Worker health and safety rules save lives and prevent injuries, study shows
August 16, 2011
By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist
Five major worker health and safety rules, most of which were initially opposed by industry, have saved thousands of lives, prevented tens of thousands of injuries, and, in at least one case, improved productivity, a study reports.
The analysis of worker regulations by Public Citizen, a citizens’ advocacy organization, comes as corporate interests are expanding efforts to gut the federal regulatory system. They claim rules are burdensome and costly, but fail to acknowledge rules have benefits.
“Corporate interests love to bash regulations in the abstract, so it is important that we recognize the benefits that we – the public – enjoy from particular safeguards,” Justin Feldman, worker health and safety advocate with Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division, said in a statement. “These are rules that keep us healthy and keep our friends and family members alive.”
Regulations often yield tremendous advantages, sometimes at minimal costs to industry, Public Citizen’s analysis found. The worker health and safety rules covered in the report include:
• A rule requiring the cotton industry to reduce dust in textile factories lowered the prevalence of brown lung among industry employees by 97 percent in the first five years. In addition, when factories upgraded their equipment to comply with the rule, they found the new machines were seven times faster than the old ones. Also, compliance cost far less than originally anticipated.
• A rule requiring manufacturers to place locks and warning labels on powered equipment prevents 50,000 injuries and 120 fatalities each year.
• A rule on excavations at construction sites has reduced the fatality rate from cave-ins by 40 percent.
• A grain-handling facilities standard has reduced the number of fatalities caused by dust-related explosions by 95 percent. When the rule was being considered, industry groups and the Reagan administration opposed it. Years after the standard was issued, however, the National Grain and Feed Association said it is remarkably effective.
• A law instituting inspections in coal mines as well as new mine health and safety standards led to a rapid 50 percent decrease in the coal mine fatality rate.
Many corporate-backed GOP lawmakers in Congress are pushing to prevent federal health and safety agencies from being able to issue rules at all. Over the past few months, they’ve introduced several bills that would undermine the regulatory process or, in one case, place a moratorium on all new regulations.
“If anything, we need more public protections – not fewer,” said Lisa Gilbert, deputy director of Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division. “The BP oil spill disaster, the Massey mine explosion, and the Wall Street crash were all caused by too little regulation of profit-hungry, corner-cutting corporations.”
The capitalists' interest has been always to produce more at lower expenses. So, they won't care about paying more for the safety of their workers.
Thank you for this great post!
Posted by: Janett Brown | August 18, 2011 at 03:18 AM
For sure they will pay more for the safety of their employees as it would be more expensive in the long run if they run into litigation by litigation by not observing proper proper safety precaution.
Posted by: Carol | August 22, 2011 at 10:58 PM
Thanks for your comments on worker safety. It's a really important issue. The rules are at risk in these politically charged times when conservatives want everything cut and no tax increases.
Rita
Posted by: Rita | August 23, 2011 at 09:55 AM