Number of Workers' Deaths
Caused by OSHA's Failure to Act

This number is increasing by
 10,000-20,000 deaths per year!*

Protection for American Workers
OSHA, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is a US government agency which exists to protect American workers from being harmed and killed by preventable dangers they are exposed to in the workplace. Millions of workers are healthier and thousands of deaths have been avoided by the diligent efforts of OSHA. Yet, a major health hazard to workers, secondhand smoke, continues to kill 10,000-20,000 workers per year.

In 1991, NIOSH, the research and policy forming part of OSHA, produced guidelines to eliminate secondhand smoke from the workplace, which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, had they been implemented. Sadly, these guidelines (which are posted on OSHA's own website) are completely ignored by the majority of businesses and employers, and are not enforced by OSHA.

OSHA is not Preventing Deaths from Secondhand Smoke in the Workplace
In OSHA's defense, the US government has not allocated funding needed to enforce these guidelines. Nevertheless, the fact remains that OSHA cannot and is not doing its job, and the number of preventable deaths from secondhand smoke among workers is mounting every year. There are additionally millions more workers with serious illness due to secondhand smoke. The vast majority of these deaths and disabilities could have been prevented if OSHA had started enforcing its own guidelines when they were published 17 years ago.

As it turns out, enforcing smoke-free workplaces is not difficult at all. The experience of over 2200 cities and municipalities who have passed smoke-free legislation, has been very favorable. Just proclaiming that workplaces are to be smoke-free brings about the social change needed, and the laws are virtually self-enforcing. All OSHA would have to do would be to announce that all workplaces are to be smoke-free. That simple act could save thousands of lives every year.