At a guess, fatalities have always been bad for business.  The decline just represents a decline in jobs that tend to kill people (Vox is really bad with ignoring this sort of association).<p>I can&#x27;t seem to find good pre-OSHA <i>injury</i> data (because OSHA are the only people counting), but that&#x27;s where I&#x27;d expect to see the difference.  You can run a business assuming injuries will happen, but pretty much everyone tries not to kill workers.