INDUSTRIAL SAFETY: THE TOLL OF NEGLECT

FOR the 3,000 coal miners who assembled last week in Charleston, W. Va., it was an occasion for passing collection plates, singing protest songs and heaping scorn on mine operators. The miners, some of whom wore black arm bands inscribed with skull and crossbones, were demonstrating for protection against "black lung," a disease caused by inhaling coal dust that can lead to illness or death. A form of pneumoconiosis estimated to affect three-fourths of the nation's 135,000 coal workers, black lung has become an increasingly serious problem because modern power-operated mining machines churn up far more dust than old-fashioned picks and shovels. Says one United Mineworkers official: "It used to take a lifetime to get black lung. Now it takes only a few years. That's progress."

Public Apathy. Coal mining is by far the most hazardous occupation in the U.S., having killed one out of every 550 miners in 1968 alone. Lumbering, shipping and stevedoring, construction and quarrying also produce a disproportionate share of industrial deaths and injuries. The overall safety record of U.S. industry is far better than that of mining. Yet on-the-job accidents last year killed 14,000 and disabled 2,200,000 of the nation's 82 million workers. Another 5,000,000 suffered lesser work injuries or illnesses. Beyond the incalculable toll they took in pain and suffering, job-related accidents and ailments cost workers $1.5 billion in lost wages and deprived industry of $5 billion in production, an amount larger than the annual output of all but the eight biggest U.S. manufacturers.

That record is certainly an improvement over 50 years ago, when industrial accidents killed nearly twice as many people in a work force half the size of today's. Still, the push for occupational safety appears to have weakened in recent years. The number of deaths has stayed nearly the same since 1963, while disabling injuries have actually been on the increase. A number of other industrial nations pay more attention to safety and have better records to show for it. British fatalities in manufacturing run only half as high per man-hour as those in the U.S. In construction, the U.S. death rate is 30 times that in Belgium and The Netherlands, 50 times that in Poland. Japan, undergoing breakneck economic expansion, has adopted a comprehensive set of job-safety regulations, which are enforced by 2,000 government inspectors. As a result, industrial fatalities have declined by 11% in two years.

The U.S. has marshaled no such effort, in part because of public apathy. Indeed, it usually takes a disaster of the magnitude of last November's underground explosion near Farmington, W. Va., which resulted in the deaths of 78 coal miners, to attract serious attention to the problem of job safety at all. The great majority of on-the-job casualties occur in mundane fashion; and they usually happen one at a time.

The leading causes of injuries are falls and falling objects. Motor vehicles --whether tractors on the farm or forklift trucks within plant gates--account for the largest single category of fatalities. The number of deaths and disabilities caused by work-related illness is harder to gauge because the effects may not appear for years. Lamp-industry workers of the '40s are still dying from berylliosis, a lung disease brought on by exposure to beryllium, a lightweight metal used for coating fluorescent lighting tubes. Similarly, workers who inhale tiny, indestructible fibers of asbestos as they are blown into place for insulation can contract lung cancer more than two decades later. Dr. Irving J. Selikoff of Manhattan's Mount Sinai Hospital, an expert in asbestos-related illness, predicts that 40% of today's 36,000 insulation installers could eventually die of cancer as a result of their work.

Goats' Bladders. The industrial safety problem goes back to prehistoric man, who not only cut himself with axes while skinning bison but developed fatal anthrax from contact with the animal's hide. Roman metal workers wore face masks made from goats' bladders to protect themselves from dust and lead fumes. Recent technological advances have brought new hazards faster than old ones have been controlled. Manufacturers have long since stopped using mercury in the production of men's hats, thus eliminating the "hatter's shakes" disease that may well have accounted for the peculiar behavior of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland. Until the problem was brought under control recently, other garment workers faced a potential health danger from inhaling fumes from the formaldehyde contained in permanent-press fabrics. According to an official government compilation, U.S. workers are exposed to no fewer than 182 "hazardous agents," ranging from acetaldehyde (used in making mirrors) to zirconium compounds (used in manufacturing deodorants). Even secretaries who handle office duplicating machines may contract dermatitis, a skin inflammation caused by sensitivity to solvents and vapors, which has become the leading source of medical complaint in industry.

The unimpressive U.S. record of industrial safety arises mainly from neglect. The subject enjoys a low priority in a nation more concerned with war and peace, civil strife and inflation. Management and union indifference, split jurisdiction and bickering among enforcement agencies and gaps in protective laws all contribute to the problem. When it comes to establishing and enforcing safety standards, the Federal Government is largely limited to jobs under public contract. The Department of Transportation handles railroad safety. Conditions in the coal fields are the responsibility of the Interior Department's Bureau of Mines. Occupational safety researchers for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare test hearing losses suffered on the job, but can do nothing about muffling the excessive noise that can cause such losses. The U.S. Public Health Service is empowered to inspect toilets, but not machinery that may cause workers to become sick.

Accent on Game Wardens. That leaves regulation largely up to the states, which sometimes do little more than inspect industrial boilers and elevators. Oklahoma, Alabama and Missouri each employ at least eight game wardens for every safety inspector. State laxity in safety enforcement procedures is often blatantly political. Admits the chief safety inspector of one large industrial state: "Everybody who works for me has two bosses, myself and the politician who got him appointed."

The weakness of existing regulations shows clearly in the case of coal, mining. Though covered by more safety laws than almost any other industry, the mines continue to be plagued by accidents because of legal loopholes. Federal law empowers the government to close down a mine when enough methane gas or coal-dust particles accumulate to threaten an explosion. But the laws give the U.S. no authority to move against the health hazard inherent in excessive coal dust. Under Pennsylvania's exemplary occupational-disease benefits program, retired coal miners suffering from black lung receive $50 weekly up to a maximum of $12,500 and $75 a month thereafter for life. West Virginia, by contrast, makes no specific provision for payments to black lung victims.

States and industries that make a determined effort at accident prevention can point to impressive results. One Du Pont plant, for example, ran for 45 million man-hours without a disabling injury. U.S. Steel, the leader in an industry that has reduced accidents by 90% since the 1920s, shows workers a film that depicts the many ways that they can lose fingers through carelessness. Johns-Manville Corp., the nation's largest manufacturer of building products, has teamed with the Asbestos Workers union to finance efforts to reduce worker exposure to asbestos fibers. The automobile industry pushes hard for safety, with the result that it may be safer to work in an auto factory than to drive the finished product. General Motors instructs foremen to "talk about safety to two employees daily for at least five minutes each." To protect the fingers of stamping-press operators, Ford has designed the machines with twin controls widely spaced so that both hands are needed to operate them.

Something Sissified. Progressive companies often seem more interested in worker safety than many labor unions. Reflecting the preferences of their rank and file, unions have traditionally fought for extra pay for hazardous jobs rather than for safer work conditions. Often, unions intervene when companies try to discipline workers for safety violations. Whether out of ignorance, negligence or the feeling that there is something sissified about taking safety precautions, a surprising number of workers refuse to wear safety helmets and dust masks. The National Safety Council, composed of some 5,000 of the nation's largest companies, proudly notes that its members have three times as good a worker safety record as have nonmembers. The trouble is that only 0.1% of all U.S. manufacturers participate in its programs. Still, argues Roy G. Benson, manager of the council's industrial safety department: "This is a management rather than a regulatory problem. The biggest difficulty is worker education."

Many legislators and officials disagree. "We are all at fault--the employee, the employer and ourselves in government," says Esther Peterson, the Johnson Administration's Assistant Secretary of Labor for Standards. "I'm tired of this buck passing. It's time we did something together about all this." Congress may well enact new coal-mining legislation at this session, but passage of a more general industrial-safety law looks less likely. Last year the Johnson Administration pushed for legislation that would have empowered the Secretary of Labor to issue mandatory health and safety standards and to enforce them--to the point of closing down factories--if "imminent harm" was found to exist. The legislation died, in no small part because of vigorous industry objections. But similar bills have been introduced this year, including one co-sponsored by 34 members of the House. The Nixon Administration has yet to take a stand on the issue. Whatever its decision, it is evident that much of U.S. industry needs some sort of spur--economic, moral or legislative--to overcome its lethargy toward the physical dangers Americans face in the course of earning a living. The goal of improving individual safety is beyond dispute. Every month that the acrimonious debate drags on over how best to reach it, another 1,100 U.S. workers will die.

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