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Harm information units that OSHA now makes public are an underused useful resource in stopping office accidents. Sustaining and facilitating entry to those information would assist the US deliver down the “unacceptably high risk” of work-related accidents, in keeping with a brand new evaluation printed Feb. 13 within the American Journal of Public Well being.
“Millions of U.S. workers are injured on the job every year. And these injuries have a serious impact on injured workers, their families and entire communities,” says David Michaels, a professor of environmental and occupational well being on the George Washington College and lead creator of the paper.
“Newly available OSHA injury data sets are a valuable but underused resource for employers, unions, public health advocates, and researchers focused on workplace injury prevention.” Michaels served as Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA 2009—2017, and was the longest serving administrator in OSHA’s historical past.
Many office deaths and nearly all critical accidents go unreported within the media, however for those who obtain consideration, the police typically conclude that it was an accident and the employer typically chalks up the occasion to “human error.” Nonetheless, OSHA’s information units inform one other story, that work accidents are predictable and preventable.
In accordance with Michaels, “these data sets are invaluable for injury prevention. They enable businesses to benchmark their safety experience against other firms in their industry, workers to choose employment in safer workplaces, and researchers to better understand injury causation.” Michaels added that “journalists are already using the data to investigate workplaces where too many workers are being hurt.”
Extra data:
David Michaels et al, OSHA Harm Knowledge: An Alternative for Enhancing Work Harm Prevention, American Journal of Public Well being (2025). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307934
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George Washington College
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Analyzing new OSHA information units would assist forestall accidents (2025, February 14)
retrieved 15 February 2025
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