Businesses must strive for worker safety — and be accountable for inaction

In August 2021, Felix Chicas went to work like he did many days before. The 56-year-old was installing a new roof for a municipal building in Oyster Bay when he fell through an unprotected skylight, suffering fatal injuries.

The contractor who employed the roofer had failed to take necessary safety precautions, an investigation found.

Each year, thousands of workers die needlessly — leaving their families, friends, and communities to grieve — when required safety and health standards are ignored. In 2020, about 5,000 workers died in the U.S. in work-related fatalities, including many who succumbed to COVID-19 exposure at work. Thousands more die of other work-related hazards. 

In New York State in 2020, 134 workers lost their lives due to work-related causes. On average, 13 employees die at work each day in the United States. 

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and workplace safety advocates observe April 28 as Workers Memorial Day, dedicated to those who died on the job — some of them our family members, friends, co-workers, and neighbors.

Deepening the wounds of those left behind is the reality that most, if not all, of these deaths were avoidable — if only employers had ensured compliance with appropriate safety precautions.

OSHA enforces the law through setting standards, conducting inspections of workplace conditions, and issuing citations for noncompliance, but employers are responsible for compliance. 

The COVID-19 pandemic made going to work riskier than ever before, particularly in industries where people — often low-wage workers, many of whom are women and people of color — performed essential work to protect us and ensure our well-being.

Workers in industries such as health care, meatpacking, public transportation, retail, and food service risked, and many lost, their lives to provide critical services to others and to support themselves and their families.

According to the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board, there were 33,335 Workers’ Comp claims filed in New York State due to COVID-19.

Workers Memorial Day reminds us that like life, workplace safety and health must never be taken for granted. We must strive to ensure safety and health standards are established, understood, and followed by employers and workers alike. Workers have the right to safe and healthful workplaces, and employers are legally obliged to provide them.

OSHA professionals work regularly with employers across the nation to ensure health and safety at the workplace.

Our compliance assistance outreach helps businesses employing more than 1.3 million U.S. workers nationwide to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses. Through strategic alliances with large employers, trade associations, organized labor, and our Voluntary Protection Programs, we help empower businesses to employ customized safety and health approaches and make meaningful and substantial improvements.

OSHA promotes worker protection to significant hazards such as heat stress, falls from elevation, and trenching. In August, the annual Safe + Sound campaign addresses how to implement effective safety and health programs.

As of April 2022, there were 41 Voluntary Protection Program participants in New York. Data collected at VPP sites shows that — on average — their injury and illness rates are about half the national average for their industries.

At the national level, OSHA maintains federal standards for workplace safety, including specific regulations based upon common industry risks and workplace hazards. In response to the pandemic, the agency implemented temporary standards to protect the most vulnerable workers and worked with specific industries to combat the spread of the virus.

OSHA is developing an infectious disease standard that will protect workers from airborne infectious diseases, as well other viruses that exist today and those we may face. As OSHA works toward a permanent regulatory solution, we are enforcing general standards, including personal protective equipment and respiratory protection, to help protect health care employees from COVID-19. 

Immigrant workers are also vulnerable, and OSHA has several ways to ensure every worker receives workplace safety training in a language they understand, knows their rights, and is empowered to speak up about health and safety concerns on the job. 

Workers are the backbone of our national economy. In the last two years, we learned how America depends on people who go to work, and how we should never take those willing to do difficult and, sometimes dangerous, jobs for granted. We at OSHA know we must do more to help protect every worker and listen to their concerns for safety, regardless of skin color, language, citizenship status, gender, or age.

As we mark another Workers Memorial Day, remember that no worker should ever have to risk their life for a paycheck. And that each of us has a role to play in making the workplace safe. We owe Felix Chicas, and the tens of thousands of others we honor today at least that much.