Four days into 2012, American Society of Safety Engineers’ President Terrie S. Norris issued a new year’s call to action via an ASSE press release. “This nation’s effort to protect workers is stalled,” she said. “Occupational safety and health needs to come down off the plateau of acceptance.”

Blunt talk. The ASSE president focused on fatalities to back up her claims. Prior to the recession of 2008, which contributed to declines in work-related fatalities in 2009 (4,551) and 2010’s preliminary data (4,547), fatalities had leveled off and flat-lined at around 6,000 per year since 1992, according to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics.