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Table of Contents » Companies Use Tracking Technology for Electronic Cargo Security » The Faces Behind The Numbers » National Private Truck Council » ATA Truck Tonnage Index Up 1.6% in February Sam Gualardo, CSP, President of National Safety Consultants Inc., a company helping organizations to achieve workplace safety performance excellence, authored the following article on the importance of safety in every industry. 
The Faces Behind The Numbers
Death and injury on the job is a problem that affects all of us. It is a mainstream public health problem that rarely receives mainstream public attention. We must recognize that every father, mother, every young man and young woman killed at work is a loss to their families, companies, community and to our future as a nation. A child grows without a parent, parents grow old without children, neighbors live on without a friend, and on and on. On average, 17 American workers die each day in this country; as a nation we have come to accept this as a matter of course. Each day the stories of work related fatalities are buried along with their victims. Incidents are reported as horrible accidents, with no mention of prevention, no recognition of the work relatedness, and no sense of outrage that they occurred. The most visible occupational fatalities in history occurred on January 28, 1986 and on February 1, 2003 as the Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia exploded in flames. Thirteen astronauts and a high school teacher died... earning a living, doing a job. Our nation was shocked and horrified. On each of those days, January 28, 1986 and February 1, 2003, at least 16 other Americans lost their lives while doing the same thing... simply earning a living, doing their job. Where was the horror? Where was the outrage? During the course of the day when the Challenger exploded, two truck drivers, a farm laborer, and a teacher died in separate job related motor vehicle crashes. Two loggers were killed falling from a rigging cable, another logger died of a skull fracture after being pinned by a log against his truck, a coal miner was crushed by a falling rock, and a retail manager and a special investigator were shot to death, the manager of a manufacturing plant and the president of a drilling company died of burns from explosions, a lineman was electrocuted, two plasterers fell to their deaths from a scaffold, and a driller died of asphyxiation after falling into an oil well. These workers ranging in age from 16 to 81 years old; all went to work that day and died as a result of it... Simply trying to earn a living. Similar fatalities occurred the day Columbia exploded upon reentry. Why weren't we shocked? When Challenger and Columbia exploded, they were totally unexpected occurrences. We as a nation became accustomed to men and women soaring smoothly through space and coming home safely. Astronauts are not supposed to die or get hurt doing their job. Your workers are not supposed to die or get hurt either. We can not prevent all losses but it is every workers responsibility to assure that safety is their first priority. Return to table of contents |