Worker safety

What is a life worth? According to Oregon OSHA, it seems, $5,400. That's how much it recently fined a company after a worker was killed on the job.

UFCW Local 555 president Dan Clay says retail workers shouldn't have to fear gun violence but it's becoming increasingly common.

Student behavior – including assaults – are a factor in record-high classroom aide and support staff turnover.

Incidents of disruptive airline passengers and abusive mass transit users have increased sharply in the past few years.

The crash is the latest evidence for what union-represented paramedics have described as growing public hostility toward ambulance workers.

Assaults on paramedics and EMTs have changed the nature of a job for workers who didn’t historically face on-the-job violence.

It took a few years, but Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health agency has finalized rules protecting Oregon workers from heat and smoke.

So-called “safe rest villages” in Portland are highly unsafe for staffers, leading workers to seek union representation with AFSCME.

Privately-insured and self-insured employers are rejecting worker comp claims at a greater rate than the state-chartered non-profit SAIF.

Last year more than 69 Oregonians died from injuries sustained while working, not including the 169 who died after workplace COVID outbreaks.

Transportation-related accidents are the lead cause of workplace death— more fatalities than falls, violence and harmful substances combined.

Most on-the-job deaths occur in the trucking industry, but a handful of workplaces have a higher fatality rate.

Oregon's proposed rules protecting workers exposed to extreme heat and wildfire smoke could be the strongest in the country.

Attacks on parks workers. Assaults on bus drivers. Safety concerns are driving some employees to leave their jobs altogether.

Unions are encouraging members to get vaccinated, but are also trying to protect the rights and jobs of workers who haven’t been vaccinated.

Construction workers commit suicide at three times the national average. More die by suicide than job site injuries or accidents.

It took a frightening three-day heat wave to get action, but on July 8, Oregon OSHA said employers must protect workers during extreme heat.

IBEW rep Scott Zadow, hospitalized with the virus, says COVID is no joke. This month local labor is partnering PBGC to host vaccine clinics.

Limiting the work week to 40 hours isn’t just labor’s most important historic win. It also prevents an early death for working people.

For 30 years the national AFL-CIO has been reporting on workplace safety and fatalities on the job. Progress has stalled.