Guest column:

Worker safety system in obvious need of repair

Terence M. O’Sullivan

Tuesday, April 28, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

The odds are that by the end of today in America, 15 working people will be killed on the job, victims of government and corporations which for too long have accepted workplace hazards as the cost of doing business.

In 2007 alone — the most recent year for which Labor Statistics Bureau data are available — 5,657 workers were killed on the job, and 50,000 to 60,000 more died of job-related diseases. An estimated 4 million were injured. In Nevada, 71 workers were killed and 46,500 were injured in 2007.

As reported by the Las Vegas Sun, 12 construction workers in Las Vegas were killed on the job in an 18-month period. Heavy work schedules, weakened safety requirements, reduced enforcement and small penalties for violations contributed to the deaths. Four of the workers were members of the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 872.

For the past eight years the previous administration in Washington, D.C., extended its “on-your-own” philosophy to issues of life and death on job sites across the country.

As a result, a death on the job today costs the typical corporation only $3,675. The average penalty for a serious violation of OSHA law is a mere $921. And nearly 40 years after workplace hazards were recognized as a serious problem with the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, nearly 9 million workers, including public service employees, are left out of OSHA’s protections altogether.

While deaths and injuries continue, dangerous substances, including cancer-causing silica that many construction workers inhale, remain virtually unregulated. Risks for repetitive strain injuries, which account for a third of injuries and cost employers and taxpayers billions of dollars a year, remain unregulated. And workers who are courageous enough to blow the whistle on job-site hazards have little protection from retaliation by their employers.

It’s not the fault of OSHA — under the Bush administration, the agency was systematically stripped of its enforcement apparatus and aligned with the interests of businesses, whether they were concerned about worker safety or not. Today federal OSHA has fewer inspectors than in 1980, with the ability on average to inspect every workplace only once every 137 years. OSHA’s stagnating budget means it has an average of $3.89 available to protect each worker in America. Nevada OSHA has about 40 inspectors to cover the entire state.

In addition to ruined and lost lives, the economic cost of hazardous workplaces is enormous. Workers’ compensation costs alone are estimated at $1 billion a week, according to OSHA.

The outrage is that so many deaths and injuries could be easily prevented. As we commemorate Workers’ Memorial Day today, our country can do more than mourn those who are killed and injured. We can begin to solve the problem.

Congress is expected to mark Workers’ Memorial Day with hearings on the Protecting America’s Workers Act, a bill to modernize the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The act would strengthen whistleblower protections for workers who report workplace hazards and give OSHA protections to many of the public service and other workers currently exempt. The bill would increase penalties for employers who ignore serious job-site hazards that cause death or injury, providing a real deterrent to neglect. It would require OSHA to investigate every serious injury or workplace death. And the bill would enforce requirements for employers to provide workers with proper safety equipment.

There is still tremendous work to be done beyond legislation, including more education and information, more labor-management cooperation and better training so that safer workplaces are seen as not only morally right, but a matter of good business sense.

The Protecting America’s Workers Act won’t solve the entire problem, but it will go a long way toward preventing many injuries, saving lives and sending the message that in America, the price of going to work each day must not be death or injury on the job.

Terence M. O’Sullivan is the international president of the Laborers union.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

By WC_LC

4/28/09 at 8:21 a.m.

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I agree with Mr. O'Sullivan's assessment the current state of workplace safety in our country. However, I think he did not go far enough.

In a former life I spent almost 8 years as an OSHA compliance officer and supervisor. In that time I have seen people do things that defy all common sense logic. Many refused to wear safety gear (hard hats, safety harness etc.) even though they were provided and they were trained on their proper use. It is true that good supervision on the part of companies helps but you cannot watch every worker, every minute of the day.

Too often I have seen and still see construction workers fall wearing a harness and lifeline that was not hooked to anything. I've seen workers hit in the head from a falling object while they were carrying their hard hat in their hands.

Not only must we hold employers accountable for the safety in their work places, we should also hold workers accountable for their individual actions, especially when it can be demonstrated that the employers did all they could do to provide a safe place to work.

Not all employers ignore safety, many make substantial efforts towards following the rules, but all too often those efforts are ignored by workers who when they are later injured are quick to blame everyone except for themselves.

Piece work magnifies this problem. Workers that are paid based upon production will rush to get the work done in order to make more money per day and completely ignore common sense safe work practices.

If you want to reduce accidents on the job then let's get the whole team motivated to follow the rules, not just half of the players. If that means penalizing workers who blatantly ignore the rules then so be it.
By letjusticeprevail

4/29/09 at 8:05 a.m.

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I agree WC LC that workers need to take some responsibility for their own safety. Of course an employer can't watch every employee every minute of the day but if they really cared about safety they could put into practice some sort of check card system where - with no retaliation but noted - each worker watches those around him and if anyone is seen not complying with safety standards they can be reminded by their peers that someone is home waiting for them and doesn't want to have to attend a funeral so please use your gear or put your hardhat on or whatever the instance is. Before you say that it won't work, I meet someone in DC whose very large company uses that method and it works. They watch out for each other. Will it be 100%? Can't answer that, but it sure would be a step in the right direction. But the company has to take measures to put something like that in place.

There are many ways a company can insure the safety of their workers. They just have to be proactive enough to look for ways to make it work.
By genehern

4/29/09 at 8:07 a.m.

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The whole team must be on board... agreed. When an employee is injured on the job by ignoring safe work practices, training, equipment, etc. they must be held responsible. The question is who holds them responsible?

That responsibility belongs to the employer who hires, pays, promotes and ultimately releases the employee. An employee who steals from their employer is generally immediately dismissed once proven guilty. Why isn't it the same with one who violates safe work practices or is injured while violating safe work practices?

Do we want OSHA or some agency dictating how we manage our employees? I'm certinly not a conservative, however I don't think that is place we want to go. I believe the current move to holding employer and supervisors responsible for workplace safety is the logical approach to take. The challenge is to properly train, monitor and support supervisors in requiring and expecting a safe workplace.

If employers and supervisors have done their homework and properly trained, monitored and sanctioned their employees there will be no need for outside intervention.
By safetydog

4/29/09 at 9:25 a.m.

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The writer should be more thorough on his research and at least attempt to hide his biased political views. First, the Bush Administration did not "strip Fed-OSHA of its enforcement apparatus".

Second, Fed-OSHA doles out heafty fines as demonstrated in Nebraska this month when Miranda Roofing of Omaha was fined more than $148,000.00 for "exposing employees to fall hazards" and "improper use, placement of, and care of portable ladders". No deaths or injuries mind you.

Third, it is common occurrence for surviving relatives to sue companies for wrongfull death of their loved ones. Verdicts are often in favor of the plantiff(s), especially when the company was found to be in willful violation of OSHA regulations relative to the incident. These law suits can cost hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Coupled with blacklash from negative media exposure and insurance carriers defaulting or raising rates beyond reach, is often enough to put a small to mis-sized company out of buisness for a single event. This was not alway so but it is now and the trend is growing.

Fourth, many companies have become very safety conscious, mostly because it is sound business practice which greatly improves the bottom line in today's economic evironment. Koch Pipeline Co.employees, for instance, completed 6 million hours in March over the past 8 years without one lostime accident. KPL was named one of America's safest companies in 2008 by EHS Today magazine and recipient of 7 major safety awards by regional and national institutions. Need I remind the writer of the traditionally percieved risk factors associated with pipeline work? Others have and are switching gears through threat of hefty fines, out of control insurance premiums, etc. While I am not attempting to paint a rose colored garden here, I am saying that safety performance is way up across the board and as the market gets tighter, the performers will be the survivors. They can reassure the customer not only do they get the job done right, but do it with the lowest risk.

Lastly,raw statistical injury/fatality data from government agencies can be very misleading and are seldom used by safety "professionals" to assess actual safe work performance.
By cisea

4/29/09 at 10:01 a.m.

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My husband works construction. He has worked in Las Vegas before. When he had to beg for a hardhat when there where other workers working overhead, that was it! We love L.V., but will wait until retirement to go to our favorite place in the world. Work there, with that history! No way, no how!
By letjusticeprevail

4/30/09 at 2:21 p.m.

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If you really want to know what's going on in the worker safety arena - check out the below links to congressional hearings that were held in Washington DC on Worker Memorial Day 4/28/09.

http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2009_04_...

http://edwork.edgeboss.net/wmedia/edwork...

There is a lot of information in these hearings that will clear up much misconception that many have including Safety Dog saying that people can sue their employer - it is not the common occurrence.

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