‘Zero Tolerance’ on Workplace Slaughter?

from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:



‘Zero Tolerance’ on Workplace Slaughter?
April 10, 2010

Windfall rewards give CEOs an incentive to put worker lives at risk. To see all workers safe, our most recent mining tragedy reminds us, maybe we need to end those windfalls.

By Sam Pizzigati


In a perverse sort of way, CEOs like Don Blankenship, the chief executive at Massey Energy, the owner of the West Virginia mine where 29 coal miners died last week, perform a vital public service. They lay bare, with their brutal behavior and chilling candor, just how deadly our current corporate order can be.

Before last week, at least outside West Virginia, Blankenship toiled in relative obscurity. That would suddenly change once reporters, after the explosion at Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine, asked the CEO about the mine’s long history of safety violations. Americans the nation over shuddered at his response.

“Violations,” the Massey chief unapologetically pronounced, “are unfortunately a normal part of the mining process.”

At Upper Big Branch, we soon learned, “normal” meant plentiful. Mine safety officials last year cited the mine for over 500 violations — and 53 more just last month. In the two months before Monday’s blast, the mine’s methane levels had run so dangerously high that miners had to evacuate three separate times.

Overall, adds the Washington Post, “significant” safety violations at Upper Big Branch have been running “11 times the national average.” ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://toomuchonline.org/how-about-some-zero-tolerance-on-workplace-slaughter/