Dangerous working conditions ignored
Although diseases and outbreaks may be at the forefront of public concern, issues such as dangerous working conditions are a greater danger to most Americans.
Jeff Dennis

On the ABC News Web site (abcnews.go.com) Monday, the prominent article displayed detailed the many biological threats that could potentially be very harmful to the United States. Smallpox and tuberculosis were among the diseases the article stated could be used in biological warfare.

This article seems to be evidence the media needs some potential epidemic in order to keep part of the American public living in helpless fear. Just in the recent past the media has presented us with many worries, such as shark attacks, killer bees, and disease like Hantavirus, E. Coli and, most recently, the West Nile virus.

According to the site, West Nile has claimed at least 116 deaths this year, which is certainly no laughing matter. Yet it has caused large portions of the population to live in paranoia when the threat was actually not that great.

Many of the dangers in our society are overlooked by the media, and consequently by the American public, simply because they just don’t draw the attention that an exotic disease does.

For example, the Chronic Disease Prevention Web site (www.cdc.gov) presents a government study spanning the years 1980-1997, which details the occurrence of occupational deaths in the United States. During this time span, an average of 16 American workers died every single day as a direct result of, or in connection with, their occupations.

Using this average, in just more than a week, as many people will die because of their job than have died this year because of the West Nile virus. These statistics would suggest that unsafe working conditions are a much greater epidemic in America than a foreign virus that has had a relatively high incidence of infections this year.

Unfortunately, problems such as occupational death and injury are forgotten by college students, who by virtue of their education are less likely to work in the more dangerous occupations such as mining and construction.

While the government does attempt to mandate workplace safety standards, it is quite difficult to keep a constant watch on every single dangerous workplace in the country. Blue collar workers in dangerous workplace conditions are often reluctant to complain to their employer because they know there are other people who will take the risks and perform the job if they don’t want to.

Occasionally the media covers occupational stories when a large number of people are affected by unsafe working conditions, but often these stories are brought to light only because of some catastrophic event such as a fire which left workers trapped in their building. It is a disturbing thought to consider how many workplaces in the U.S. have the same dangerous conditions, but have simply not been caught.

While there may very well be no way to prevent the next viral outbreak in the U.S., there are certainly many measures which can be taken to minimize death rates in our American workplaces. But don’t forget to watch out for those mosquitoes, too.

Jeff Dennis is a senior sociology major from Gail.