This is a capitalism "profits first, last and always" problem, not specifically a railroad problem.
Many industries have discovered the costs of not doing safety first are higher in the long run. You have to pay more workers comp insurance, you have to train replacement workers for those who are injured, you have to scrap/replace parts destroyed, and when someone is injured it affects moral and so your people don't work well.
Railroads are throwing money away by not putting safety first - they just don't realize it.
That math doesn't always work out that way. We see it all of the time when corporations ignore regulations, and then just pay the fines as a cost of doing business.
It's fucked up that this is the system we've chosen for ourselves. That human safety comes down to whether or not the math makes sense for the company's bottom line.
Then you have libertarians who think that's just fine, and that the "free market" will "correct itself." I guess the employees that are maimed or die in the process are just collateral damage. Eventually, the consumer will be aware (somehow?) that the process of making the product they want is dangerous and has killed people, and then they'll stop buying the product. Right? Right...?
Lol. I was trying to think of something to say about that last paragraph, but I think the ideology speaks for itself.
Not a single industry actually puts safety first. Some take safety more seriously than others, but that's it.
What profit-driven industry doesn’t do the same?
This is a capitalism "profits first, last and always" problem, not specifically a railroad problem.
Many industries have discovered the costs of not doing safety first are higher in the long run. You have to pay more workers comp insurance, you have to train replacement workers for those who are injured, you have to scrap/replace parts destroyed, and when someone is injured it affects moral and so your people don't work well.
Railroads are throwing money away by not putting safety first - they just don't realize it.
That math doesn't always work out that way. We see it all of the time when corporations ignore regulations, and then just pay the fines as a cost of doing business.
It's fucked up that this is the system we've chosen for ourselves. That human safety comes down to whether or not the math makes sense for the company's bottom line.
Then you have libertarians who think that's just fine, and that the "free market" will "correct itself." I guess the employees that are maimed or die in the process are just collateral damage. Eventually, the consumer will be aware (somehow?) that the process of making the product they want is dangerous and has killed people, and then they'll stop buying the product. Right? Right...?
Lol. I was trying to think of something to say about that last paragraph, but I think the ideology speaks for itself.
Not a single industry actually puts safety first. Some take safety more seriously than others, but that's it.