The Utah Mine Disaster: A Teachable Moment About Workplace Safety

Before the hordes of reporters move on from the Crandall Canyon Mine disaster, taking their note pads, satellite trucks, and the nation's attention with them, we should seize the opportunity to turn this tragedy into a teachable moment -- one that will allow us to look beyond the tragedy in Utah and the dreadful safety record of the mining industry, and focus on the larger issue of worker safety.

During the Bush administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency meant to oversee workplace safety, has been more intent on providing protection to employers than workers -- eliminating dozens of safety regulations since 2001.

"The people at OSHA have no interest in running a regulatory agency," said Dr. David Michaels, a George Washington University expert on workplace safety. "The concern about protecting workers has gone out the window."

Peg Seminario, director of occupational safety and health at the AFL-CIO, agrees: "They've simply gotten out of the standard-setting business in favor of industry partnerships that have no teeth."

Indeed, over the six and a half years Bush has been president, OSHA has imposed only one major safety rule, and has reduced the categories of recognized workplace injuries. Nevertheless, in 2005, the last year government statistics are available, 4.2 million workers were injured or became ill from on the job causes. And more than 6,800 workers died from workplace injuries.

Yet we rarely hear much about worker safety -- until high-profile deaths like the ones in Utah put the well being of American workers into the media spotlight. Why does it take a tragedy to grab our attention -- and for our government to pass and enforce worker safety laws?

The unsettling reason hangs over the Utah mine cave-in like a cloud of coal dust: as I detailed on Monday, more and more frequently, federal regulatory agencies are being used as a payback mechanism for rewarding major political donors, with industry hacks given key government positions not because they are the best people to protect the public interest but because they are willing to protect the very industries they are meant to supervise.

That's what has happened with OSHA, which is under the leadership of Edwin Foulke, a lawyer with a long history of open hostility to health and safety regulations. Earlier in his career, while serving as chairman of the federal agency that hears appeals from companies cited by OSHA, Foulke led a successful effort to weaken OSHA's enforcement power. With Foulke now in charge of his former target, OSHA has, not surprisingly, issued fewer significant standards than any time in its history.

Foulke's agency is charged with overseeing regulation of the transportation, agribusiness, and constructions industries -- powerful interests that have together contributed more than $630 million since 2000, with over $450 million of that going to the GOP.

Foulke and Richard Stickler, the fox Bush has guarding the mining industry henhouse, might as well have been presented to the GOP's big money backers with a ribbon around their heads, like the proper gift they were.

And in the Bush years you can find such overly cozy relationships between regulators and those they regulate throughout the government.

The Food and Drug Administration, for example, has long been under the thumb of the very pharmaceutical companies it is supposed to oversee. This dysfunctional dynamic has proved especially deadly, with numerous drugs being pulled off the market after causing multiple deaths and serious injuries in patients.

Following the money once again, we see that Big Pharma spent over $170 million on lobbying in 2006, and has contributed over $66 million to federal candidates since 2002, with over $46 million of it going to Republicans.

In return, the Bush administration has served up FDA commissioners like Lester Crawford who was forced to resign after failing to disclose that he owned stock in companies regulated by his agency, and current FDA commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, a vocal supporter of faster drug approvals.

The Bush administration has also given back to big business interests by taking away: the FDA is conducting only half the food inspections it was doing in 2003, and safety-testing of U.S.-produced food has dropped nearly 75 percent since 2003. This despite an upswing in highly publicized food recalls and outbreaks of food poisoning. And with more and more of our food coming from other countries, how does it make you feel to know that just 1.3 percent of food imports were physically examined by FDA inspectors in 2006?

The bracing truth is that we now have a regulatory system in which corporate greed, political timidity, and a culture of cronyism are the order of the day.

It was announced today that after Labor Day, the Senate will hold hearings on the Utah Mine disaster. And, in the House, Reps. Lynn Woolsey and George Miller have promised a probe into the Utah disaster and its aftermath. Such congressional investigations are essential. But they need to focus on more than what happened at Crandall Canyon Mine - and even on more than just mine safety. They should also focus on exposing all the reasons in our political system that make it so easy for the health and safety of U.S. workers and consumers to be reduced to an afterthought - -moved to the front burner only when tragedy strikes. And then only for a short while.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[aura39]

Having been injured on the job I know what a farce safety of the worker is. It has long been my belief that the people who responsible for safety should be tried as criminals and sent to places like Attica and Sing Sing; forget the fines they are a joke. Personally, if some fool caused the death of a member of my family the rules would go out the window. Rules only apply to the public not the people who make them. There's a lot to say for an eye for an eye.

[TimeToThink]

Yes workers are exploited badly now as they were in the day of the old Robber Barons. Er... this is news?

Yes, Federal agencies are mostly led by hacks that do only the admnistration's political will. Er... THAT is news??

Yes, it's all about money and power. You CAN'T believe THAT is news!!??

Look people, they way to resurgence of the Republic is not through complaining or getting it off your chest only. How many of you have done anything really meaningful for America and it's government other than maybe vote and write here? You do not do much educating preaching to the choir, though that's ok. ACT!!!!

'We have met the enemy and they are us'...

[TimeToThink]

Sorry for the typos. Sure wish there was a spell checker here.

[yellowdogSC]

I think most of us route our text through a word precessor.

That way we get gramor and spellin chackers.

[Egbert]

One of the issues here is that corporations can and do put a price tag on human life, and they've been allowed to create an environment that makes life pretty cheap.

In risk management, one of the job functions is to assess the cost to the business of safety incidents involving employees -- everything from a scratch requiring a bandaid to a fatality. After assigning a cost to each life, and assessing the cost of different disaster scenarios, companies then put into place the appropriate measures to limit those risks and avoid those costs.

Remember, risk management isn't safety management. It's about reducing financial risk to the business.

There are times when companies decide that some costs outweigh the cost of human life, and build acceptable death into their disaster scenario. This happens everywhere, and it's a part of business.

What we need to see from the media is a discussion about the business cost of human life -- at what point is it better to let someone die than to lose expensive equipment or a building? In the case of the Utah mine disaster, where does the cost of implementing safety exceed the potential benefit of cost saving from lost human lives?

The most curious part about this whole area is that the "Pro Life" Bush administration are the ones leading the charge to financially devalue human life. We see it at home in their efforts to gut safety and environmental regulations, and we obviously see it in Iraq with civillian and military casualties.

It's time for the media to stop treating Americans like children and talking about the Utah mine disaster like it's a human interest story. This is a business story. What are the real dollars involved in this, and what were the financial considerations that led to the lapse in safety in Utah?

[racetoinfinity]

See the book and the movie "The Corporation" for why corporations are inherently cruel. They are given the rights of persons, but, by their very nature, their only value is the bottom line. Unless they are humanized by management or government, it is their very nature to treat people like commodities.

[racetoinfinity]

....and I meant to add "humanized by unions with real power", also to the above.

[Cybershaman]

When the 'personell' department became 'human resources (the impersonell department)' I saw it as the dehumanization and objectification of the worker. And that is exactly what it has been. We are wage slaves.

[bronceye]

I am currently a disabled hardrock miner who spent 34 yrs. working in mines and tunnel projects. I worked many, many jobs and mines and upon reflection, I can tell you that the only "safe" mines or projects were Union mines and projects. You had someone to report unsafe conditions to and it would be dutifully adjudicated. In non-union projects, you could complain (there are/were federal laws in place to allow this-"Miner's Rights") Like soldiers going to jail for obeying unlawful orders, a miner would be sent to the unemployment office. Non union mines are now and always will be unsafe. Go tell it on the mountain.

[QuestionReality]

Everyone is looking right past the giant pink elephant in the room: If the safety managers/engineers are employed by the same corporation who makes profits by cutting corners, how much authority do you think they are given?

My friend is an experienced, well respected safety manager in the environmental cleanup field. He was working for a subcontractor for a subcontractor (+ a few "for a subcontractor" 's) for the Dept of Energy. The long and the short is that though he couldn't get the paperwork until after work had been going on for some time, he was ASSURED by the main contractor (BJC) that it was safe without protective equipment. When he was finally able to get the copy of that report, he saw that the last asbestos count taken was 10 yrs previously, when the building was dormant. He immediately had a new count done. It showed VERY HIGH LEVELS of airborne asbestos fibers. (FYI - Asbestos isn't dangerous sitting in an undisturbed pile... it's dangerous when it gets airborne and in your lungs.) He ordered a stop work.

The end result is that Bechtel Jacobs Company, switched the issue to 'what gave HIM the authority to order a new report' as opposed to the obvious, 'why BJC had willingly exposed their workers, and the other subcontractors' workers anyway... even AFTER SHOWN THE CURRENT COUNTS?!'. And, as in any political drama, the real question was never addressed. My friend raised enough of a stink about their "safety" policies (all they way to DOE, who never further investigated) that he REALLY pissed them off, was labeled a troublemaker & removed from all BJC sites & effectively black-balled from the industry in the area!

If we want to keep our workers protected, it really comes down to the safety people on the site. And if they are being encouraged to cut corners (my friend is in the private sector now, and they are), then the tiger has no teeth and no one is safe!

[MarineJourdan]

Hi Arianna:

I know what it's like to be injured from non regulatory standards. I had a stroke and lost my left eye after taing a weight loss supplement containing Ephedra. Had there been safety regulations and responsibilities in not only products, workplace and all industries where public safety is key, so many people, like I, would not suffer irreversible injuries, body function loss or worse, death.

This world is very big and a mass of problems happens every minute of each day. However, holding the regulatory agencies who are in place to take care of public safety, responsible and accountable for the wrong doings and lack of performance by its staff, including the executive level. The executive level in particular, if not doing what they are appointed to do, should be removed and if need be, put on trial if their lack of performance creates dangerous conditions, injuries and fatalities.

This is such a large issue and as long as we have people like you Arianna, who tell the truth and who the world listens to, hopfully, it can be enough to bring attention to what needs to be done. Furthermore, for the record, I'd like to say, even though Arianna did not win the election as Governor of California, she would have made a great one and I certainly appreciate her views and fearlessness in telling the truth.

Rev. Marine Jourdan
www.marinejourdan.com

[MixedContent]

Ephedra, or Ma Huang, is a Chinese Medical herb used in cold remedies. I agree that it should have been illegal all along to package and advertise it for use as a weight-loss aid. But the attempt to keep it entirely off the market is misguided. There are plenty of substances out there in over-the-counter (non-prescription) products which, if misrepresented and given in improper dosages can cause serious problems.

Regulation can be done well or badly. We need to require of our government that it be done well.

[booker52]

This White House cares nothing for employees and their safety. It's big business and employers too hell with the employees. Look at how many miners have died in the past 6 years compared to the previous years under Clinton, none!!! Rules changed under Bu$h and his buddies!

[Mariel]

America has undercut unions for decades now.

This problem is similar to the situation of industry and commerce in the late l800's, when unions were illegal but growing in power. My grandfather went to jail with Eugene Debs because he was an officer of the American Railway Union, which had dared to strike the railways. My grandfather was later killed in a railway accident, leaving a widow and six children, the youngest of them two years old. There were no benefits for survivors in those days. The whole family old enough to work went to work, but the boys refused to go down in the Butte mines.

Instead, they came to Seattle and went to work in the fire department, where one of them was disabled for life in the Frye Hotel Fire. The other boy went on to become a Fire Department Training Captain. Safety was a prime concern for everyone then. It became a time of hope, not a time where profits came first.

But we are back to the l9th century mentality under the Neocons. They are not Neo, they are retrograde.

[newjerseybadger]

Arianna, I have to take one exception with what you say, and it's not about the mines. The FDA has prevented a lot of bad drugs from reaching market by requiring thorough review, and that's fine as far as it goes... but I'm with the FDA head on there needing to be a way to get drugs to market faster (and cheaper) -- the current estimated cost to bring any new drug to market is about $150 million (sorry, don't remember the source). That prevents smaller companies from competing and contributes to the dominance of Big Pharma, and it translates to more pain for everyone's pocketbooks, including those of us who _need_ medication for things like depression, heart conditions, and diabetes (just to name three that I personally know about).

We need a better, cheaper process to identify effective drugs, so they can get to people who need them without bankrupting the patients.

[sparafucilli]

"In the corporate world, sometimes things aren't exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures." ..George W. Bush

The above quote was George's response to questions about some of his shady Harken stock dealings. Such is the underlying philosophy of the man at the top. So it should be no surprise when his minions implement this philosophy on a national scale. Unfortunately it's lives that are at stake now and not portfolios.

[NotMyPrez]

Arianna,

As erudite as always but your are preaching to the choir. We all know these are object lessons, but the people who need to be learning from these have been cutting class and taking long "recesses".
Katrina, Iraq, Utah, Plamegate, FISA....

Heckuva 6 year record.

Bush's report card reads not so much as a grade report but a rap sheet.

[daddysboy]

Yes, we should all concern ourselves with the dismantling of regulation and it's aftermath because there is a high profile case currently circulating through the tabloids. Just like we should still be worrying about school gun violence and prescription anti-depressants , mismanaged flood control gates and badly structured emergency response agencies and (how far back should I go?). It is the very purpose of government to manage these kinds of things and that is why we should stop getting people that hate government like bush and his friends elected. I think anyone that ever utters the phrase 'no new taxes' for say the next 15 years should be shipped to Iraq to help with cleanup and reconstruction. We don't need any new reminders of just how contemptuously our government (and it's people) is held by these greedy tryrants.

[darcy]

I have two comments that will probably get me in trouble with other commenters: First, we all have to learn to use our common sense on the job and in life. Can someone explain to me why anyone would choose to work in a mine, especially one owned by a company with a poor safety record? If a company couldn't hire workers because the workers were too smart to work in unsafe conditions, the company would make the conditions safe.

Second comment: The non-college-educated workers of America (especially male workers) better wise up and stop voting Republican if they want better working conditions and better pay. If they continue to vote against their own self-interest, how can anyone help them?

[yellowdogSC]

dar,

Men with small children to feed, and no other options, look at logic second.

Wouldn't you?

[HOORGANVISOR]

Since we could have had advanced mining equipment replacing miners years ago, we can't blame just certain people for the deaths. There are the coal companies that don't want to use the equipment that could save them billions of dollars and make them billions of more in profit. There are the workers that like the high pay. Then there are the unions that lobby politicians to prevent the better equipment from bing used that would put hundreds or thousands of their members out of work. It all comes down to greed except I don't understand why the companies that could make billions more using better and more efficient equipment don't opt for it. It could be the unions that oppose it in favor of endangering coal miners that are mainly to blame. And since unions support Democrats, maybe we should throw them in too with Harry Byrd, a Senator from a coal mining state, thrown into the mix of blame.

[Cybershaman]

And furthermore, the average American worker has been literally 'downsized' to death. We are bewing forced to carry the workloads that four poeple used to carry and this is having a devestating effect on our health. As we are forced to tkae mutiple prescriptions to keep giong our health care costs are skewed by prescription drug discounts eating up the lions share of the health care dollar. We are being forced to compete with virtual slave labor overseas.
This vicious circle is now costing the business community and they are backing out of employer supplied healthcare at an astounding rate. The pyramid is not crumbling, it is being disassembled at the bottom and reassembled upside down. This is not a stable structure. I suspect that the real agenda is to work us to death before we reach retirement age so our retirement savings can be stolen (if they haven't been stolen already by upper management).