W.Va. third in workplace death rate

[Omaha Steve]

http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200804240434

AFL-CIO report based on data from 2006

By Ken Ward Jr.
Staff writer

Download the full state by state AFL-CIO report (PDF): http://wvgazette.com/images/DOTJreport2008.pdf

West Virginia workers are more likely to die on the job than their counterparts in all but two other states, according to a national report released Thursday by the AFL-CIO.

The state's workplace death rate is the third-highest in the nation, with only Alaska and Wyoming ranked worse, according to the labor organization's annual Death on the Job Study.

The report was based on 2006 data, the most recent available to the AFL-CIO. That year, 24 coal miners died on the job in West Virginia, the most in any year since 1981.

AFL-CIO leaders said that the report highlights their growing concern over worker safety during the waning months of the Bush administration, which has slashed inspection funding and halted work on many new safety regulations.

"Our nation's system of rules and enforcement has fallen embarrassingly short of its goal of ensuring workplace safety," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "America's workers simply can't afford four more years of Bush Administration-style cuts, rollbacks and opposition to new safety protections."

AFL-CIO officials released the study Thursday in anticipation of Workers Memorial Day on Monday, their yearly commemoration of workers who died or were injured on the job.

This year's Memorial Day comes one day after the 30th anniversary on Sunday of the Willow Island Disaster.

[Turbineguy]

1. Be that as it may

I'm applying for one of those nifty MBA degrees.

:grr: