The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently came under scrutiny after a public list of worker fatalities was removed from its homepage. The OSHA fatality list, which included a running total of workers killed on the job, published information such as name, cause of death, date, and the employer. Currently, the list still exists on the website on an internal page and does not include incidents that did not lead to OSHA citations.

The National Chamber of Commerce backed removing the data, stating that it was unfair for incidents to be added prior to OSHA completing an investigation. Now, the only documented fatalities will be those proven to be work-related incidents where the employer was at fault and has received a citation.

OSHA Fatality List Change a Matter of Accuracy

A spokeswoman for the Labor Department stated that the change will hopefully make public data more accurate. She added that it would also respect “the privacy of the victims’ surviving family members and loved ones.”

Former OSHA deputy assistant secretary Jordan Barab disagrees, telling Fortune that “the whole point of putting that up there was to impress on the American people that we had a serious problem with workplace deaths in the United States. That it wasn’t just numbers. It was real people.”

It’s important to hold employers accountable for their actions, especially when a worker has died. It’s also important for OSHA to provide statistics that provide transparent data about health and safety. Take a look at some recent statistics that take “who’s to blame?” out of the equation.

Increase in Worker Deaths

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of deaths per 100,000 workers is increasing — especially among contract and self-employed workers.

The Department of Labor’s Top 10 Citations of 2016 show that more than 4,200 workers die on the job each year and over three million are injured.

Whether employers are directly to blame or not, it is their responsibility to remain vigilant about workplace health and safety. Medical Surveillance is one way to detect health issues in workers before they lead to serious illness or death.

Employers can do their part in lowering the rate of death and injury without compromising a work day. Schedule a mobile medical unit from Worksite Medical that can come directly to your worksite. Call 1-844-OCCUMED today.