Workers say safety is a major concern
About 85 percent of workers rate workplace safety first among labor standards they care about, above maternity leave, overtime pay and paid sick days, according to a study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.
The study aimed to see what workers think about workplace safety issues. It looked at dozens of other studies from 2001 to 2010 done by the center and was conducted for the Public Welfare Foundation, which has a workers’ rights program.
The study found that workers’ concern about safety was, not surprisingly, heightened after an accident such as the BP oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. Yet, the interest also often quickly waned among workers and the media.
But given the level of concern about safety in general, officials at the foundation said that it should be a higher priority for government and employers.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported last month that the number of workers who died on the job last year fell 17 percent from 2008 but workers also put in fewer hours during the recession. And workplace injuries are still high. Another study for the foundation found about 12 percent of workers reported an injury while on the job in the past year and 37 percent said they have needed medical care at while working.
And while the new study found most workers say they are satisfied with safety conditions at work, they report a lot of stress, which could contribute to injury. A separate 2006 study for the foundation showed 13 percent of workers find their jobs always stressful, and 21 percent find it often stressful.
So, is your work more dangerous than it should be? Have you been hurt? You think safety is the highest concern?
Associated Press photo of Deepwater Horizon oil rig burning
Comments
What the Foundation should have asked is how many workers routinely ignore employer safety policies. Everyday I visit construction sites where hard hats, safety vests, and steel toed shoes are required by the employer and find the employees in violation of atleast one and most times all three rules. We have no smoking rules. Ignored. No cell phone use while driving. Ignored. Where my daughter works there are rules for the research labs like no eating, no drinking, safety glasses required, and proper disposal of waste. All ignored. Then someone gets hurt and here comes the government fining the employer because the employees refuse to use company issued safety equipmentand and refuse to follow the saftey guidelines.
Here are some secrets that the government, the Foundation and you need to know. Certain jobs are dangerous. Accidents are very expensive for companies. Owners spend millions of dollars on safety training and equipment but unless the employees use the equipment and put the training to work accidents will continue no matter what the government does.
Posted by: Mark | September 7, 2010 12:10 PM