Week Two Question Six

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I need a 150-200 word response with references for each question. Question 1 Consider the concepts of risk versus reward and cost versus benefit when assessing risks. What are the implications of overreacting to risks? Question 2 Role of Organized Labor Organized labor has played a crucial role in the development of the safety movement in the United States. From the outset of the Industrial Revolution in this country, organized labor has fought for safer working conditions and appropriate compensation for workers injured on the job. Many of the earliest developments in the safety movement were the result of long and hard-fought battles by organized labor. Although the role of unions in promoting safety is generally acknowledged, one school of thought takes the opposite view. Proponents of this dissenting view hold that union involvement actually slowed the development of the safety movement. Their theory is that unions allowed their demands for safer working conditions to become entangled with their demands for better wages and, as a result, they met with resistance from management. Regardless of the point of view, there is no question that working conditions in the earliest years of the safety movement were often reflective of an insensitivity to safety concerns on the part of management. Among the most important contributions of organized labor to the safety movement was their work to overturn antilabor laws relating to safety in the workplace. These laws were the fellow servant rule, the statutes defining contributory negligence, and the concept of assumption of risk. 17 The fellow servant rule held that employers were not liable for workplace injuries that resulted from the negligence of other employees. For example, if Worker X slipped and fell, breaking his back in the process, because Worker Y spilled oil on the floor and left it there, the employer’s liability was removed. In addition, if the actions of employees contributed to their own injuries, the employer was absolved of any liability. This was the doctrine of contributory negligence. The concept of assumption of risk was based on the theory that people who accept a job assume the risks that go with it. It says employees who work voluntarily should accept the consequences of their actions on the job rather than blame the employer. Because the overwhelming majority of industrial accidents involve negligence on the part of one or more workers, employers had little to worry about. Therefore, they had little incentive to promote a safe work environment. Organized labor played a crucial role in bringing deplorable working conditions to the attention of the general public. Public awareness and, in some cases, outrage eventually led to these employer-biased laws being overturned in all states except one. In New Hampshire, the fellow servant rule still applies.
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