State officials on Tuesday, Sept. 16, confirmed three worker deaths, including one attributed to a communicable disease contracted in 2017.
In the most recent fatal incident, a 30-year-old laborer was riding on the tailgate of a pickup truck while pulling barrels to set up a lane closure on Sept. 8 in Sanford, the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration said.
“The decedent fell off the tailgate while the truck was moving and struck the pavement,” MIOSHA said. The individual died from their injuries on Sept. 14.
On Sept. 9, a tree trimmer working in Rockford was struck by a towable, articulating boom lift that rolled down a hill. MIOSHA said the 43-year-old suffered a head injury when the equipment dragged them down the hill.
In a third reported death — which took place in April 2025 — a 64-year-old registered nurse was exposed to tuberculosis in 2017 through patient care in Dearborn, MIOSHA said. The individual tested negative for TB in 2017 and continued to work until March 9, 2025, when they began feeling ill and exhibiting TB symptoms.
The individual died due to complications from TB in April. An investigation conducted by the employer’s infectious disease specialists, in collaboration with the health department, determined that the TB strain matched genetically with the 2017 exposure, MIOSHA said.
The pair of deaths reported to MIOSHA for September matches the August total and is a decline from the seven work-related fatalities reported in July.
In 2024, five Michigan workers died on the job, according to MIOSHA statistics.
So far in 2025, there have been 28 reported work-related deaths in Michigan. There were 36 MIOSHA-reported deaths in 2023 and 31 overall in 2024; 2009 saw the lowest number in recent years with 24.
What to know about worker safety in Michigan:
How many on-the-job deaths have happened in Michigan in 2025?
According to MIOSHA, in addition to the latest fatality, the following deaths have occurred in 2025:
Michigan worker deaths in recent years
The number of workers killed on the job by year:
How many workers died in 2024 nationally?
In fiscal year 2024, federal OSHA investigated 826 worker deaths, an 11% reduction from 928 in the previous year, the agency said. Excluding COVID-19-related deaths, fiscal 2024 was the lowest number of worker fatalities OSHA has been mandated to investigate since 2017.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: State officials confirm 3 Michigan worker fatalities. What MIOSHA says happened
Reporting by Dan Basso, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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