NYT: When Workers Die

[MrMonk]

WHEN WORKERS DIE
A Trench Caves In; a Young Worker Is Dead. Is It a Crime?
By DAVID BARSTOW

As the autopsy confirmed, death did not come right away for Patrick M. Walters. On June 14, 2002, while working on a sewer pipe in a trench 10 feet deep, he was buried alive under a rush of collapsing muck and mud. A husky plumber's apprentice, barely 22 years old, Mr. Walters clawed for the surface. Sludge filled his throat. Thousands of pounds of dirt pressed on his chest, squeezing and squeezing until he could not draw another breath.

"Was there a trench box?" she asked the investigator. He paused, she recalled. "He says, `Ma'am, no safety procedures were followed. None.'
"He was just so disgusted."

The inspector's boss, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration's top official in Cincinnati, was angry too. He knew Moeves Plumbing well. In 1989, he had confronted the company over another death. The circumstances were nearly identical: a deep trench, no box, a man buried alive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/21/national/21OSHA.html?hp

*****

I admit that this is not as glamorous as quarterbacking presidential campaigns or nitpicking over trivial inconsistencies in 9/11 reports.

But this story reports the type of reckless behavior that gripes *my* glutes. The federal and state governments bcome accomplices in this sort of crime when they won't enforce even the most basic of safety laws.

[SoCalDem]

1. Construction is one of the most dangerous occupations

because they ALWAYS take short cuts.. I have one son who does this kind of work, and we worry about him all the time.. He's 26 and strong & healthy, but we are always telling him that ONE accident, and he's done.. Companies look upon laborers as expendable.. there are always more young guys loooking for work, than there are jobs to fill, so the bosses feel free to cut corners.. If there are no consequences, they feel free to risk it..

Lots of these young ones are not married, and they are considered adults, so the parents often cannot even sue.. It's a win-win for the company.. They save money on the front end, and then don't get prosecuted or sued if something happens.:(

Poor kid :(

[MrMonk]

3. "the bosses feel free to cut corners"

That's at the heart of it. As the article says, the employees (in particular, field supervisors) follow the example of a company's leaders. Sure, there was no training in this case, but it should be obvious to anyone that a narrow, deep trench in wet soil is NOT A SAFE PLACE TO WORK without proper shoring. But those trenches will continue to be dug and laborers will keep going down into them until the gov't comes down hard on the lawbreakers and protects laborers who refuse to work under unsafe conditions.

[ikojo]

7. How much you wanna bet this is not a UNION

company? Another friend who is a pilot says it is the UNION which is more concerned about safety than any of the airlines.

Is it any wonder that corporate America wants a union free workforce?

[thissideup]

2. It's usually males

Males die at a rate of more than 10-1 in industrial accidents. No one says much about it in the mainstream press.

[Skittles]

15. uh huh

and women are much more likeley to be stalked, beat up and killed by men. And your point is?

[RBHam]

4. 'nitpicking over trivial inconsistencies in 9/11 reports'

good god.

write a letter to Karen Breitweister and tell her she's a "nitpicker."

as far as worker's rights go - good luck. productivity (lower wages, more duties, less regulations)is valued much higher by Wall Street and their well funded minions than whether the workers have any rights.

there's a reason why they have systematically set out to destroy the union movement. soon, it will be un-American.

[classics]

5. Poor people are cheap.

Just an easy to replace, inexpensive cog in the Neo-con dream.

Why am I not suprised this is the 2nd time.

[QC]

11. Exactly. Someone should post this in the "what is class" thread,

because it gets at the whole class thing in a very gritty way.

Poor people are worth less than more affluent people.

And this kind of shit goes on all the time. There were 5,900 workplace fatalities in 2001, equivalent to almost two World Trade Center attacks, and most of those killed were in low-pay, blue-collar jobs. Yet we seldom hear anything about this, because the people involved have no media voice.

[ikojo]

6. I have a friend who works for OSHA and is one

of the folks who follows up when someone has died on the job. She said it is horrendous how much industry is allowed to get by with. There basically are few options available to OSHA when it comes to fining employers. When employers are fined it is very little compared to the loss of a life.

OSHA is one of the government departments the pugs would love to see eliminated.

[RBHam]

8. no, they just want to denude it of power

keeping it as a department for appearance's sakes.

"We care about our workers!" = "Screw you!"

Orwellian.

[cornermouse]

9. If you want fines to stop them, the fines will have to be

large enough to hurt the employer's profit. That's the only thing that they notice.

[baldguy]

10. OSHA fines are factored in as the "cost of doing business".

Unless the "cost of doing business" cuts into thier PROFITS, fines will do nothing to protect workers.

[Nikia]

12. Someone should be personally fined and go to jail

The boss who purposly cut corners should be charged with manslaughter. Maybe if people were personally responsible, they would make decisions differently.
If we insist on simply punishing the company with fines. It should not only be a violation fine but a large sum paid to the victim's family. One of my old paper carrier boss's husband was killed in a workplace accident that was caused by a repeat OSHAA violation on behalf of the workplace. Her lawyer encouraged her to sue for 12 million. Many people thought that was excessive. If a compnay knows about a severe safety hazard that could result in death and does nothing, they are killers and should be treated as such.

[dove2]

13. if anyone has any publishing contacts

I would like to know. My book, "Why Is this Job Killing Me?" was discontinued by Dell Publishing house and the rights have reverted back to me. If I could find another publisher maybe these stories could get out to the public. Some copies of the book are still available on amazon.com

[diamond14]

14. bush* has gutted OSHA....bush* policies KILL people...OSHA

is ALWAYS gutted out under any cheap-labor-conservative....

reaguns did the exact same thing that bush* is doing....just refuse to enforce the laws...make it easy for companies to get away with KILLING employees...no problem...just a little fine...no big deal....

if you want this to stop...BOOT BUSH in 2004...send shrub back to his pig farm...

bush* has demolished any regulations in America...workers' safety, safe drinking water, clean air...none of OUR regulations are enforced under shrub....shrub just doesn't care if YOU or your children DIE...it's just of no interest to shrub....