squeeful:

becauseforoncethisisme:

argon-co2:

lezzyharpy:

someonekilljeffbezos:

Everyone who says “it’s not in the interest of corporations to harm workers and customers” hasn’t heard of history or cost benefit analysis. Mass industrial slaughter (companies letting workers die because it’s more expensive to enforce safety standards) has killed thousands. The collapse of the Rana Plaza is an example, and Grenfell tower.

triangle shirtwaist factory as well

also: the sampoong department store collapse, where 502 people were killed. the building was known to be unsafe since its construction and structural cracks were noted several times without any response. the building was assessed by civil engineers as a collapse risk. the day of the collapse, “the store management failed to shut the building down or issue formal evacuation orders, as the number of customers in the building was unusually high, and it did not want to lose the day’s revenue.” executives, however, had evacuated hours before. 

the bhopal disaster had an immediate death toll of 2,259 and an estimated 16,000 people have died since. over 550,000 people were exposed to a toxic gas leak from a pesticide plant when the leak spilled into shanty towns surrounding the plant. there had been smaller leaks for nearly 10 years before the disaster, each of which killed or severely injured workers who were not provided with protective gear. during the major leak, all safeguards against a disaster of this scale either hadn’t been maintained and weren’t working, were inadequate for a spill of this scale, or had been removed years before. 

the big blue crane collapse killed 3 ironworkers who were nearby in an observation basket, because higher-ups refused to stop work on the construction of miller park stadium due to unsafe wind levels for crane operation. the original crane operator had refused to do it, so another was brought in. a safety inspector happened to be on site and filmed the incident to document a violation when the crane collapsed entirely. this video has been shown in every OSHA class i’ve ever taken as proof of why 1) safety inspectors aren’t your enemy, no matter how much your boss tries to tell you they are 2) bosses can and will put your life at risk to avoid losing money 3) even if you’re not directly involved in the safety violation–the crane operator survived, but the three ironworkers in the basket were killed when the crane fell on them–your life can be at risk.

there are many, many more of these. more than i can count. and the thing is, these are all just worst-case situations where higher-ups thought they could skate past safety regulations and save a few bucks (or even make a few bucks) without consequences. many of these unsafe conditions went on for years before ending in disaster. the people in sampoong and rana plaza worked in those dangerously structurally unsound building for years before they collapsed, generating money for bosses and executives when no one should have even stepped into those buildings at all. many places are currently skating by and flouting safety regulations, and all of them are living on borrowed time before a disaster strikes. 

your life is more important than your job, and in the USA you are legally protected if you choose to report safety violations. bosses love to act like they’re on your side and like OSHA’s out to ruin your fun or kill your productivity or are too worried for no reason, but that kind of cute conspiratorial attitude is what gets people killed. know your rights and use them. 

It’s not in the long-term interest of corporations to harm workers and customers, but the people who run these things tend to toss long-term out the window in favor of short-term gains that they can cash in immediately.

As a whole, humans fucking suck at conceptualizing long term risks and odds.  We’re really good at “it’s been okay so far, what’s one more day?” day after day after day.  That’s why we write out objective (as much as possible) safety standards because just because you’ve done it before and haven’t died doesn’t mean it isn’t still an unsafe practice.