Workers’ Memorial Day, 2019: Statement by John Howard, M.D., Director, NIOSH

Posted on by John Howard, M.D.

Workers’ Memorial Day, observed annually on April 28, recognizes workers who were injured, became ill, or died because of exposures to hazards at work. In 2017, work-related injuries claimed the lives of 5,147 U.S. workers according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This represents less than a 1% decrease in the fatality rate from the previous year. We can do better.

Together, the occupational safety and health community—including government, labor, academia, and industry—must address both the persistent risks to workers and proactively mitigate novel risks that are arising in a complex, evolving work environment being shaped by technological innovations such as nanotechnology, additive manufacturing, and robotics; shifting employment relationships with no one “standard” work arrangement; and changing demographics. This is the future of work.

Often, what we know about the safety and health aspects of emerging technologies and work arrangements lags behind our understanding of the impact on workers. We need to continue to research and evaluate these changes to better understand the potential benefits and risks and how to manage them in the workplace. This can be challenging; for example, there is a lack of standard classification codes for robot-related injuries, making it hard to identify how often injuries may be occurring. However, using keyword searches of the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries database, NIOSH researchers identified 61 robot-related deaths between 1992 and 2015.

One of the ways NIOSH is addressing worker safety around emerging technologies is through its Center for Occupational Robotics Research. The Robotics Industry Association reports that in 2018 U.S. companies are using more robots than ever before. The greater use of robots across various industries can be viewed as both positive and worrisome. Use of a machine, robot, or drone to do a hazardous activity instead of a human worker, can reduce injuries and illnesses. On the other hand, the close proximity of robot and human workers may pose a hazard that will need risk mitigation measures. The Center provides scientific leadership to guide the development and use of occupational robots that enhance worker safety, health, and wellbeing.

As part of this effort, NIOSH recently joined Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM). ARM is a diverse consortium of organizations from industry, academia, non-profit, and government, working together to revive manufacturing with an eye toward new opportunities for a 21st century workforce who are prepared to work collaboratively with robotic technologies in a safe environment. As a member of ARM, NIOSH is contributing its perspective on issues related to worker safety and health and research needs associated with advancing industrial applications.

While we manage the transition to a new future, we continue to confront the opioid epidemic gripping our nation. This epidemic took the lives of 47,600 people in 2017 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The effects of the opioid epidemic are not isolated to work or home environments, and the potential for addiction may be preceded by workplace injuries.

Approaching the crisis from an occupational perspective, NIOSH developed a framework that looks at workplace conditions that can be risk factors for medically prescribed opioid use becoming opioid misuse. The framework details the approach of looking at workplace conditions that can be risk factors for medically prescribed opioid use becoming opioid use disorder. It also focuses on protecting responders from exposure to illicit drugs, including fentanyl, and developing methods of rapid detection of dangerously potent opioids in a workplace, as well as information about effective decontamination of workplaces.

The emerging opioid epidemic has left its mark on some industries more than others. In a 2018 MMWR report, NIOSH researchers detailed occupational patterns in opioid-involved overdose deaths and found construction workers are over-represented among both prescription opioid-related and heroin-related overdose deaths. The construction industry has one of the highest injury rates when compared to other industries. In some settings, opioids have commonly been prescribed to construction workers to treat the pain caused by occupational injuries.

Construction workers also face a persistent and entirely preventable risk: falls. Falls are the number one killer in the construction industry accounting for nearly 40% of job-related fatalities. Alarmingly, fatal falls across all industries are at their highest levels in the 26 years since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking workplace fatalities.

One way we are addressing the toll of construction falls is through a National Campaign to Prevent Falls in Construction, a combined effort by NIOSH, OSHA and CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and Training. The cornerstone of this campaign is the National Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, which will occur May 6–10. During this week, NIOSH encourages employers to stop work and speak directly to their workers about fall hazards to reinforce the importance of proper fall prevention and promote safety and health on the job.

This April 28th we pause to remember the workers who did not come home safe and healthy, and recommit ourselves to empowering employers and workers to create safe and healthy workplaces through research.

Posted on by John Howard, M.D.

4 comments on “Workers’ Memorial Day, 2019: Statement by John Howard, M.D., Director, NIOSH”

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    I appreciate the attention to what’s coming up in the workplace as my oldest son will likely benefit greatly. Thankfully the only injury he’s ever had at work was losing the ends of two fingers in a press. Employer response was swift & he suffered no disability. My youngest, however, at his 3rd job at age 19 suffered a crushed hand when a chain pulling up a 2 ton steel door broke. My son grabbed a coworker who would have been killed but did not get far enough away when it fell. Employer did more damage having his wife drive to an urgent care facility, instead of calling an ambulance from the nearby hospital which was a level 1 trauma center. Urgent care called an ambulance to transport him back. By the time investigators visited the site, old broken equipment & chains had been replaced with new, & even the young man pulled out of the way remained silent having been threatened with his job. Humans remain the danger in any accident as well as inspectors who don’t report what is obvious. My son welcomed our grandson in a splint & 1st pictures show pins that had worked their way 3 inches out of his hand because workman’s comp only comped enough for rent & food for part of the year he spent out of work. Delicate surgery had to be donated by a wonderful, skilled retired hand surgeon & physical therapy by the practice he had retired from. Nothing for future costs. Maybe those humans could someday be replaced by robots.
    There still remain a number of jobs that will remain old school & have no safety guidelines so not visited by OSHA. My career as a zookeeper-elephant handler-was a constant battle for more staff or equipment for a deaf employee who was going to be put in a very dangerous position unable to communicate by radio as to the event or her location should any animal attack her. I simply needed a person to be present as the elephant was released from her barn in the am & put up at PM, as she was extremely excited & could injure without meaning to. These businesses may be overlooked instead of moving closer to having safety rules as future improvements in safety get much needed attention. Maybe humans can fill jobs going to robots by being the extra personnel needed to make sure every type of dangerous work is a little safer. Just a thought. Keep doing what you do!

    Cindy, First thank you for reading the blog but most of all for your moving story about why safety at the workplace is a vital human need. I hope your story is read widely on our blog—it illustrates far better than I can the value of safe jobs. Thank you for sharing.

    Undoubtedly the importance in the prevention of accidents at work should have a special ante on the part of the employers and government in the part of the fisclización. Here in Brazil I am not aware of the statistics, but I see many reports in daily newspapers. Something really needs to be done.

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Page last reviewed: April 26, 2019
Page last updated: April 26, 2019