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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."