Safety

Safety Management Challenges: History and Program Issues

The question is: Why do workers continue to get injured on the job despite federal standards interjecting?

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Before 1911 (when the first state enacted a workers compensation law), organizations cared little or not at all when it came to work-related accidents and injuries. Many progressive states enacted workers compensation laws in the second decade of the last century, with others slowly getting on board until the last state did so in 1948. The workers compensation laws require organizations to purchase insurance so that injured workers received medical care as well as some compensation during their recovery and possibly beyond. Because this caused businesses to indirectly have to pay for worker injuries, they started looking for ways to eliminate or reduce the injury risks associated with their production work.

In spite of organization’s best efforts, injuries and fatalities still occurred but at a somewhat reduced rate. After about half a century of this state of affairs, public sentiment and a few other factors caused the federal government to pass the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970. OSHA developed safety standards with which businesses were obligated to comply. The new agency also had the authority to levy fines and penalties if it determined that organizations failed to maintain “safe” operations. This again refocused many organizations to adopt safety programs and try to further reduce worker accidents. To some extent, they managed to reduce injuries and fatalities, but even now, 50 years later, the results are far from stellar.

Safety General Practices

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks and reports on occupational injuries and fatalities, reported (the latest year for which data is available is 2018) worker injuries at more than 2.8 million and fatalities at more than 2,550 for that year. There probably are a significant number of minor injuries for which reporting is not required, and, of course, there are “near misses” that, but for luck, did not result in an injury, as well. So, in spite of all these efforts, workers still get injured and suffer, with some even dying at work.

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