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.

Comments

[ozarkhobo]

Dear Arianna: Good article. Courageous. But, I think many of us already knew Bushit would get whatever and whomever he wanted to pillage and plunder. In follow-up stories include the complicity of those alleged lawmakers who give the o-k to these political appointments.It's all so cozy. A good place to begin would be the Senators from MO at the time, namely Bond and Tenant. Bond is still there. Tenant finally got his last year. However, he's now a lobbiest somewhere. God. It never ends.

[splashy]

This is the philosophy of "let the market decide" run amok, where the sociopathic monopolistic corporatists decide what we will eat, wear, live in, and the kind of conditions we will work in.

The results are obvious, with more and more getting sick and dying, so the corporatists can make more profit.

[Thegraybaldeagle]

The writer is on target with regard to the Bush Administration's effort to cut back on the safety of the working people in the country. I worked in the "hard rock" mining industry for 38 years until 1992 when I retired. Three and a half years of that was in the Safety Dept. of a copper mining operation. The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) covered the extraction of ores both in open pits and underground mines. The inspectors came onto the property unnanounced and performed their inspections regularly. We, in the Safety Depts. accompanied them. They were thorough and wrote up violations when there were some and following inspections, held a meeting with mine officials and discussed the citations and made recommendations to correct them and we were given a deadline to do so.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration was a different entity than MSHA but both had the responsibility to keep work areas safe for the workers. MSHA covered the mine extraction and processing of the ore while OSHA was responsible for the surface operations such as gravel pits, refineries and the like.

The point is that it appears that the frequency of inspections and followup seems to have fallen over the years. I cannot prove that since I have been retired, but I can say that those two agencies did a good job of keeping employers in line while I was actively involved.
An effort must be made to get the agencies back oon track if, in fact, they are lacking.

[Janelynne]

I think the question for America is, what kind of country do we want to be. I think if the Democrats can answer that, they can change who we have become.

[onthelake]

Please, please, please run a list of all the political contributions Mr. Murray has made during the 8 years. I checked on his contributions to my congressman, Steve LaTourette, OH 14, and found that Murray had contributed thousands to him alone. LaTourette is also closely tied to First Energy (yes, the same corporation that was responsible for the great American blackout a few years past). LaTOurette has spent 14 years in Congress and it seems the only result is his huge campaign war chest. He's simply taken the money and looked the other way on safety and energy issues.

[Bleubeard]

Anyone under forty who claims that unions are bad for this country, needs to go back to school. Yes, there are problems with unions. But, since Reagan fired the air-traffi­c-controll­ers, union-bashing has become not only acceptable, but also an integral plank in the GOP's platform.
The middle-class was established by workers joining unions. Look at what we have now. No unions (with any real teeth) ---- no middle-class.
People annually earning 200K+ have the right (and indeed an obligation) to vote for the GOP. But, anyone earning less than that have an obligation (and indeed the right_) to vote either independent or Democratic. If you are in the latter category and are voting Republican, you have no one else to blame but yourself.

[ohboy]

Ms. Huffington, the answer to your rhetorical questions are all in Billy Wilder's ACE IN THE HOLE with Kirk Douglas. The fact that Americans don't give a crap about labor, or miners in particular, but have no problem engaging in self-absorbed pity parties through the suffering of others was obvious to Wilder, and has long been known as one of the defining characteristics of this sorry, selfish and self-deluded culture we call Home of Brave. The media is smart enough to know that, and you're part of the media, so what gives?

[bigbear]

For twenty five years I have tried to get the truth out and the truth is much,much worse than you know! There are cures that will never see the light of day becuse there is no money in cures. Corps. do what is best for thier bottom line not what is best for the people.

[calibpatriot]

As bad as the Bush administration's ignoring workers' safety regulations at the Crandall Mines in Utah has been along with its wink and nod at the violators this is only symptomatic of the sick pattern of contempt shown to the workers and the "have-nots" in our country.

This pattern is, among other things, reflected in the Katrina disaster, the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, the major failure of the infrastructure in the major damage being caused by the Mid West flooding, Bush's continuous denial that the industrial polluters bear any responsibility for global warming and Bush's current threat to veto a bill to provide financial health assistance for children in low income families.

I have no doubts that when the historians in the future sort out the pros and cons of this administratio they will call it the worse in American history with no close seconds.

[chinohillster]

In my current line of work (Database Administra­tor/System­s Administrator), I've been somewhat ambivalent about unions, as I'm not quite sure how a DBA union would work, and being blessed with a relatively portable, in-demand skill - I'm treated and compensated fairly well (however, being an exempt employee, I work a LOT of unpaid overtime...)

However, my very first job was as a clerk for Conrail, and I was in the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks. One day, I was taking freight car numbers in the yard for the yardmaster, and I tripped and cut myself badly on an old rail. I didn't think too much of it until the union shop foreman saw my arm, heard what had happened, and DEMANDED that Conrail send me to the local hospital for an examination and a tetanus shot - which they did. I was very young, and kind of scared of making any waves - I really appreciated this man standing up for
me.

It could be argued that this was his JOB, but I was still appreciative - a "Big Stick" is needed (money, influence or a union) for the average worker to have a chance!

[nowaterboardUSA]

Don't take this is flippant, but the old adage of "you can't legislate morality" comes to mind. I doesn't mean we shouldn't have rules, regs, enforcement and all that. What this adage has always meant to me is that all rules, laws, etc are only as good as the morality and goodness of the people making them and living with them. If people want to be immoral and inhumane, they can figure away around almost any rule or law. Unfortunately, we live in a world (not just the US) that values money over humanity. It is sad but true as Metallica once sang.

[StopThePlanet]

Accidents like these are why corporations are so bent on tort reform. They want to limit the amounts that can be paid in lawsuits so not only will they be unregulated, they won't have to pay for their greed and indifference either. Basically the want their cake and eat it too and the rest of us be damned.

[esl]

Indiana Congressman Brad Ellsworth is going to propose legislation which will change the cost of health and safety regulations imposed by the government from 50% paid by the companies and 50% by government to 100% cost to the taxpayers. He says the mine owners really want safety measures but they just can't afford them. So, he thinks while the mine owners enjoy their high profits that the workers who toil underground in those mines and the rest of the middle class taxpayers should pay for their own safety in the workplace. I expect Mr. Ellsworth will be getting some invitations to those big soirees the rich throw to reward the peans who enable them to get richer on the backs of workers. You can read all about this in the Evansville Courier, 08/24/2007.

[Bocababs]

I agree with you Arianna....you only have to look at the bridge disaster in Minnesota to know how fast the safety issues start leaving the forefront of all of our thoughts after a week or so goes by.

[roxanne90]

We need to get issues of worker safety, and unions back into the American consciousness...and who better to do that than entertainment media. For a great flick about mining and unions check out John Sayles' Matewan.