NCJ Number
111158
Journal
Labor Law Journal Volume: 39 Issue: 4 Dated: (April 1988) Pages: 220-231
Date Published
1988
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article summarizes the 1985 case in which three Illinois business executives were convicted for the workplace death of an employee (Film Recovery Systems, Inc.), reviews the case's antecedents and descendants, compares the potential effectiveness of criminal prosecution to that of enforcement under the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), and explores the probable futures of the two alternative approaches.
Abstract
Although criminal cases involving workplace deaths prior to the 1985 Film Recovery Systems case have not yielded many convictions, the courts have shown a willingness to entertain criminal charges when workplace deaths are clearly foreseeable and emploeyers have shown a reckless disregard for employee safety. There has been a flurry of court activity regarding workplace deaths and injuries since the Film Recovery Systems case, and OSHA authorities have intensified their activities and sanctions. Nearly all the criminal cases are either pending trial or appeal or have been abandoned in some circumstance short of a definitive finding. Criminal law as a weapon in achieving workplace health and safety faces two major obstacles. It is necessary to prove a criminal state of mind in the defendant, and the criminal law approach is only attractive insofar as health and safety regulations are ineffective in promoting safe workplaces. Worker health and safety is only likely to be promoted by criminal prosecutions when the probability of discovery and the cost of violation are sufficient to fuel widespread employer attention to worker safety. The number of criminal charges being brought in workplace deaths are apparently spurring OSHA to heightened enforcement efforts. Costly punishment must attend such efforts before employers will stop trying to save costs at the expense of worker safety. 76 footnotes.