FACTS

1. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has an Occupational Chemical Database currently listing more than 850 hazardous chemicals used in U.S. workplaces. Many of these chemicals can cause injury or death if workers don’t take the right precautions.
2. Chemicals come in many forms and can cause death, cancers, respiratory, organ damage, and birth defects, if misused. Some may start fires, cause explosions, or damage the environment. Because of their dangerous nature, safety and health laws require suppliers and workplaces to label and attach information about all hazardous products. Labels carry the product name, related hazards, safety measures and more.  The absence or damage of labels can lead to injury, illness, and catastrophic events.

STATS

• In 2017, 41 U.S. workers died on the job after a single episode of inhaling chemicals and chemical products—7 more fatal injuries than in 2016. This number ranged between 33 and 55 fatal injuries each year from 2011 to 2017, with a total of 297 fatalities across the 7-year span.
• Of the fatal single episode inhalations of chemicals and chemical products from 2011 through 2017, 37 percent occurred in a confined space (110 fatal injuries). All fatal single inhalations of methane gas involved a confined space (9 fatal injuries).
• Other chemicals and chemical products that led to fatal injury after a single inhalation in spaces that were confined and not confined were toluene (5 fatalities), solvents and degreasers (7 fatalities), dichloromethane (8 fatalities), and coal, natural gas, petroleum fuels and products (11 fatalities).
• Deaths by exposure to hazardous chemicals increased 29% between 2016 and 2019
• Deaths due to exposure to hazardous chemicals worldwide rose 29 % in 2019 from what they were in 2016, according to latest estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO).
• Two million people died due to exposure to hazardous chemicals in 2019, compared to 1.56 million in 2016, according to the global health body.
• According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, exposure to harmful substances or environments is among the five most common causes of workplace fatalities.
• Nearly 10 percent of all workers who lose their lives due to occupational illnesses or injuries die as a result of chemical exposure. This amounts to an estimated 60,000 deaths – which is on top of the roughly 860,000 illnesses resulting from chemical exposure in the workplace every year.