The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is responsible for setting and enforcing workplace safety standards in millions of workplaces throughout the United States. OSHA is therefore responsible for the safety of 130 million workers, as well as for collecting data on workplace deaths, injuries, and accidents in order to measure whether safety regulations and enforcement are working.
\nIn 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 4,585 workers lost their lives in workplace accidents nationwide. In other words, about 88 people per week or 12 people per day were killed on the job in the United States in 2013. These numbers are the second-lowest for any year on record. Nevertheless, as every experienced Oklahoma City injury lawyer has seen, even a single death or catastrophic injury is one too many.<\/p>\n
OSHA\u2019s data shows that more than half of workplace accidents result from one of just four causes. If these \u201cFatal Four\u201d were eliminated, according to OSHA, nearly 500 lives would be saved every year, and countless injuries would be prevented.<\/p>\n
Topping the \u201cFatal Four\u201d list are falls, which caused 1 in every 3 on the job deaths in 2013 alone. Being struck by an object caused just over 10 percent of workplace deaths, followed closely by electrocution (8.6 percent) and being caught in or pinned between machinery or other large objects (2.5 percent).<\/p>\n