Workplace Injury and Illness Kills 66,800 Americans a Year

Job-related injuries and illnesses cost far more than AIDS, and at least as much as cancer and heart disease according to a recent report in Archives of Internal Medicine. "The costs of occupational injuries and illnesses are high, in sharp contrast to the limited public attention and societal resources devoted to their prevention and amelioration," say the study's authors, led by J. Paul Leigh, PhD., of San Jose State University and Stanford University Medical Center.

On the job conditions kill 6,500 Americans and injure 13.2 million a year. These figures average to 18 deaths and 36,000 injuries a day, far higher than previous federal estimates of 17 deaths and 9,000 injuries a day. Deadlier, still, were occupational illnesses like lung disease and lead poisoning, which kill 60,300 workers and sicken 862,000 more a year. This averages to 165 deaths and 2,300 new ailments a day, topping government estimates of 137 deaths and 1,095 new ailments a day. Even these shocking numbers are low estimates of the actual total carnage since many job-related accidents and illnesses go unreported.

Work-related accidents and illnesses cost the U.S. economy $65 billion, plus another $106 billion in "indirect costs" (including lost wages) annually, the researchers found. This $171 billion total exceeds the costs of all heart and cardio-vascular diseases at $ 164.3 billion, matches the $170.7 billion cost of cancer, and far exceeds the $30 billion which AIDS costs.

"The big tragedy is that job-related deaths and injuries are almost always preventable," says Marta Hoetger, director of the Southeast Michigan Coalition on Occupational Safety and Health.

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