Let Us Not Forget

Over at another workers comp blog they posted a great article on one of the early twentieth century worker tragedies known as the Triangle Factory Fire. Factory workers died because doors were locked and a fire killed 146 women and girls. It was horrific and a wake up call for safety in the workplace. As the article notes now with outsourcing we are seeing it happening outside this country. This should make us mindful that workers and consumers should not tolerate poor safety and unsafe products. Actually the history of workers compensation goes back around 100 years in this country. An excellent brief history is available here. However in the last 20 years efforts have been made to get away from disability and focus on impairment. But we must not forget that work injuries can be devastating to some and workers comp was intended to provide treatment and benefits in an efficient way. Tragedies require safety measures and fair benefits or problems just get passed along to society as was the case in the days before workers compensation.