Evaluation of OSHA FATALITY INVESTIGATIONS

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics' (BLS, 2018a) data, 5,147 occupational fatalities occurred in 2017. Among these transportation-related fatalities, up to 11.6% occurred on nonroadways (BLS, 2018b), which would not likely fall under DOT jurisdiction (FMCSA 2019) and would expectedly be investigated by OSHA. [...]OSH professionals and researchers should be aware that OSHA has only completed its investigations for one-quarter of all workplace fatalities, and should view worker fatality databases with skepticism, as information may be incomplete. To determine whether OSHA's efforts in fatality investigations relative to the number of BLS-reported fatalities for those states are comparable among different states, the authors considered several factors, including population, economic performance and per capita gross domestic product (GDP; BEA, 2019), in addition to BLS-reported fatalities (Figure 3 shows an overall consistency between the percentage of BLS-reported workplace fatalities and OSHA-investigated cases between different plans). PSJ KEY TAKEAWAYS *A comparison of OSHA and BLS data about workplace fatalities that occurred from 2014 to 2017 shows that only one-fourth of BLS-reported workplace fatalities have been investigated by OSHA, although OSHA requires employers to report worker fatalities and states that "OSHA investigates all work-related fatalities in all covered workplaces." *The ratio of OSHA fatality investigation cases between states with the federal plan and states with an OSHA-approved state plan is similar to that of BLS-reported workplace fatalities.