In America, workers have less protection than all other citizens. All other citizens can sue anyone who injures them and their damages are not arbitrarily limited. Many would argue that the injured worker has superior rights because he must only prove that the injury was caused by the workplace, whereas all others must prove the fault of the wrongdoer.
Although this statement is literally true, it is an artifact of an era in which there were few if any tort remedies and no medical insurance. Workers' compensation was put in place over a century ago to take up these shortcomings and along with it the recovery of the worker was limited. The arbitrary limitation on damages and the need to show no liability are, in fact a great obstacle in modern industrial litigation in which workers are injured by toxic substances.
We know about the toxicity of substances from two data sources. The first is animal studies and the second is human epidemiology. In the real world the only entity with the resources and the data from which to do these studies are the industries that produce the substances. Of course the motivation of these entities is inherently contradictory.
Undoubtedly everyone concerned would prefer that products were safe and did not injure workers. However, any question of product safety creates a dilemma for the industry concerned. If it finds a hazard, it may lose sales and revenue and may have to take expensive precautions to protect workers or consumers. This contradiction leads the party with the access to resources and motivation to be in a difficult position.
The result of these inherent contradictions is that by the time there is public disclosure that a substance is harmful, there usually are many years in which the company making it either had actual knowledge or managed not to know by not taking steps that any prudent person would take. This factual context is the reason why civil litigation with a requirement of finding fault is often the only effective deterrent that prevents companies from injuring its workers. Without litigation, the historical records of manufacturers and producers of hazardous substances and dangerous work conditions would never be corrected and the companies would never be shamed or threatened into improving their conduct.
Abstract of article by:
Ron Simon, Esq.
Washingon, DC
WorkCongress6
Rune - June 2003
www.workcongress6.com