The death toll in construction hasn’t changed in the past decade, raising important questions about the effectiveness of OSHA and what it would take to save more lives, according to an analysis by Construction Dive. Workers continue to die at the same rate — 10 out of every 100,000 workers didn’t come home between 2011 and 2020 — highlighting weak enforcement, meager inspections and fines, and the opioid epidemic. With last year’s staff levels, for example, it would have taken inspectors 236 years to visit every workplace in the U.S., according to union group AFL-CIO’s Death on the Job report. Fines would need to rise above the cost of doing business and find their targets, especially among small contractors, which account for about 90% of the industry and often fly under the radar.
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