By Jim Stanley
President, FDRsafety

The good news in the latest numbers about workplace fatalities is that they are down. What may raise some eyebrows, however, is the size of that decline.

Last year, 4,609 workers died from work-related injuries, according to the preliminary 2011 National Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is slightly down from 4,690 in 2010 and slightly up from 2009, when 4,551 workers died.

As you can see from the graphic below, workplace fatalities have essentially plateaued during the tenure of the "New" OSHA, following several years of steep decline at the end of the Bush administration. That is ironic because the goal of the "New" OSHA, with its aggressive approach to enforcement, has been to sharply reduce injuries, both fatal and non-fatal.

 
(Click here for a larger version of this graphic.)

There is a caveat about these numbers. They include some fatalities beyond OSHA's jurisdiction to investigate. Still, they serve as a good proxy to chart the effectiveness of OSHA's efforts.

Any time a plan does not achieve its goals, it is time to consider reassessing. A Romney administration is likely to review regulatory approaches. But if it turns out that the President is re-elected, perhaps the start of a second term would be a good opportunity to take a look at whether the "New" OSHA needs to change its tune.

You've got a project planned and need the services of a safety professional, but are reluctant to add an employee, especially in this uncertain economy. Sound familiar?

FDRsafety can help. We specialize in providing project staffing with safety professionals who remain our employees - we handle all paperwork and benefits. We can staff any spot, from front-line safety workers to managers.

Our number one goal is to get safety professionals on your project site just as soon as you need them, whatever your location in the U.S. We have a very strong track record of quick turnarounds.

We have fine-tuned our staffing processes to make sure that the candidates we provide fit your needs perfectly. We qualify potential candidates before a customer calls and use a "hot list" of professionals waiting on the next job who have already been interviewed and screened.

And we provide, free of charge, a "kick the tires" option. You can use our staffer on a project basis for several months and then hire that person full-time without paying a recruitment fee.

Contact us for more information or to fill a need: info@fdrsafety.com or 1-888-755-8010.

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