Protect the People

It is not uncommon for HPR to get an email or a call from one of our readers criss-crossing the state when he witnesses unsafe work practices that can and do cost lives.

He then complains that employers are slacking off because they know there are not enough safety inspectors for them to worry about. Cutting corners to save bucks, not lives.

When there are workplace deaths, he forecasts what will unfold: An investigation. Fines assessed. And later those assessed fines drastically reduced.

After a local work-related fatal accident in F-M not very long ago, another reader told HPR that that accident was everything but an accident. He was there. He cited five mandatory safety measures that were not implemented. Any one of the five measures would have prevented that particular workplace death, he declared.

OSHA fined the company and later on, as we recall, that fine was cut in half.

We never heard if the family - the young mom and children - got any settlement.

We never saw anyone question if it was anything but an accident. Media reports were consistent.

Bear in mind, when construction projects are scheduled and financed, they build in anticipated costs for work injuries and deaths. It’s part of the formula.

So when federal data released this week ranks North Dakota sixth nationally in workplace deaths, we should pay attention. The federal report says North Dakota had 8.7 workplace fatalities in 2006 per 100,000, more than twice as high as the average in the country, which was 4.0 per 100,000; that it translated into 31 deaths here in 2006, up from 22 in 2005, 24 in 2004, 26 in 2003, and 25 in both 2002 and 2001.

According to the report, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” released by the AFL-CIO (a must-read document), North Dakota had 335,718 employees in 2006, working for 24,950 establishments. Federal OSHA programs are not followed in ND. There are 54,138 state and local employees in ND not covered by OSHA.

Seven - we repeat - seven workplace and safety inspectors currently work in ND.

In 2007, only 144 construction workplace safety and health inspections were conducted. Non-construction inspections numbered 114. The average penalty assessed for serious violations in 2007 was $737, compared to the national average of $909.

Were OSHA to inspect each workplace in North Dakota just once, it would take 90 years.

North Dakota has a serious situation with its Workforce Safety Insurance (WSI) fiasco. Nevertheless, politics aside, why is WSI’s focus not more on loss prevention? The billion-dollar surplus could be used for safety as well as compensation for injuries sustained on the job, one would think?

North Dakota’s state surplus itself, also approaching a billion dollars, poses opportunities for the state to improve workplace safety, minimizing injury and death. If we want.

It is unacceptable to have twice as many workplace deaths as the rest of the country. Businesses allowing lax safety practices should be penalized enough so that they never ever again put employees at risk to save a buck or two.
It is unacceptable to have the sixth highest workplace death rate in the country.

The pendulum needs to swing back in this notorious right-to-work state so that rights of workers are what matters. People first, bottom lines second. On practically every workplace safety and fair compensation front, the workers in North Dakota take a back seat to big business.

North Dakota leadership owes its people—its workers—respect, honor and protection. Otherwise, the people need new leadership.