Death on the Jo

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

Want to kill somebody and get away with a slap on the wrist? 
	
You'd be hard pressed to find a better way than being a employer who
endangers his or her employees.
	
Under the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act, violations of health
and safety rules that pose a substantial probability of death or serious
physical harm to workers are considered "serious" violations. This is
roughly the standard needed to convict for criminal manslaughter in some
states.

The average penalty for a serious violation is $709, according to "Death
on the Job: The Toll of Neglect," a new report by the AFL-CIO. 
	
If an employer commits a serious violation of a Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) rule, and employees are lucky enough to avoid
injury or death as a result, there is a very good chance the violation
will never be cited. According to the AFL-CIO report, in Oregon, the state
with the highest proportional number of workplace inspectors, it would
take 20 years for inspectors to pay a single visit to every state
workplace. In Florida, it would take 291 years!

(The disparity between states comes because federal workplace safety rules
are administered and enforced at the state level, by state agencies that
receive approval from the federal OSHA or by the federal agency.)

In significant part because of this criminally weak penalty structure and
enforcement, the United States experiences a staggering amount of
work-related death, disease and injury, much of it preventable.

There were more than 6,200 deaths on the job due to traumatic injuries in
the United States in 1997. The death toll from work-related disease is
nearly 10 times higher. There were more than 6 million workplace-related
injuries and illnesses recorded in 1997, with more than 1.8 million of
them causing time lost from the job.

Internationally, the death toll from workplace injuries and disease is
mind-numbing. The International Labor Organization estimates that, every
year, 1.1 million people around the globe either die on the job or from
occupational disease.

The U.S. experience in recent decades makes clear that job-related death
and disease is not inevitable. Since the passage of the Occupational and
Safety Act in 1970, and despite the lax enforcement of OSHA rules, overall
industry fatality rates have fallen by 75 percent. Construction fatality
rates have been cut by almost 80 percent, mining rates by 75 percent,
agricultural rates by nearly two thirds, and manufacturing rates by 60
percent.

Despite the considerable gains of the last couple decades, industry is
determined to undermine OSHA's already weak position, and to block the few
initiatives that the agency is trying to move. 

With excruciatingly painful repetitive stress injuries skyrocketing in
recent years thanks to workplace speed-ups and the introduction of
computer keyboards, computer scanners and other new technologies,
corporations have focused their energies on blocking OSHA ergonomics
regulations.

The National Coalition on Ergonomics, an employer association consisting
of everything from the American Bakers Association to the Institute of
Makers of Explosives, has worked to prevent OSHA from adopting standards
intended to cut down on repetitive motion injuries. Among the main
corporate opponents of sensible repetitive motion injury regulations has
been UPS, which is among the leading violators of OSHA regulations. 

The corporations' party line: we need more research before taking action.
The National Coalition on Ergonomics maintains this position even after an
October 1, 1998 report from the National Academy of Sciences -- itself
commissioned in response to industry demands for more studies -- confirmed
that ergonomic injuries are a serious workplace problem, and that changes
on the job can prevent injuries. 

There is indeed a need for more research in the area of workplace hazards
and especially occupational diseases -- the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health is by far the least well-funded of the
National Institutes of Health -- but it has long been clear that tough
enforcement of workplace safety rules prevents injuries and saves lives. 

A stronger OSHA and stronger OSHA regulations are no panacea -- among
other things, workers must be empowered to confront workplace dangers
directly, including through exercise of a right to refuse hazardous work
-- but they are critically important in efforts to reduce death and injury
on the job. 

Is it too much for workers to expect that employers who put their lives at
risk pay more than a $709 fine?

Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime
Reporter. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based
Multinational Monitor. They are authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt
for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy.

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

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