Written by Lori Amerman, IMEC Operations Coordinator and OSHA Authorized Trainer
A series of blogs will be produced to share resources on the topics to be presented. This should help prepare company safety teams to gain a better understanding of tools available and prepare staff.
Southern Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Day
At the SIOSH Conference on October 30th, Karl Armstrong, OSHA will provide a review of several Illinois workplace fatality investigations and uncover: What happened? Why? How could it have been prevented? What did OSHA do? You will gain valuable insight on how OSHA fatality investigations work and how to improve you workplace’s safety and health to prevent deaths on the job.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the manufacturing industry in Illinois had the second highest fatality count with 17, up from 13 in 2011. Falls, slips, and trips accounted for five worker deaths in this sector.
- Since 1970, workplace fatalities have been reduced by more than 65 percent and occupational injury and illness rates have declined by 67 percent. At the same time, U.S. employment has almost doubled.
- Worker deaths in America are down–on average, from about 38 worker deaths a day in 1970 to 12 a day in 2012.
- Worker injuries and illnesses are down–from 10.9 incidents per 100 workers in 1972 to 3.4 per 100 in 2011.
Source: OSHA https://www.osha.gov/oshstats/commonstats.html
OSHA: Reports of Fatalities and Catastrophes
https://www.osha.gov/dep/fatcat/dep_fatcat.html
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Fatal Work Injuries in Illinois - 2012
http://www.bls.gov/ro5/cfoiil.pdf
AFL CIO: Death on the Job
http://www.aflcio.org/content/download/79181/1933131/DOTJ2013.pdf
Speaker Information:
Karl Armstrong has served as the Assistant Area Director at the OSHA Fairview heights Area Office since 2009. He joined the Peoria OSHA Office in 2003 as a Safety Specialist – Compliance Officer. He is a graduate of Illinois State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Occupational Safety.
