Massachusetts AFL-CIO               Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, MassCOSH

(781) 324-8230 (office)                                (617) 825-7233 x15 (office)

(617) 680-2344 (day of event)                      617-642-1878 (day of event)

tsullivan@massaflcio.org                                 marcy.gelb@masscosh.org