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Is Your Job Killing You? page 2 of 5 | |||||
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A Safety Survival Survey |
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Jim Young | |||
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Yet it's a largely unpublicized epidemic, probably because these accidents happen to regular working folks--food service workers, data entry staff, construction workers--not to investment bankers and developers. When a scaffold collapses and a window washer falls to his death, which happened across the street from my New York City office this summer, people shrug
it off and say, well, the worker assumes the risk--even though employers are legally required to maintain safe workplaces. Turns out, bosses are rarely held responsible for such incidents.
But that's just one reason why it's so attractive for head honchos to look the other way when it comes to workplace safety. For starters, the boss doesn't pay for injuries and illnesses, we do. Most employers know it's cheaper to buy workers' comp insurance--which is required by law--and pass other costs to injured workers and consumers than to fix hazards. Others opt to buy no comp insurance at all, knowing full-well that some workers will be injured or made sick. There's not much risk of being caught for such a violation and the penalties are paltry. When it comes to the bottom line, it's cheaper to replace workers than unsafe machinery or inadequate work stations. Bad bosses don't get busted because OSHA faces a nearly impossible task. There are nearly 7 million private-sector workplaces in the country, But OSHA is armed with only 2,100 people to inspect them. |
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