OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) and federal mine safety laws were the result of workers and their unions fighting for changes and demanding action from employers and government. These are proud achievements, but they require continued commitment

 by Fran Ansley and Walter Davis, members of Jobs With Justice of East Tennessee
Two men died on the Henley Street Bridge Project this year. Two workers with families gave their lives doing difficult labor necessary to benefit the people of Knoxville and East Tennessee. Their deaths raise many questions.

One is how the employer, Britton Bridge LLC handled safety on the job. Another is the performance of public agencies charged with monitoring safety. Did Britton put expediency and profit ahead of worker safety in bids and conduct of the work? Did the state and federal authorities with responsibilities to this project properly assess bids and monitor and enforce rules and guidelines? After the first death, in January, the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) investigated, imposing a “big” fine of $16,000. Now a second man has died.
What value will be placed on these lives?

Did contract terms force fatal risk onto the shoulders of workers themselves? Did regulators look away because of insufficient will to enforce safe practices, or were resources and authority inadequate to the task? When two lives can be lost on a highly visible project like this, a stone's throw from the heart of our city, what does it say about conditions for workers in our state and about community priorities?

Right now in Congress, efforts are underway to block and roll back basic protections and slash the job safety budget. In Tennessee, the number of TOSHA inspectors is so low, they would need some 68 years to inspect every covered workplace even once. Unwise cost-cutting means too many public contracts in this state are awarded without adequate attention to the safety and well-being of those who will be hired to carry them out.

Basic regard for the value of human life requires that we take this tragic occasion as a mandate to improve job safety. Instead, a foolish distraction now threatens that course. The News-Sentinel and others have raised questions about the national origin of project workers. Predictably, the issue of safe working conditions is now submerged behind this diversion. Blaming immigrants for conditions that are the responsibility of employers and of the state is a dangerous game that Tennesseans should reject. What we need is vigorous transparent investigation of working conditions on the bridge and why these deaths occurred.

The Henley Bridge is a public service, funded by the taxes we all pay. We have a right to know that safety is not disregarded in a rush to cut costs or beat deadlines.
Tennesseans want working conditions to be as safe as reasonably possible for all who labor. Otherwise, none of us are secure as workers or as those who use the services and structures produced. Safe jobs save lives. Unsafe working conditions injure and kill workers. In 2009 4430 employees died on the job in our country, and 50,000 died from occupational diseases. This is not the time for Congress, the State of Tennessee or local officials to cut back on workplace health and safety. Where are the voices of our elected officials in support of safety on the job?

This year is the 40th anniversary of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA). Workplace safety is directly related to the enforcement of regulations. Injuries and deaths decline where rules are enforced and monitored, and when all workers on a job are well trained in safe practices, aware of their rights, and know they can report hazards without fear of retaliation.

The following article in the "Citiziens's Voice" section appeared in the June 25, 2011 Knoxville News-Sentinel. The article leads at the top of the B2 Comment page, an ediitorial section accessible to the public. The article appeared prominently in the printed newspaper. We provide it here since it is not available elsewhere on Internet.

“Bridge project deaths show need for worker safety”, Knoxville News-Sentinel, June 25, 2011