By Lulit Shewan

May Day has always been grounded in a simple demand: workers should be able to go to work and return home safely. That demand carries particular weight this year. The scale of harm workers face remains high, and the conditions shaping that harm are shifting in ways that increase exposure and limit the systems meant to prevent it.

Risk is structured and disproportionate across the labor market. Latino workers experience the highest rates of fatal occupational injury, and Black workers also face elevated risks. Immigrant workers are overrepresented in industries with dangerous conditions, including construction, agriculture, warehousing, and manufacturing. Many workers in these sectors face barriers to reporting unsafe conditions, including language access, fear of retaliation, and immigration-related concerns. These factors shape who is most exposed to hazardous conditions and who is least protected when those conditions become dangerous.

Workplace harm is not limited to injuries or fatalities. Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) are deeply embedded across low-wage and precarious work, shaping daily conditions of safety, dignity, and economic security. This includes sectors such as hospitality, domestic work, agriculture, and warehousing. Women—particularly Black women, immigrant women, and women in temporary roles—face heightened exposure to harassment, assault, and coercion on the job. Federal workplace safety frameworks provide limited proactive protections against these forms of harm. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) does not offer a comprehensive standard that addresses GBVH as a workplace safety issue, and enforcement mechanisms remain limited. These gaps leave workers without consistent tools for prevention or accountability.

The most recent AFL-CIO Death on the Job report documents the scale of loss. In 2024, 5,070 workers were killed in traumatic incidents on the job, and an estimated 135,000 more died from occupational diseases. This amounts to more than 380 deaths each day tied to workplace conditions. These figures align with patterns documented in prior years. Fatalities remain concentrated in construction, transportation, warehousing, agriculture, and manufacturing. The leading causes of death continue to include falls, motion strain, equipment-related injuries, and exposure to hazardous substances.

Safety standards exist for many of the most common hazards, particularly in construction and manufacturing, but failures in enforcement, inadequate training, production pressures, and gaps in accountability allow these risks to persist. These failures are tied to how safety protections are implemented and enforced across workplaces.

Recent workplace tragedies reflect these patterns. In April 2026, a worker at an Amazon fulfillment center in Troutdale, Oregon, collapsed and died inside the facility. Reports indicated that work continued in surrounding areas during the emergency response. In October 2025, an explosion at an explosives manufacturing plant in Tennessee killed 16 workers and revealed dozens of safety violations. Construction sites continue to see fatal trench collapses and falls, even with established federal standards designed to prevent them. These incidents reflect conditions in which known hazards remain present and safeguards are inconsistently applied. A large share of these deaths are widely understood to be preventable, even if there is no single comprehensive estimate that captures the exact proportion. The AFL-CIO has consistently pointed to enforcement gaps and employer noncompliance as central drivers of workplace fatalities, noting that many incidents occur in violation of existing standards. OSHA investigations routinely identify preventable hazards after fatal events, particularly in blue collar industries.

Policy decisions made over the past year are shaping how these risks are managed. OSHA’s recent revised Heat National Emphasis Program is reflective of this, narrowing the list of industries prioritized for heat-related inspections. This change comes as heat exposure intensifies across sectors where workers spend extended periods outdoors or in high-temperature environments, including those who work in agriculture, construction, delivery, or warehouses. These workers all face prolonged exposure to high temperatures, often without guaranteed access to water or shade. Federal data shows that heat-related fatalities are often undercounted or misclassified. A narrower enforcement scope reduces the likelihood that unsafe heat conditions will be identified during inspections.

Cuts to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) affect the federal government’s ability to track workplace hazards and develop updated safety recommendations. NIOSH plays a central role in identifying emerging risks, including heat exposure, chemical hazards, and evolving workplace technologies. Staffing and funding reductions affect data collection, field investigations, and the development of evidence-based guidance that informs OSHA standards.

Enforcement capacity continues to shape how safety protections function in practice. OSHA is responsible for overseeing millions of workplaces with a limited number of inspectors; indeed, inspection rates have not kept pace with the growth and complexity of industries such as warehousing and logistics. These sectors include large facilities employing hundreds or thousands of workers under tightly managed production systems. The number of federal OSHA inspectors dropped from 900 in 2022 to 853 in 2023, while the number of workers and workplaces under OSHA’s jurisdiction continues to grow. Current staffing remains below historical levels relative to the size of the workforce OSHA is tasked with protecting.

Employer practices play a defining role in this context. Production targets, algorithmic management systems, and staffing decisions influence how safety measures are applied. In warehouse settings, workers are often expected to maintain continuous output, which affects whether work is paused during emergencies and whether workers feel able to report unsafe conditions. In construction, subcontracting structures distribute responsibility across multiple entities, which complicates enforcement. In manufacturing, pressure to maintain production intersects with hazardous materials and machinery.

The cumulative effect is a workplace safety system with limited capacity to prevent harm under current conditions. Oversight is narrowing, research capacity is constrained, and enforcement remains limited relative to the scale of workplaces. Forms of harm that fall outside traditional regulatory frameworks, including GBVH, continue without consistent intervention.

Addressing these conditions requires sustained federal action. Expanding OSHA funding would increase inspection capacity and strengthen enforcement of existing standards. Reinvesting in NIOSH would support the research infrastructure needed to identify emerging hazards and inform updated protections. Establishing a comprehensive federal heat standard would provide consistent safeguards across industries where exposure is widespread. Legislative action can clarify accountability within subcontracting structures and strengthen protections for workers who report unsafe conditions. Addressing GBVH at work requires integrating it into workplace safety frameworks through enforceable standards and proactive prevention measures.

May Day highlights the relationship between worker safety and power. Workplace conditions are shaped by policy choices, enforcement priorities, and the distribution of control within workplaces. Current policy directions influence how hazards are identified, protections are applied, and accountability is enforced. Worker deaths and injuries continue to follow patterns that have been documented over time. The systems designed to address those patterns are being shaped in ways that affect how widely harm continues.