Occupational Safety and Health

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 443, Issue 1, p. 41-53

Abstract

Work accidents became a matter of societal concern in the Progressive era of Woodrow Wilson. When other contingencies of modern life were brought under social security in the New Deal reforms of the 1930s, work accident legislation remained separate. One possible reason was that work accidents can be controlled within industrial and chance limits. But control does not imply elimination since a risk-free environment would paralyze production. In spite of imper fections caused by low benefits and imperfect insurance arrangements, the workers' compensation legislation does help internalize the costs of accidents, but internalization of costs is only one remedy. Regulation and a much broader community responsibility are others. It is argued that regulation poses greater problems and that broader com munity responsibility may evade the issues involved in choosing the appropriate tradeoff point between production and health which will maximize social welfare.