Of the years researched by the report, 1994 saw the highest fatality numbers with 6,632 victims. That year, OSHA’s budget was around $300 million. As OSHA’s budget grew, the number of victims dropped. There was a slight spike during the Bush Administration in 2006 when workplaces claimed 5,840 victims despite a rise in OSHA budget. From that year on, though, the number of fatalities plummets to 4,547 by 2010, a year in which the OSHA budget was $558 million.

It's not surprising that stricter enforcement of workplace safety and health regulations would reduce workplace deaths. But you wouldn't necessarily expect to see as direct and clear a relationship between the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's budget and the number of deaths on the job. We Party Patriots' Steve Cooper lays it out Cooper notes that the recession may have played a role in the drop seen in the final years covered by the infographic—but by then, the relationship is well established. And if deaths are going down, it's likely that injuries and work-related illnesses are also declining.

Just a little something to remember when Republicans are wailing about job-killing regulations: lack of regulations is people-killing.

(Continue reading below the fold.)