Indifference kills

Listen to the rumbling of an approaching presence. You sense that the presence is getting closer but you see nothing. Just before you scream you feel a clammy hand on your mouth...You have just been engulfed in the sea of indifference to worker safety and health.

Every year about 100 workers die because of injuries resulting from willful indifference to workplace danger such as a safety device that was removed to speed up production or a worker who was denied protective gear.

Over the two decades ending in 2002, a total of 1,242 deaths or injuries were investigated by OSHA and found to be the result of wilful violation of safety requirements. However, for 93 percent of these cases, OSHA decided not to seek prosecution. These cases included repeat offenders, violations that caused multiple deaths, and safety lapses that resulted in the death of teenagers.

At the corporate level, the ten largest businesses in the country accounted for 3,800 violations of safety regulations from 1982 to 2002, with an average fine of less than $500. Only 74 employers were prosecuted at the federal level, and only one employer spent jail time for an offense—for forty-five days.