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Deterring Death in the Workplace: The Prosecutor's Perspective

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2021

Ira Reiner  and
Jan Chatten-Brown
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Extract

In 1970, when Congress was debating the Occupational Safety and Health Act, it was argued that:

The problem of assuring safe and healthful workplaces for our working men and women ranks in importance with any that engages the national attengion today …

Congress cited some grim statistics necessitating vigorous action:

… 14,500 persons are killed annually as a result of industrial accidents … more than in the Vietnam war. By the lowest count, 2.2 million persons are disabled on the job each year, resulting in the loss of 2 15 million man days of work …

The human tragedy associated with the loss of lives, adverse health impacts, and serious injuries were the focus of legislative hearings, but Congess also addressed the economic impact of industrial deaths and disability.

Over $1.5 billion is wasted in loss of wages, and the annual loss to the gross national product is estimated to be over $8 billion.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , Spring 1989 , pp. 23 - 31
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1989

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