Editorial: Work environment is much safer today

Thursday, June 17, 1999 | 9:50 a.m.

Most of us take it for granted that we're unlikely to suffer a life-threatening injury when at work. Those who commute to work probably are more concerned about the specter of getting hurt while driving to their job -- not once they're there.

But in the early part of this century, workers in this nation faced significant risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a study released Friday that didn't generate much fanfare, noted that changes in the workplace have resulted in a dramatic turnaround in on-the-job safety. In 1913 there were about 23,000 industrial deaths for the 38 million people in the work force, which translated to 60.5 deaths for every 100,000 workers. By 1997, however, the number of deaths fell to 5,100, or about 4 deaths per 100,000 workers.

Sadly it took tragedies, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire in New York City that cost 146 garment workers their lives in 1911, to prod government to pass tough workplace-safety laws. While there also have been improvements in Nevada, it doesn't mean that a fail-safe work environment has been designed. For example, a deadly blast in 1998 claimed the lives of four workers at the Sierra Chemical Co. plant near Reno. In response, the 1999 Legislature passed laws to improve workplace safety, including a requirement that workers get safety training in a language they understand (it had been alleged that many of Sierra Chemical's workers' primary language was Spanish but all of the safety instructions were in English).

Workers have every right to expect that when they report to work they won't have to worry about suffering a life-threatening injury. Times have definitely changed for the better, but that doesn't mean government and businesses should relax their vigilance in providing safe workplaces.