Occupational deaths

The Atlanta "reative Loafing" reported in the current paper (Sept. 8-14) that occupational deaths are on the rise in Georgia. Ben Ross of the Atlanta regional office of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration was quoted as saying that part of the increase can be attributed to "the tremendous amount of construction going on and more immigrant workers entering the work place."Ross says language barriers and improper translations often cause instructions to be misinterpreted, resulting in accidents.

That's probably true, but I suspect that the caps on liability payments passed by the Republican Congress and President Bush are also having the predicted effect of allowing business owners to be more lax in regards to the safety of their emplyees.