Chris Cook

2/28/07

ALR: Business Law

Annotated Bibliography Assignment

Workers’ safety is an essential area within the general topic of business law. In order for any business to operate effectively, it must inevitably involve the services of individuals. Practitioners of business should therefore be very concerned with preventing needless injuries and deaths to the workers engaged in their enterprise. Moreover, many businesses are wise to consider worker safety to be a management function, intertwined with improving the quality of the business product, and the efficiency with which it is conducted.

There is another reason for companies to promote safety and health beyond the aforementioned moral and economic reasons. The United States government, as well as most governments around the world, requires people to be protected from hazards in the workplace. Codified under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, commonly known as OSHA, every employer in the United States is obligated by law to provide a safe workplace.

Nonetheless, even faced with this federal act, for many employers, the responsibility to protect human life is not as important as the productivity of their workers, or the profit they make. For these reasons, and others like them, a myriad of law suits and legal issues arise in this area of the law.

This bibliography is designed to assist any attorney who wishes to gain an introductory level understanding of these issues. Sources were gathered from the Internet, law journals and other scholarly articles, and other print materials located within the Washburn University Law Library. Most of the sources were found using the Law Library website catalog, and entering a keyword search. This quickly pointed me to relevant material, and where to find it within the stacks of the library. Upon arriving at the proper location in the stacks, I was pleased to find other sources on the shelves that were there along with the sources I had searched for.

As a starting place to find online materials, I used WashLaw, and looked at the links under the subject index of labor & employment law. This was extremely helpful in directing me to websites I had not already considered looking at. I also used HeinOnline to search for relevant law journal articles. I wanted to use HeinOnline because I am already familiar with Westlaw and Lexis Nexis, and I wanted to practice using a new source. Plus, I was interested to see some of the features on HeinOnline had that “Wexis” does not.

I was surprised at the amount of litigation in this area. There seems to be a lot more issues that come up in this area of the law than one might think at first glance. I was also surprised at the amount of information that is free and readily accessible to the public.

The following is a small sample of sources I discovered. Each annotation will 1) explain what the work is “about;” 2) explain its relevance to the topic and any special features that distinguish it; and 3) explain its potential usefulness in the area of business law research.

Books

David Rosner & Gerald Markowitz, Dying for Work: Workers’ Safety and Health in Twentieth-Century America (Indiana University Press 1987).

Mr. Rosner and Mr. Markowitz begin this book with some historical notes and some background information on the subject, but the meat of the book deals with the evolution of the law in this area. This book is a little dated as well, but many of the issues that are raised, like alternative approaches to protecting and compensating injured workers, and the continuing involvement of the federal government, remain important in our society today. Referencing this book would give legal researchers an insight into what the issues were of yester-year, and provide an excellent comparison to the environment as it stands today. From what it appears, many of those issues remain the same.

Dorothy Nelkin & Michael S. Brown, Workers at Risk: Voices from the Workplace (The University of Chicago Press 1984).

Though this book is a little outdated, it provides an incredibly unique perspective on the topic, as most of the analysis is centered on the workers’ themselves, and in their own words. Indeed, the book was developed by a sociologist out of concern that the field was neglecting the key aspect of occupational health – the perceptions and concerns of the workers themselves. This book is very relevant to the topic in that it gives the reader a first-hand view of what actual workers in every day situations are worried about, and what issues they are concerned with. It could be very useful for an attorney when counseling his client-workers to better understand where he or she is coming from and how to better serve them.

James A. Gross, ed., Workers’ Rights as Human Rights (ILR Press 2003).

Mr. Gross’ work makes a strong moral argument in this well-written addition to the literature of workers’ safety. The work is composed by a number of different authors but a strong argument contained within is that the gap between ideals we have in society do not measure up to the actual practice we see day to day in this area. Included in the book is a well laid-out discussion of the role of domestic law and how solidarity can help bring about a much needed change in this area of the law. Workers’ Rights as Human Rights would be an excellent place to start to get someone excited about researching worker safety law, as it posits a very strong moral and heart-felt position in promoting the cause. One of the unique things about this book is that it is authored by several different scholars, and gives you perspective from a number of different viewpoints.

Mark A. Friend & James P. Kohn, Fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health, (ABS Consulting 2003).

Just as the title suggests, this book provides an up-to-date overview of this area of the law and the fundamental issues that many of today’s professionals face. This book is the perfect place to begin research because it provides the foundational-level concepts in an easy to read, yet comprehensive way. Included within is an examination of the major changes made to OSHA, and what industries must do to comply. The third edition of the book even has a new chapter that covers the emerging issue of terrorism as it relates to workers’ safety. Fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health is perhaps the first place researchers should look to get an initial grasp of the subject.

Websites

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations at

www.aflcio.org

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations give a legal researcher a great place to gain a perspective of the union movement’s view on this issue. Workers themselves make up the afl-cio, so this website serves as a great platform and excellent resource in looking into workers’ safety through the eyes of the people who are affected most by this area of the law. Like other websites, the afl-cio has a search engine that is helpful in narrowing down the topic, but the most useful thing about the website is its news features, along with a page that discusses how the Bush administration’s policies have affected worker safety. Using this website would be the perfect place to understand worker safety with a tilt towards the workers point of view, and to get an idea of what matters most today with America’s workers.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at www.cdc.gov

The Department of Human Health and Services manages this website that is helpful in providing statistics and other related information to the area of workers safety. For instance, the site mentions that each year there are nearly 6,000 fatal workplace accidents, and 4.7 million non-fatal injuries. CDC conducts research and provides products and services to aid in the assistance in preventing these accidents and others like them. The web-site has a helpful search engine with which one can focus their area of interest. Also, this internet resource is a good place to find related articles. One of the services included is the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) which provides up to date statistical information, as well as other helpful resources.

Corporate Practice Library at www.bna.com

By clicking on the labor and employment link of the Corporate Practice Library’s homepage, an attorney or anyone else doing legal research will be exposed to a comprehensive look at this area of the law. A very helpful article on practice under the Occupational Safety and Health Act is contained therein, as well as access to Corporate Counsel Weekly and other corporate and business related sources and periodicals. Using this website is a good way to feel the pulse of Corporate America and get a feel of their grasp of the issues surrounding worker safety law.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration Homepage at www.osha.gov

The U.S. Department of Labor manages this extraordinary website that covers the all-encompassing Occupational Safety and Health Act. As mentioned, every workplace in America is covered by this act. Granted, the provisions are especially pertinent to a construction worker or other manual labor employees, but the law applies just the same to a computer programmer, or a law librarian. Included in the website is a full text version of the Act itself, along with a search engine to help researchers locate any topic within the law. The website even contains recent news related to the Act so one can keep up with the current developments taking place. Going to osha.gov is perhaps the first place all researchers should go in doing online research about workers safety.

Law Journal Articles

Sidney A. Shapiro, The Necessity of OSHA, 8-SPG Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 22 (1999).

This article examines the argument that is frequently made that OSHA is unnecessary and can be abolished in favor of placing economic incentives in the workplace to encourage worker safety. The article takes the position that despite the incentives, OSHA is still a necessary piece of legislation by explaining the limited extent to which employees are compensated for dangerous work because they are paid higher wages or workers’ compensation. This article is useful because this argument comes up again and again. Reading this will better educate researchers on one of the most important issues with this area of the law.

William J. Maakestad, Promoting Workplace Safety and Health in the Post-Regulatory Era: A Primer on Non-OSHA Legal Incentives That Influence Employer Decisions To Control Occupational Hazards, 17 N. Ky. L. Rev. 9 (1989).

Just as the title implies, this article provides an argument that is very common in this area of the law, that OSHA is not a necessary piece of legislation. The article goes through several different possible legal incentives that are available. While it doesn’t go into as much detail as it could, this work still serves as what the title implies: a primer. That is, it gives a quick rundown of some of the ideas that have been promulgated in this field. This would be of the utmost importance to legal researchers when looking into the ways in which OSHA could be marginalized by other legal incentives.