8. Despite its overall health benefits, work can be hazardous to health.

In 1998, 617 Californians died as a result of injuries in the workplace, and 1,358,350 were injured while working.³⁷ The accumulated costs for workplace deaths and injuries have only recently been calculated for California and are awaiting publication.³⁸ A reasonable estimate can be reached by taking California’s share of the U.S. total estimated costs. The most recent national figures are from 1992 and place the total cost of U.S. workplace injury and illness at $171 billion.³⁹ California’s share of this would be 12.1 percent, or more than $20.5 billion. Some of the most prevalent work-related health conditions include asthma and other lung disorders, low back disorders, traumatic injury and fertility and pregnancy abnormalities.⁴⁰ According to a 1995 study, violence has become the leading cause of occupational fatalities in California.⁴¹