When a Virginia CEO was sentenced to a year of imprisonment after his company’s safety failures were found to have caused the deaths of 29 miners, the story made headlines. The story was newsworthy not because he got such a short sentence of one year for 29 deaths, but because it was so unusual for a CEO to face any type of criminal action as a result of a workplace fatality.
Usually, when a worker dies, a New York workers’ compensation law firm can help surviving family members to get benefits and OSHA may institute fines — but this will be the extent of the consequences. Fines and workers’ comp claims are, however, not a very good deterrent to encourage executives to actually take workplace fatality prevention seriously. Criminal prosecutions would send a much stronger message and criminal prosecution would be appropriate when intentional actions or gross negligence cause people to lose their lives.
More Criminal Prosecutions Should Result from Workplace Fatalities
Recently, an article in the Sacramento Bee explained the need for more criminal prosecutions after workplace deaths and provided some more details on why prosecutions are rare.
The problem is that prosecutors and the police usually see a workplace fatality as something accidental that just happened, not as something that took place as a result of a conscious decision not to implement safety features that could have stopped the accident from occurring. Prosecution of such cases often do not happen because the police don’t investigate the underlying cause and they typically don’t get the necessary evidence to bring cases.
One example of a situation where conscious choices led to a fatality occurred when a temporary worker went to work at an alcohol bottling plant. He was supposed to get comprehensive training, but instead, he got a 15-minute safety video. After a machine malfunctioned on his shift, he climbed underneath it to pick up glass from bottles which had broken due to the malfunction. He was killed when the machine started back up and crushed him to death. The only penalty was a $110,000 fine levied against the company by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. There were no criminal charges.
Workers’ rights advocates believe cases like this involve criminal activity and many are taking steps to change how cases like this one are handled. The Center for Progressive Reform has prepared a manual that groups can use to encourage local prosecutors to treat workplace fatality cases as potential crimes and facilitate investigations.
It remains unclear whether efforts to increase criminal prosecutions will ever yield results. Regardless of whether those responsible for fatalities are prosecuted or not, victims and their families need to know their rights. Rosenberg, Minc, Falkoff & Wolff, a workers’ compensation law firm, should be consulted by those hurt at work or by the families of those who have lost their lives.
