Tomorrow may seem like just another Saturday. Some of us will likely sleep a little later and then get on to those household chores and tasks we can’t get to during the week. Some of us will enjoy some leisure time with family and friends. Many of us will get up and go to work—maybe even to a second or third job.

But April 28 is not just another day. Here in the U.S. and around the world, it’s Workers’ Memorial Day—the day each year that recognizes, commemorates and honors workers who have suffered and died of work-related injuries and illnesses. It is also a day to renew the fight for safe workplaces. Because too many workers lose their lives, their health, their livelihoods or their ability to fully engage in the routine activities of daily living because of hazards, exposures and unsafe conditions at work.

THE DATA TELL PART OF THE STORY

Unless you know someone who was killed or seriously injured on the job, you probably don’t give workplace safety much thought. Perhaps you think work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses are infrequent, or only affect workers in demonstrably risky jobs—like mining or construction. The actual statistics, however, tell a different story. (For a more detailed and visual look, see this Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] charts package.)

Fatalities: In 2016 the number of recorded fatal work injuries was 5,190. On average, that’s 14 people dying every day. In the United States. It’s also 7 percent more than the number of fatal injuries reported in 2015 and the highest since 2008. Most of these deaths were the result of events involving transportation, workplace violence, falls, equipment, toxic exposures, and explosions. And the 2016 data reveal increases in all but one of these event categories. That’s not going in the right direction.

Non-fatal cases: According to the BLS, private industry employers reported 2.9 million non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2016, nearly one third of which were serious enough to result in days away from work—the median being 8 days. For public sector workers, state and local governments reported another 752,600 non-fatal injuries and illnesses for 2016.

Costs: And then there’s the enormous economic toll that these events exact on workers, their families and their employers. According to 2017 Liberty Mutual Workplace Safety Index, the most serious workplace injuries cost U.S. companies nearly $60 billion per year.

But that’s just a drop in the bucket. The National Safety Council estimates the larger economic costs of fatal and non-fatal work injuries in 2015 at $142.5 billion. Lost time estimates are similarly staggering: 99 million production days lost in 2015 due to work injuries (65 million of which occurred in 2015), with 50 million estimated days lost in future years due to on-the-job deaths and permanently disabling injuries that occurred in 2015.



And even these costs don’t come close to revealing the true burden, as they do not include the costs of care and losses due to occupational illness and disease. A noteworthy and widely cited 2011 study estimated the number of fatal and non-fatal occupational illnesses in 2007 at more than 53,000 and nearly 427,000, respectively, with cost estimates of $46 billion and $12 billion, respectively.

Who foots the bill and bears these enormous costs? Primarily injured workers, their families, and tax-payer supported safety net programs. Workers’ compensation programs cover only a fraction. See more here and here.

THE OTHER PART OF THE STORY

As sobering as these data and statistics are, they tell only part of the story; the true burden of occupational injury and illness is far higher. Numerous studies find significant under-reporting of workplace injuries and illnesses (see here, here, here, here, here). Reporting of occupational disease is particularly fraught, as many if not most physicians are not trained to recognize or even inquire about the hazards and exposures their patients may have encountered on their jobs.

Nor do the statistics reveal the horror, loss, pain, and suffering these injuries and diseases entail. In the words of Dr. Irving Selikoff, a tireless physician advocate for worker health and safety, “Statistics are people with the tears wiped away.”

Just imagine having to deal with the knowledge that a loved one was suffocated in a trench collapse; asphyxiated by chemical fumes; shot during a workplace robbery; seriously injured while working with a violent patient or client; killed or injured from a fall or a scaffolding collapse; or living with an amputation caused by an unguarded machine.

Or the heartache of watching a loved one who literally can’t catch a breath because of work-related respiratory disease. Or is incapacitated by a serious musculoskeletal injury. Or has contracted hepatitis B or HIV because of exposure to a blood-borne pathogen at work.

And here’s the kicker: virtually all work-related injuries and illnesses are preventable. There’s no shortage of proven technologies, strategies and approaches to preventing them. From redesign, substitution and engineering solutions that eliminate or otherwise control hazards and exposures to safety management systems, worker training programs, protective equipment, and medical screening and surveillance programs, there are multiple paths to prevention. And, as a former assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, David Michaels, recently wrote in Harvard Business Review, safety management and operational excellence are intimately linked.

HISTORIC PROGRESS NOW AT RISK

The Good News: It’s important to note and remember that workplace health and safety in the U.S. is a lot better than it used to be before Congress enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, and even since 2000. This progress has resulted large measure from the struggles of labor unions and working people, along with the efforts of federal and state agencies. Workplace fatalities and injuries have declined significantly, and exposures to toxic chemicals have been reduced.

It is also a testament to the effectiveness of health and safety regulations and science-based research. We can thank the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) for many of these protections and safeguards. We must also acknowledge and thank the persistence, energy and efforts of the workers, unions, researchers and advocates that have pushed these agencies along the way.

The Red Flags: There are numerous indications that this progress will be slowed or even reversed by a Trump administration intent on rolling back public protections and prioritizing industry interests over the public interest. For example:

REMEMBER AND RENEW

The Trump administration makes no bones about its (de)regulatory agenda. The president boasts about cutting public safeguards and protections, and his agency heads are falling right in line. Our working men and women are the economic backbone of our nation. They produce the goods and services we all enjoy, depend on and often take for granted. They are our loved ones, our friends, and our colleagues. They deserve to come home from work safe and healthy.

Worker Memorial Day is a time to pause and remember workers who have given and lost so much in the course of doing their jobs. It is also a time to renew our vigilance and be ready to use our voices, votes and collective power to demand and defend rules, standards, policies and science-based safeguards that protect our loved ones at work. Let’s hold our elected leaders and their appointees accountable for the actions they take—or don’t take—to protect this most precious national resource.