Too Many Americans Die on the Job. Are Things About to Get Worse?

Maddin won his case, but it’s Gorsuch’s world we’re living in. According to an AFL-CIO report, 5,190 workers died on the job in the United States in 2016. Another 50,000 to 60,000 die annually of occupational diseases, and nearly 4 million experienced work-related injuries or illnesses. This latter figure, according to the report, is a drastic underestimate, with the real figure likely between 7.4 million and 11.1 million injuries and illnesses per year.

While death and injury rates are much lower than they were before deindustrialization, they have begun to rise again in the last few years. Unsurprisingly, workers of color and immigrants are significantly likelier than white workers to be hurt, get sick or die due to their jobs. Ominously, the frequency of injuries due to violence in the workplace has ticked up drastically in the last decade.

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