tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/worker-safety-10097/articlesWorker safety – The Conversation2024-01-03T13:46:21Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2135352024-01-03T13:46:21Z2024-01-03T13:46:21ZWorkers in their teens and early 20s are more likely to get hurt than older employees<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565551/original/file-20231213-23-vn4jgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=149%2C223%2C2777%2C1763&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some teens get tendinitis from scooping ice cream.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/morgan-jackson-18-of-scarborough-scoops-ice-cream-while-news-photo/958440620?adppopup=true">Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Think about your first job. Maybe it was delivering pizza, bagging groceries, busing tables or doing landscaping work. Did you get enough training to avoid potential injuries? Chances are, you didn’t – and your boss or supervisor <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2018.12.003">just told you to get to work</a>.</p>
<p>Employing young people helps them in many ways. They can learn a trade, develop job skills, become more responsible and earn money. But there’s danger, too: Americans between 15 and 24 years old are up to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6935a3">2.3 times more likely</a> to get injured on the job than workers who are 25 and over.</p>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cfoi.pdf">398 workers under 25</a> died after getting injured on the job. </p>
<p>In my research about the unique <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=cI_ixlIAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">occupational safety hazards young workers face</a>, I’ve identified <a href="http://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-014-9565-9">three common causes of this susceptibility to injury</a>: their lack of experience, developing bodies and brains, and reluctance to speak up. </p>
<h2>Physical and cognitive limitations</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.epi.org/blog/class-of-2023-young-people-see-better-job-opportunities/">19 million young people employed</a> today make up <a href="https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/civilian-labor-force-summary.htm">approximately 13% of the U.S. workforce</a>. </p>
<p>Work is more dangerous for young people because they’ve simply had less time to become aware of many common workplace hazards than their older co-workers.</p>
<p>And yet this problem isn’t typically addressed during onboarding: Even those who have been trained to do a specific job may not be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2018.12.003,%20https://doi.org/10.1002/ajim.10304">taught ways to avoid common injuries</a>. These include tendinitis from scooping ice cream for hours on end, burns from operating a deep fryer, lacerations from sharp objects, and slips, trips and falls.</p>
<p>It’s also important to remember that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892678/">bodies and brains continue to develop</a> well into adulthood – up to age 25. This can make some tasks riskier before that point for the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/youth.pdf">55% of individuals between the ages of 16 and 24</a> who work.</p>
<p>For example, workers in their teens and early 20s may be smaller and weaker than older workers. Furthermore, some safety equipment, such as gloves and masks, may not properly fit.</p>
<p>In addition to physical changes that occur during adolescence, <a href="https://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/933-the-adolescent-brain-a-second-window-of-opportunity-a-compendium.html">the brain is</a> also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2016.04.012">developing and restructuring into early adulthood</a>. The frontal cortex, which is used for decision-making and helps you to think before you act, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3177">continues to develop into adulthood and can lead to risky behaviors</a>.</p>
<p>Young people are inclined to seek approval and respect, which influences their decision-making. </p>
<p>They also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jphysparis.2010.08.007">engage in risky behaviors</a> both on and off the job that may affect their performance at work. </p>
<p>Finally, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-018-0847-0">many young workers are reluctant to speak up</a> if they have concerns, or to ask questions if they don’t know what to do, because they don’t want to lose respect from their boss or supervisor. To avoid appearing unqualified, they may not want to admit that they need help. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A Baskin-Robbins shop in a strip mall with its trademark pink branding." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563427/original/file-20231204-29-26qjf9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Like many Americans, President Barack Obama scooped ice cream in his youth. He was employed at this Honolulu Baskin-Robbins.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/ObamaFirstJob/626981cdb54c4a11aefeb5a48e487ce5/photo?Query=(renditions.phototype:horizontal)%20AND%20(category:a%20OR%20%20category:i)%20AND%20%20(teen%20jobs)%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=81&currentItemNo=34">AP Photo/Marco Garcia</a></span>
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<h2>Weaker protections in some states</h2>
<p>Despite these inherent risks, <a href="https://theconversation.com/states-are-weakening-their-child-labor-restrictions-nearly-8-decades-after-the-us-government-took-kids-out-of-the-workforce-205175">Arkansas, Iowa and other states have recently weakened labor laws</a>, loosening restrictions about the kinds of work teens can do and increasing the number of hours they can work. </p>
<p>This is happening at a time when the number of child labor violations are rising and more children are <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/25/us/unaccompanied-migrant-child-workers-exploitation.html">dying or getting injured</a>, especially when they do tasks that <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20230217-1">violate federal labor laws</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://news.yahoo.com/16-old-worker-killed-meat-203946508.html">Duvan Tomas Perez</a>, for example, died on the job while cleaning machinery in the Mar-Jac Poultry plant in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in August 2023. Perez was 16. So was <a href="https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-boy-dies-sawmill-child-labor-8ae0c9fc09b9355dd7f12640eaefff2d">Michael Schuls</a>, who died in June 2023 while attempting to unjam a wood-stacking machine at Florence Hardwoods, a Wisconsin lumber company. <a href="https://www.kake.com/story/49078450/16yearold-boy-dies-in-workplace-accident-at-kansas-cityarea-landfill">Will Hampton</a>, another 16-year-old, also died that month in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, while working at a landfill.</p>
<p>Teachers at a Nebraska middle school figured out that students who had trouble staying awake at school were working night shifts at a slaughterhouse, doing dangerous cleaning work that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/nebraska-slaughterhouse-children-working-photos-labor-department">caused chemical burns</a>.</p>
<p>Enacted in 1938, the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa">Fair Labor Standards Act</a> established federal standards to ensure workplace safety for workers under 18 and bars employers from interfering with their educational opportunities. This law sets 14 as a minimum age for formal employment, restricts when and how many hours children may work, and outlines the type of work children may safely perform. </p>
<p>Some of the new state labor laws <a href="https://www.iowadivisionoflabor.gov/child-labor">allow children to work in more dangerous jobs</a> and limit their employers’ liability for <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/child-labor-laws-under-attack/">injury, illness or even death on the job</a>.</p>
<p>When state labor laws are less restrictive than the federal law, however, the <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/youthrules/young-workers">federal standards apply</a>.</p>
<p>The federal government is also ramping up enforcement efforts. The <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20230727">Labor Department found 4,474 children employed in violation</a> of federal child labor laws between Oct. 1, 2022, and July 20, 2023. Employers, including McDonald’s and Sonic fast-food franchisees, owed more than $6.6 million in penalties as a result.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/iyT2rT2t2T0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In an interview with “60 Minutes,” a Labor Department investigator relayed how the government determined that Packers Sanitation Services Inc. employed more than 100 children in violation of child labor laws.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3 steps employers can take</h2>
<p>In addition to following the law, I believe that employers and supervisors need to address the unique risks to young workers by <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare4030055">taking these necessary steps</a>: </p>
<p>• Provide training on how to do tasks safely and supervise young workers until key tasks have been mastered. Training should not only occur right before a new employee gets ready for their first shift, but whenever new tasks are assigned, when there is a new hazard in the workplace, and after an injury or near miss occurs in the workplace. </p>
<p>• Model safe behaviors. Remember that young workers often learn by watching their bosses and co-workers, whose actions can reinforce safety expectations and build a <a href="https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primer/culture-safety">culture of safety</a>. </p>
<p>• Take into account a worker’s abilities when assigning tasks, and check in on them regularly, especially when switching tasks. Ask open-ended questions, such as, “What are the steps you are going to take when you do this task?” as opposed to questions that can be answered with a yes or no, like, “Do you know how to do this task?” Be sure to let workers know how to report concerns and who they can talk to if they have questions about workplace procedures and policies. </p>
<p>These strategies are easy to implement and cost little to follow.</p>
<p>And they surely make it safer for workers in their teens and early 20s to gain the valuable work experience they want and need, while helping their employers to maintain safe, productive workplaces that nurture the workers our <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/productiveaging/default.html">economy will increasingly depend upon</a> in the years ahead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213535/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Diane Rohlman receives funding from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. </span></em></p>Better training and supervision make younger workers less vulnerable to injuries.Diane Rohlman, Associate Dean for Research, Professor and Endowed Chair of Rural Safety and Health, University of IowaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2042472023-04-26T19:38:05Z2023-04-26T19:38:05ZNational Day of Mourning offers Canada a chance to rethink worker health and safety<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522699/original/file-20230424-20-8nq93y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C326%2C5623%2C3820&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">On April 28, Canadians remember and honour those who have been killed or suffered injuries or illness at work.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/national-day-of-mourning-offers-canada-a-chance-to-rethink-worker-health-and-safety" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Canadians go to work each day expecting to return home safely, but for too many workers and their families, this expectation is unrealistic. According to the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada, there were <a href="https://awcbc.org/en/statistics/">1,081 workplace fatalities in 2021 alone</a>.</p>
<p>Each year on April 28, Canadians remember and honour those who have been killed or suffered injuries or illness at work. This day, known as the <a href="https://www.ccohs.ca/events/mourning/">National Day of Mourning</a>, was established by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984 and <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/w-11.5/page-1.html">made official in 1991</a>.</p>
<p>Four decades have passed since the National Day of Mourning’s first observance, and the annual toll from workplace fatalities in Canada continues to remain high. But just how deep and pervasive is the problem? And what can we do about it?</p>
<h2>Widespread suffering</h2>
<p>Those who consume news media can be forgiven for thinking the number of murders in Canada each year vastly exceeds the number of work-related fatalities. One reason for this is the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/does-the-news-reflect-what-we-die-from">excessive news coverage of murders</a> relative to other causes of death like workplace fatalities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/workplace-fatalities-deaths-under-reported-study-1.4973495">The real numbers</a> tell a different tale. <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3510006801">About 700 people</a> are murdered annually in Canada, while close to 1,000 people die at work each year. But one study from the <em>Journal of Canadian Labour Studies</em> argues <a href="https://www.lltjournal.ca/index.php/llt/article/view/5904">the actual number could be 10 to 13 times greater</a>.</p>
<p>The suffering goes well beyond the 1,000 workers who die each year. Within the workplace, <a href="https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/21905011/workplace-fatalities-the-impact-on-coworkers">colleagues who have witnessed horrendous tragedies</a> are affected, as are leaders who have to break the awful news to family members and motivate surviving employees.</p>
<p>Outside the workplace, the emotional and financial burden on family members has been ignored for too long. What if the news media devoted as much attention to workplace safety incidents as we did to murders? Would the public demand that management, workers and government authorities work together to enhance workplace safety?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young woman holds open a photo album to display photos of a man on a rope swing and the same man with a little girl sitting on his shoulders" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522695/original/file-20230424-884-uw83k0.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Alyssa Grocutt poses with pictures of her father who died in a workplace safety incident at Suncor Energy Inc. when she was 11 years old.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Lars Hagberg</span></span>
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<h2>Myths about worker control</h2>
<p>The National Day of Mourning presents us with an opportunity to reflect on workplace fatalities and the enormous toll they take on affected families, co-workers and organizational leaders, and commit to making a difference. </p>
<p>We can start by dispelling some major misconception that are inhibiting progress in workplace safety and health. One misconception among managers is that, because workplace safety is so important, every aspect of employees’ work requires control. </p>
<p>Yet, based on extensive interviews with senior managers and employees and an analysis of documentation from 49 manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsr.2021.06.003">researchers found the opposite is true</a>. </p>
<p>Among the five key types of human resources approaches, only one was associated with fewer workplace injuries: higher levels of empowerment, which included autonomy and employee participation. Even managers that ceded small, incremental amounts of control to employees had a positive impact.</p>
<h2>Myths about safety costs</h2>
<p>A second common misconception is that government safety inspections can be costly; yet again research suggests otherwise. </p>
<p>According to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1215191">a comparison of more than 400 workplaces</a> that were not targeted for safety inspections in California, and an equal number that were randomly selected for inspections between 1996 and 2006, random safety inspections work. </p>
<p>Five years after random inspections, companies saw a 9.4 per cent reduction in injury rates, and a 26 per cent reduction in costs associated with the injuries. </p>
<p>These gains in safety were achieved without any cost to employment numbers, sales, credit rating or likelihood of firm survival, which are frequent concerns in the face of government safety inspections. </p>
<p>Given this, policymakers should feel reassured that <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-labour-ministry-enforcement-occupational-health-safety-inspectors-1.5936019">increasing the number of safety inspectors</a> is a wise investment in both injury reduction and cost reduction.</p>
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<img alt="A group of people in business attire stand with their heads down" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522696/original/file-20230424-22-1ykjou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Members of Parliament take a moment of silence for workplace safety prior to question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick</span></span>
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<h2>Myths about sick leave</h2>
<p>The National Day of Mourning’s calls for reconsideration of workplace safety are particularly relevant in the era of COVID-19. The pandemic highlighted the misconception that paid sick leave hurts organizations. </p>
<p>Year-after-year, <a href="https://awcbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/National_Work_Injury_Disease_and_Fatality_Statistics-2019-2021.pdf">more people die at work from health-related issues</a>, such as respiratory diseases and occupational cancers, than from safety incidents. </p>
<p><a href="https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/01/27/new-data-shows-some-people-with-covid-19-symptoms-still-go-to-work-in-peel-region/">A 2020 study</a> from Ontario’s Peel region revealed that 25 per cent of the employees surveyed went to work when they had COVID-19 symptoms; 88 workers even did so after being diagnosed with COVID-19.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/with-covid-19s-third-wave-were-far-from-all-in-this-together-159178">With COVID-19's third wave, we're far from 'all in this together'</a>
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<p>Why? Because they could not afford to lose any pay. If we are to protect employee health and limit the spread of infection, we need to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256740">de-politicize perceptions around basic workplace programs</a> such as paid sick leave. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/31/how-can-we-put-covid-behind-us-without-guaranteed-paid-sick-leave/">Worker health programs and policies</a> need to be implemented based on the best of evidence, rather than being a subject for negotiations between labour and management or the whims of the government. </p>
<p>Paid sick leave policies and programs are primary tools in preventing the spread of infections, thereby benefiting employees and protecting organizations and their communities. Employees should be reassured that they will not lose pay when they protect themselves and others by staying home when ill.</p>
<h2>A new approach is needed</h2>
<p>We need to change the widespread perceptions that workplace safety requires the tight grip of management, that random safety inspections hurt organizations and detract from profitability, and that paid sick leave is an expensive luxury. </p>
<p>On the contrary, employee autonomy and engagement, random safety inspections, and paid sick leave are some of the practices that management should welcome to develop safe and healthy workplaces.</p>
<p>Another small action that could have wide-ranging benefits is to change the very language of occupational safety. For too long, “workplace accident” has been the term used for any workplace safety incident or injury. </p>
<p>Why is this problematic? By definition, “accident” implies an event that is unpredictable, unplanned and uncontrollable. If that is indeed the case, we should be forgiven for not taking any action. </p>
<p>Yet post-injury and inquest reports tell us that the opposite is true: <a href="https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/07/19/many-workplace-accidents-are-preventable-stop-the-killing-and-start-criminal-investigations.html">these incidents are invariably predictable, preventable</a> and controllable. The time has come to change how we think about occupational health and safety.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204247/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Barling receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alyssa Grocutt receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>National Day of Mourning should be used to challenge misconceptions about occupational health and safety, and advance safer workplaces for Canadians.Julian Barling, Distinguished Professor and Borden Chair of Leadership, Smith School of Business, Queen's University, OntarioAlyssa Grocutt, PhD Candidate in Organizational Behaviour, researching workplace safety, at Smith School of Business, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2015382023-04-22T16:20:10Z2023-04-22T16:20:10ZFast fashion still comes with deadly risks, 10 years after the Rana Plaza disaster – the industry’s many moving pieces make it easy to cut corners<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522252/original/file-20230421-26-yyte0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C3%2C1019%2C679&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Activists in Dhaka demand safe working conditions in 2019, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/industry-all-bangladesh-council-activists-protest-to-news-photo/1139075620?adppopup=true">Mamunur Rashid/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On April 24, 2013, a multistory garment factory complex in Bangladesh called Rana Plaza collapsed, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22476774">killing more than 1,000 workers</a> and injuring another 2,500. It remains the worst accident in the history of the apparel industry and one of the deadliest industrial accidents in the world.</p>
<p>Several factories inside the complex <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/04/26/these-retailers-involved-in-bangladesh-factory-disaster-have-yet-to-compensate-victims/?sh=3444108c211b">produced apparel for Western brands</a>, including Benetton, Primark and Walmart, shining a spotlight on the unsafe conditions in which a sizable portion of Americans’ cheap clothing is produced. The humanitarian tragedy hit home as wealthy nations’ shoppers wrestled with their own complicity and called for reforms – but a decade later, progress is still patchy.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://michiganross.umich.edu/faculty-research/faculty/ravi-anupindi">a professor of operations and supply chain management</a>, I believe it is important to understand how the complex and fragmented supply chains that are the norm in the clothing industry create conditions where unsafe conditions and abuse can flourish – and make it difficult to assign responsibility for reforms.</p>
<h2>Shamed into action?</h2>
<p>Rana Plaza was <a href="https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2022/06/05/the-worst-industrial-disasters-in-bangladesh-since-2005">not the first garment industry accident in Bangladesh</a>. While the government had stringent building codes “on the books,” <a href="https://ces.ulab.edu.bd/sites/default/files/Building_Code_Analysis-hi.pdf">they were rarely enforced</a>. Most workers lacked the information and power to demand safe working conditions.</p>
<p>Yet the fact that the Rana Plaza collapse was not only a humanitarian crisis, but a public relations crisis, prompted swift action by international organizations and Western brands and clothing retailers. A campaign for <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">full and fair compensation</a> for families of victims was launched immediately, facilitated by <a href="https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/lang--en/index.htm">the International Labor Organization</a>, a U.N. agency. Within a few months, two initiatives were designed to bring garment factories in Bangladesh up to international standards: the European-led <a href="https://bangladeshaccord.org/">Accord for Fire and Building Safety</a>, and the American-led <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Uniformed rescue workers stand on top of a slab on top of a collapsed cement building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522273/original/file-20230421-1623-jworr4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Rescue and recovery personnel on the site of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/BangladeshBuildingCollapse/7f235631839d40e4ad3cbba1e0825166/photo?Query=(renditions.phototype:horizontal)%20AND%20%20(%22rana%20plaza%22)%20&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=297&currentItemNo=295">AP Photo/Wong Maye-E</a></span>
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<p>While the two initiatives differed in some important ways, both shared the common goal: to improve building and fire safety by leveraging the purchasing power of the member companies. In other words, Western brands would insist that production partners get up to standard or take their business elsewhere.</p>
<p>Altogether, the two agreements covered about 2,300 supplier factories. The coalitions conducted factory inspections to identify structural and electrical deficiencies and developed plans for factories to make improvements. The initiatives also laid the groundwork to form worker safety committees <a href="https://iosh.com/news/bangladesh-project-success-story/">and to train workers</a> to recognize, solve and prevent health and safety issues. Member companies set aside funds for inspections and worker training, <a href="https://cleanclothes.org/issues/faq-safety-accord">negotiated commercial terms</a> and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alliance-sets-plan-to-finance-bangladesh-factory-upgrades-1417791607">facilitated low-cost loans</a> for factory improvements.</p>
<p>Both were five-year agreements: the Alliance <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-alliance-for-bangladesh-workers-safety-announces-end-of-its-tenure/">was sunsetted in 2018</a>, whereas the Accord operated for a few more years before handing operations over to the locally created <a href="https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/bangladesh-rmg-sustainability-council-to-take-over-accord-operations-after-281-days/">Readymade Sustainability Council</a> in June 2020.</p>
<h2>The record since</h2>
<p>The onus and expense of making these improvements, however, were largely to be borne by the suppliers – a substantial financial burden for many factories, especially considering the low cost and slim profit margins of the clothes they were producing. </p>
<p>Under the Alliance and the Accord, thousands of factories were inspected for building and fire safety, identifying problems such as lack of fire extinguishers and sprinkler systems, improper fire exits, faulty wiring and structural issues. At the end of five years, both initiatives reported that <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">85%-88% of safety issues were remediated</a>. Around half of the factories completed more than 90% of initial remediation, while over 260 of the original 2,300 factories under the initiatives were suspended from contracting with member companies.</p>
<p>In addition, more than 5,000 beneficiaries, including injured workers and dependents of victims, were compensated <a href="https://ranaplaza-arrangement.org/">through the Rana Plaza Arrangement</a>, receiving an average of about US$6,500.</p>
<p>Overall, I believe that these initiatives have been successful in bringing safety issues to the forefront. In terms of infrastructure improvements, however, while there has been decent progress, much still needs to be done; for example, the initiatives covered just about <a href="https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Etwadhwa/bangladesh/downloads/beyond_the_tip_of_the_iceberg_report.pdf">one-third of all the garment factories in Bangladesh</a>. Importantly, neither addressed company sourcing practices.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in a pink shawl stares at the camera, with a green field amid tall buildings behind her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522275/original/file-20230421-26-smyb9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Family of Rana Plaza victims look at their relatives’ graves as they mark the disaster’s anniversary in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/dhaka-bangladesh-april-24-2017-relatives-of-rana-plaza-news-photo/672595062?adppopup=true">Rehman Asad/NurPhoto via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Clothes yesterday and today</h2>
<p>To understand why so much apparel manufacturing takes place in substandard conditions, we need to understand the underlying economic forces: extensive outsourcing to countries with low wages in the quest to meet demand for more – and cheaper – clothing to sell to customers in the West.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, the average American family <a href="https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/7939/madeinamerica">spent 10% of its income on clothing</a>, buying 25 pieces of apparel – almost all of it made in the United States. Fifty years later, around the time of the Rana Plaza disaster, the average household was spending only about 3.5% of its income on clothing – but buying three times as many items, 98% of which were imported.</p>
<p>Over these decades, low-income countries in Asia and Latin America started producing more garments and textiles. Apparel production is labor-intensive, meaning these countries’ lower wages were a huge attraction to brands and retailers, who gradually started shifting their sourcing.</p>
<p>On a $30 shirt, for example, a typical retailer markup is close to 60%. The factory makes a profit of $1.15, and the worker <a href="https://theconversation.com/years-after-the-rana-plaza-tragedy-bangladeshs-garment-workers-are-still-bottom-of-the-pile-159224">makes barely 18 cents</a>. Were a similar shirt produced in the U.S., labor costs would <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/02/world/asia/bangladesh-us-tshirt/index.html">be closer to $10</a>.</p>
<p>As labor costs rose in China, Bangladesh became <a href="https://qz.com/389741/the-thing-that-makes-bangladeshs-garment-industry-such-a-huge-success-also-makes-it-deadly">a very appealing alternative</a>. Garment exports now account for 82% of <a href="https://bgmea.com.bd/page/Export_Performance">the country’s export total</a>, and the industry <a href="https://www.bsr.org/en/blog/what-if-all-garment-workers-in-bangladesh-were-financially-included">employs 4 million people</a>, about 58% of whom are women. </p>
<p>The growth of this sector has <a href="https://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/482">reduced poverty</a> significantly and also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2015.01.006">empowered women</a>. To meet the rapid growth of the apparel industry, however, many buildings were converted to factories as quickly as possible, often without requisite permits. </p>
<h2>Everyone and no one</h2>
<p>A common way that foreign companies source products from low-cost countries like Bangladesh is through intermediaries or agents. For example, when a brand places a large order with an authorized factory, the factory in turn may <a href="https://issuu.com/nyusterncenterforbusinessandhumanri/docs/nyu_bangladesh_ranaplaza_final_rele?e=31640827/64580941">subcontract part of the production to smaller factories</a>, often without informing the brand.</p>
<p>This highly competitive environment, with people at each step of the process looking for the lowest price and no guarantee of longer-term relationships, gives suppliers incentives to cut corners – particularly when under extreme pressure to deliver on time. This can translate into <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bangladesh-worker-rights/bangladesh-urged-to-stop-worker-abuse-in-garment-industry-idUSKBN20W25O">exploitative labor practices</a> or unsafe conditions that violate local laws, but enforcement capacity is weak. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman cries, her face hidden in her brightly colored headscarf." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/522277/original/file-20230421-14-ssu9z8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nilufer Begum, an injured garment worker who survived the Rana Plaza disaster, during a 2018 interview with AFP in her small tea stall.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/in-this-photograph-taken-on-april-17-2018-nilufer-begum-an-news-photo/949797208?adppopup=true">Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In their constant quest for lower prices, buyers may turn a blind eye to these practices. The supply chain’s opaqueness, especially when brands do not source directly, makes it difficult to investigate and remediate these practices. Since the 1990s, international <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.7591/9781501727290-004/pdf">scrutiny of labor conditions</a> has grown, but reform efforts largely ignored building and fire safety, the prime reason for the Rana Plaza collapse. Because multiple buyers would often use the same factory, no single buyer felt obligated to invest in the supplier to ensure better conditions.</p>
<p>Garments traverse a complex global supply network by the time they reach stores thousands of miles away. Workers are caught in this web, exploited by factory management that is seldom held responsible by governments either <a href="https://www.npr.org/2013/05/09/182637164/bangladeshs-powerful-garment-sector-fends-off-regulation">unwilling or unable to enforce laws</a>. Western brands escape the scrutiny of their governments by outsourcing production to low-cost countries and absolve themselves of direct responsibility. And consumers, eager for a bargain, shop for the lowest price. </p>
<p>This complex system makes it hard to assign ethical responsibility, because everyone, and therefore no one, is guilty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201538/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ravi Anupindi is affiliated with Fair Labor Association. </span></em></p>Ten years after the collapse at Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, the garment industry’s deadliest disaster, reforms are incomplete. The opaqueness of today’s complex supply chain is part of the problem.Ravi Anupindi, Professor of Technology and Operations, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1944242023-01-09T13:17:10Z2023-01-09T13:17:10ZWhat’s a ‘gig’ job? How it’s legally defined affects workers’ rights and protections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/501637/original/file-20221216-21-4ccz2k.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C103%2C2923%2C1594&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A rally for Uber and Lyft drivers in 2019 reflects desire for workers to have same benefits as employees.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/California-GigEconomy/ad2325c039b24f07a054653758ffbedb/photoa">AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The “gig” economy has captured the attention of technology futurists, journalists, academics and policymakers. </p>
<p>“Future of work” discussions tend toward two extremes: breathless <a href="https://hbr.org/2018/03/thriving-in-the-gig-economy">excitement at the brave new world</a> that provides greater flexibility, mobility and entrepreneurial energy, or <a href="https://giveget.medium.com/yes-the-gig-economy-sucks-no-its-not-fulfilling-its-promise-of-freedom-af9738939f16">dire accounts</a> of its immiserating impacts on the workers who labor beneath the gig economy’s yoke. </p>
<p>These widely diverging views may be partly due to the <a href="https://www.gigeconomydata.org/basics/what-gig-worker">many</a> <a href="https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/human-resources/what-is-a-gig-worker">definitions</a> of what constitutes “gig work” and the resulting difficulties in measuring its prevalence. As an academic who has studied workplace laws for decades and ran <a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd">the federal agency</a> that enforces workplace protections during the Obama administration, I know the way we define, measure and treat gig workers under the law has significant consequences for workers. That’s particularly true for those lacking leverage in the labor market. </p>
<p>While there are benefits for workers for this emerging model of employment, there are pitfalls as well. Confusion over the meaning and size of the gig workforce – at times the <a href="https://www.thetruthaboutcwi.com/">intentional work</a> of companies with a vested economic interest – can obscure the problems gig status can have on workers’ earnings, workplace conditions and opportunities. </p>
<h2>Defining gig work</h2>
<p>Many trace the phrase “gig economy” to a 2009 <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gig-economy">essay</a> in which editor and author Tina Brown proclaimed: “No one I know has a job anymore. They’ve got Gigs.” </p>
<p>Although Brown focused on professional and semiprofessional workers chasing short-term work, the term soon applied to a <a href="https://dollarsandsense.org/archives/2014/0314friedman.html">variety of jobs</a> in low-paid occupations and industries. Several years later, the rapid ascent of Uber, Lyft and DoorDash led the term gig to be associated with <a href="https://hbr.org/2016/11/what-motivates-gig-economy-workers">platform and digital business models</a>. More recently, the pandemic linked gig work to a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonchandler/2020/04/07/coronavirus-turns-uber-into-gig-platform-for-all-work/?sh=16b9628b1db9">broader set of jobs</a> associated with high turnover, <a href="https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3h60d754">limited career prospects</a>, volatile wages and exposure to COVID-19 risk.</p>
<p>The imprecision of gig therefore connotes different things: <a href="https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2018/contingent-workers/home.htm">Some uses</a> focus on the temporary or “contingent” nature of the work, such as jobs that may be terminated at any time, usually at the discretion of the employer. <a href="https://shift.hks.harvard.edu/">Other definitions</a> focus on the unpredictability of work in terms of earnings, scheduling, hours provided in a workweek or location. Still <a href="https://www.fissuredworkplace.net/">other depictions</a> focus on the business structure through which work is engaged – a staffing agency, digital platform, contractor or other intermediary. Further <a href="https://research.upjohn.org/reports/271/">complicating</a> the definition of gig is whether the focus is on a worker’s primary source of income or on side work meant to supplement income.</p>
<h2>Measuring gig work</h2>
<p>These differing definitions of gig work have led to widely varying estimates of its prevalence. </p>
<p>A conservative estimate from the <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/conemp.nr0.htm">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> household-based survey of “alternative work arrangements” suggests that gig workers “in non-standard categories” account for about 10% of employment. Alternatively, other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2021.101974">researchers</a> estimate the prevalence as three times as common, or 32.5%, using a Federal Reserve survey that broadly defines gig work to include any work that is temporary and variable in nature as either a primary or secondary source of earnings. And when freelancing platform <a href="https://www.upwork.com/research/freelance-forward-2021">Upworks</a> and consulting firm <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/sustainable-inclusive-growth/future-of-america/freelance-side-hustles-and-gigs-many-more-americans-have-become-independent-workers">McKinsey & Co.</a> use a broader concept of “independent work,” they report rates as high as 36% of employed respondents. </p>
<p>No consensus definition or measurement approach has emerged, despite many attempts, including a 2020 <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/25822/chapter/1">panel report</a> by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Various estimates do suggest several common themes, however: Gig work is sizable, present in both traditional and digital workplaces, and draws upon workers across the age, education, demographic and skill spectrum. </p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>As the above indicates, gig workers can range from high-paid professionals working on a project-to-project basis to low-wage workers whose earnings are highly variable, who work in nonprofessional or semiprofessional occupations and who accept – by choice or necessity – volatile hours and a short-term time commitment from the organization paying for that work. </p>
<p>Regardless of their professional status, many workers operating in gig arrangements are classified as independent contractors rather than employees. As <a href="https://equitablegrowth.org/how-u-s-companies-harm-workers-by-making-them-independent-contractors/">independent contractors</a>, workers lose rights to a minimum wage, <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220927">overtime</a> and a safe and healthy work environment as well as protections against discrimination and harassment. Independent contractors also lose access to unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation and paid sick leave now required in many states. </p>
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<p>Federal and state <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2002/01/art1full.pdf">laws</a> differ in the factors they draw on to make that call. A key concept underlying that determination is how “<a href="https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/13-flsa-employment-relationship">economically dependent</a>” the worker is on the employer or contracting party. Greater economic independence – for example, the ability to determine price of service, how and where tasks are done and opportunities for expanding or contracting that work based on the individual’s own skills, abilities and enterprise – suggest a role as an independent contractor. </p>
<p>In contrast, if the hiring party basically calls the shots – for example, controlling what the individual does, how they do their work and when they do it, what they are permitted to do and not do, and what performance is deemed acceptable – this suggests employee status. That’s because workplace laws are generally geared toward employees and seek to protect workers who have unequal bargaining leverage in the labor market, a concept based on <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/300/379/">long-standing Supreme Court precedent</a>. </p>
<h2>Making work more precarious</h2>
<p>Over the past few decades, a <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/gig-worker-survey/">growing number of low-wage workers</a> find themselves in gig work situations – everything from platform drivers and delivery personnel to construction laborers, distribution workers, short-haul truck drivers and <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20221110-1">home health aides</a>. Taken together, the grouping could easily exceed <a href="https://doi.org/10.7758/RSF.2019.5.5.08">20 million workers</a>.</p>
<p>Many companies have incentives to <a href="https://www.nelp.org/publication/independent-contractor-misclassification-imposes-huge-costs-workers-federal-state-treasuries-update-october-2020/">misclassify</a> these workers as independent contractors in order to reduce costs and risks, not because of a truly transformed nature of work where those so classified are real entrepreneurs or self-standing businesses. </p>
<p>Since gig work tends to be <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/29/gig-economy-traps-workers-in-precarious-existence-says-report">volatile</a> and <a href="https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-15-168r">contingent</a>, losing employment protections amplifies the precariousness of work. A business using misclassified workers can gain cost advantages over competitors who treat their workers as employees as required by the law. This competitive dynamic can spread misclassification to new companies, industries and occupations – a problem we addressed directly, for example, in <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20140827">construction cases</a> when I led the Wage and Hour Division and <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/whd/whd20220308">more recently in several health care cases</a>. </p>
<p>The future of work is not governed by immutable technological forces but involves volitional private and public choices. Navigating to that future requires weighing the benefits gig work can provide <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/business/economy/gig-work.html">some workers with greater economic independence</a> against the continuing need to protect and bestow rights for the many workers who will continue to play on a very uneven playing field in the labor market.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194424/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Over the last two decades, David Weil has received funding from the US Department of Labor, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to study how business organization affects workers under federal and state workplace laws.
He also led the US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division in the Obama administration. He has periodically advised state and federal government organizations regarding workplace laws and their enforcement. </span></em></p>What a ‘gig worker’ is remains ill-defined, which can suit employers. But the spread of the gig economy means more workers don’t have the same rights and protections as employees.David Weil, Visiting Senior Faculty Fellow, Ash Center for Democracy Harvard Kennedy School / Professor, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1874272022-07-26T20:05:04Z2022-07-26T20:05:04ZWorking from home: 7 tips to boost wellbeing and productivity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475805/original/file-20220725-25-slro76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=55%2C77%2C7333%2C4841&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businesswoman-working-on-laptop-computer-600w-1708606831.jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Telstra and Westpac are the <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/coronavirus-update-australia-telstra-westpac-encourage-staff-work-from-home-covid-19-wave/4bdb581f-1ad7-4d46-bb79-b460e85903a4">latest companies</a> to encourage staff to work from home, just a few months after some of them returned to the office. </p>
<p>Working from home for extended periods can <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/00483481211229375/full/html?casa_token=pXpuOLzcnwgAAAAA:a79KNhqriGj77CxzD3TpQvwzKraj7PKn2Y9yFATu4m-NzJC0Nv7AsPeWIkX3g_VH1D9FnTPDc4n3y5AvcXVOHp7bqQXlm_L8xPt50t_v_0PK5w3F7ZY">leave employees</a> feeling socially and professionally isolated. When people work from home, they have fewer opportunities to interact and acquire information, which may explain why remote workers feel <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-16251-016">less confident</a> than their office-based counterparts.</p>
<p>Researchers <a href="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/news/articles/2022/release/pros-and-cons-of-working-from-home">also report</a> working from home (WFH) is linked to negative physical health outcomes such as increased musculoskeletal pain and weight gain, as well as exhaustion.</p>
<p>If you are still working from home or your employer has just reinstated it, the good news is there are evidence-backed tips that can help overcome the challenges. Here are seven tips to navigating the coming weeks and months. </p>
<h2>1. Maintain your connections</h2>
<p>A chief complaint in surveys about working from home is social isolation. We miss connecting with our colleagues and friends. </p>
<p>Loneliness has significant implications for our work, with <a href="https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/ambpp.2011.65869714">research</a> showing work loneliness can result in emotional withdrawal, which ultimately leads to deteriorating performance and wellbeing, as well as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1745691614568352?casa_token=XofIRHMw5XkAAAAA%3AXkIlmOxQOFUfU8yDl0mwKJz0_fdfjqw1F37nT8vdlCc6X0-KwyblOy4oa2xi6i31bX_IDZ2eAxu9">poorer health</a>.</p>
<p>Now lockdown restrictions have ended, maintaining connection is easier. Planning regular meet-ups with colleagues is an easy and effective way to overcome the social isolation felt working from home. Infection risks can be lessened by wearing <a href="https://theconversation.com/masks-are-strongly-suggested-by-health-authorities-as-the-winter-covid-wave-hits-heres-how-effective-they-are-187006">respirators</a> when you can’t socially distance. You should also stay home if you’re sick. </p>
<p>Some companies are now also implementing <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23748834.2022.2050103">walking meetings</a>. As well as connecting with others, it’s an easy way to get some exercise as well as the stress-reducing <a href="https://content.iospress.com/articles/work/wor2211">benefits</a> of nature. In one <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2014-14435-001">study</a>, walking was shown to increase creativity by 81%.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/masks-are-strongly-suggested-by-health-authorities-as-the-winter-covid-wave-hits-heres-how-effective-they-are-187006">Masks are 'strongly suggested' by health authorities as the winter COVID wave hits. Here's how effective they are</a>
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<h2>2. Tidy up regularly</h2>
<p>While a <a href="https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/a-messy-desk-is-a-sign-of-genius-according-to-scie.html">messy desk</a> has helped win a Nobel prize and may be helpful for creativity, removing clutter is <a href="https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-case-for-finally-cleaning-your-desk">recommended</a> for a lot of the other types of tasks we undertake in an average workday. A clutter-free desk may <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0360132318307157">reduce the cognitive load</a> on our brains, making us more productive. </p>
<p><a href="https://hbr.org/2019/03/the-case-for-finally-cleaning-your-desk">Researchers</a> have found clutter influences employees’ thinking, emotions and behaviours. These factors affect decision-making, relationships, stress, eating choices and even sleep.</p>
<h2>3. Limit Zoom meetings and reduce ‘pings’</h2>
<p>As technology platforms proliferate, so does the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-why-zoom-meetings-are-so-exhausting-137404">overload and distraction for our brains</a>. After more than two years of WFH, the prospect of yet another Zoom meeting may well be uninspiring. </p>
<p>There are a few things we can do. Switch off notifications if possible, and ask whether each meeting really needs to happen. Using document sharing and email can sometimes replace meetings. A good old-fashioned telephone call may also be a good alternative. During a phone call, we only have to concentrate on one voice and can walk around, which can help <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2014-14435-001">thinking</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="laptop shows zoom participants, plus a coffee cup" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/475804/original/file-20220725-69862-u5n9jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Talking to one person on the phone might be more efficient than another zoom.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1588196749597-9ff075ee6b5b?ixlib=rb-1.2.1&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1674&q=80">Unsplash/Chris Montgomery</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-why-zoom-meetings-are-so-exhausting-137404">5 reasons why Zoom meetings are so exhausting</a>
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</em>
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<h2>4. Ask for feedback</h2>
<p>Wondering how we are doing on the job undermines one of the key psychological drivers of our work, a sense of competence. It might be harder to gauge how your manager thinks you’re tracking with expectations, if you’re socially distant.</p>
<p>Obtaining feedback is <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-0663.78.3.210">vital</a> for employees to develop this sense of competence, so make sure you ask for regular feedback.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-more-important-than-ever-for-workplaces-to-have-staff-well-being-plans-186807">Why it's more important than ever for workplaces to have staff well-being plans</a>
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</em>
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<h2>5. Create a WFH space</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1350508411405376?casa_token=yBVcdHfEPZ0AAAAA%3ADOO9-Och7dKAQz_AqwnGnKG9LR1NyPV___s9mAbIzpjg7rwawvBcoN0Zoa39DKzdm_aO81igoqQ2">Research</a> suggests replicating what you might have in the office can be a good way to control or mark out a work space at home. Having a proper desk does actually matter. </p>
<p>While few of us will have something as incredible as a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI_sipn76wI">musical puzzle desk</a>, we can start with a desk that is both functional and attractive. </p>
<p>A flat surface, ergonomic chair, and suitable lighting can <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1518/155723408x342871">reduce problems</a> such as eye strain, muscular pain or stiffness and back injuries, as well as decreasing fatigue.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/get-a-proper-chair-dont-eat-at-your-desk-and-no-phones-in-the-loo-how-to-keep-your-home-workspace-safe-and-hygienic-143535">Get a proper chair, don't eat at your desk, and no phones in the loo – how to keep your home workspace safe and hygienic</a>
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</em>
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<h2>6. Identify restorative spaces</h2>
<p>Spaces that promote psychological and emotional detachment from work are also important. Restorative spaces, such as lounge areas, cafes, nature rooms and meditations spaces have begun to
<a href="https://www.inc.com/jeff-pochepan/recharge-rooms-are-next-trend-your-employees-need-in-office.html">emerge</a> in office settings in recent years. </p>
<p>Such spaces have been <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hoRooqUJwVsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=sally+augustin&ots=uDaGqQl1RF&sig=ah1vogGgrH8B7DTYh2JOLs4j5-M#v=onepage&q=sally%20augustin&f=false">shown</a> to support mental and physical replenishment. </p>
<p>Taking a break on your favourite couch or in a sunny spot during the workday is an important part of maintaining wellbeing and productivity – not something to feel guilty about.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/great-time-to-try-travel-writing-from-the-home-134664">Great time to try: travel writing from the home</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>7. Find ways to disconnect</h2>
<p>It can be <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/14754390910937530/full/html?queryID=22%2F5406560">hard</a> for employees who are working from home to switch off, particularly if we don’t have a dedicated home office space.</p>
<p>Around <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-005X.00063?casa_token=foU1gURv0sMAAAAA:ibKr_TNfW-8H9xPMgc4wlfiYYK6cU8oyU29PgiUuKCDT0YDY3rZCOUZFlnZdZ9zg0_kAdm-qybDzwA">half</a> of employees increase their work hours when WFH. Not being able to switch off can have implications beyond the work day. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/report/2017/working-anytime-anywhere-the-effects-on-the-world-of-work">study</a> from 15 countries found 42% of individuals who worked from home had trouble sleeping and woke up repeatedly in the night, compared to only 29% of individuals who always worked in the office.</p>
<p>Many workers enjoy not having to commute to the office, but there is a potential <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0090261600800169">downside</a> to losing the “transition time” involved in travelling from home. We might use this time to separate private issues from work ones, to prepare for the day ahead or process the one just passed. </p>
<p>In addition to practical considerations such as shutting down software and finalising tasks, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-16971-001">research</a> shows using defined end-of-day rituals can help achieve psychological detachment, emotional regulation of the nervous system and reduce physiological stress. </p>
<p>Instead of commuting, meditation, journaling, listening to music,
engaging in hobbies or pleasurable activities, or undertaking exercise can <a href="https://store.hbr.org/product/how-to-stop-thinking-about-work-at-3am/H05C3W">give us</a> a mental break, so we aren’t still thinking about work hours later. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-boundaries-between-work-and-home-vanish-employees-need-a-right-to-disconnect-158897">As boundaries between work and home vanish, employees need a 'right to disconnect'</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>More than two years into a forced global experiment, we now know a lot more about the benefits and challenges of working from home. Implementing these simple, evidence-backed strategies can make a big difference to our wellbeing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187427/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Libby (Elizabeth) Sander does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Stay connected but switch off too. Working from home requires a delicate balance to protect your wellbeing and get the job done. Here are some tips.Libby (Elizabeth) Sander, MBA Director & Assistant Professor of Organisational Behaviour, Bond Business School, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1834962022-07-05T19:10:16Z2022-07-05T19:10:16ZDelay and deflect: How women gig workers respond to sexual harassment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468473/original/file-20220613-26-rnp35x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C5727%2C3778&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Service provider apps are set up in ways that endanger gig workers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>These days, we use apps to order food, call ride-sharing vehicles, assign home improvement tasks and personal errands. But these apps depend on people to deliver the promised service — to deliver food, provide rides and complete tasks. These gig workers use the apps to find work, and in North America, <a href="https://teamstage.io/gig-economy-statistics/">nearly half of these service workers are women</a>.</p>
<p>Platforms that provide gig services use powerful algorithms, artificial intelligence and big data to provide access for millions of gig workers and customers. That was <a href="https://www.citivelocity.com/citigps/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Uber_Drivers_of_Disruption.pd_.pdf">how these platforms were able to disrupt established industries</a>, like taxi and delivery services.</p>
<p>However, women gig workers deal with bias and harassment in the workplace. Women Uber drivers, for instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/restud/rdaa081">earn less</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3359319">feel unsafe</a> and <a href="http://lerachapters.org/OJS/ojs-2.4.4-1/index.php/PFL/article/view/3263">experience unwanted advances and sexual assaults</a>.</p>
<h2>Feeling unsafe and powerless</h2>
<p>Gig workers are rated for their performance on the platforms they use to provide the service. We interviewed 20 women gig workers and found <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3517524">that women gig workers experience harassment on the job, and develop response mechanisms to protect their ratings and future work opportunities</a>.</p>
<p>Women drivers felt that they faced more scrutiny from customers regarding their driving skills and how they were dressed, and this sometimes affected their ratings. Some women workers noted that they did not enjoy driving passengers because they felt unsafe and judged.</p>
<p>Women drivers had to deal with unwanted sexual comments and behaviours from customers, and considered this to be part of the job. To reduce their risk of harassment, women would be more selective of when and where they would work, which further worsened the pay gap because they would miss out on prime earning opportunities, such as weekends and evening hours.</p>
<p>Gig platforms prioritize assigning jobs to drivers with higher ratings, which prevented women drivers from confronting customers who made them feel uncomfortable. Prioritizing customer satisfaction comes at the expense of women workers’ safety and well-being. The design of the apps currently allows drivers to be harassed with impunity.</p>
<p>The platforms fail to enforce effective harassment prevention policies to their rating, matching and recommendation features.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Reshaping Work looks at the women in the gig economy.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Complicit platforms</h2>
<p>Our research found that in response to the harassment, women gig workers would “brush off” harassment because they were concerned about how the customer would rate them. Jennifer (all names used are pseudonyms), an Uber driver, said: “Is it worth it? Is it worth your life to speak up right now? And most of the time it’s not, so you just don’t.”</p>
<p>Due to concerns about the immediate threat and rating retaliation, the women workers we interviewed found it difficult to stand up for themselves in the moment. They hesitate reporting these encounters because the recourse process is time-consuming and difficult.</p>
<p>The only option left for them is to let the harassers get away with bad behaviours. To de-escalate potentially dangerous situations, the women laugh off the remarks or play along. Annette, an Uber driver, called this tactic “delay and deflect.”</p>
<p>Another gig worker, Penny, told us: “It bothers me, yes. I have a choice of losing it and getting angry and taking time to gather myself to the point where I can work again, or I can take a different route and just realize OK, you got this person here for five minutes and then they’re getting out of your car and you will never see them again.”</p>
<p>And Jennifer explained how the platform’s rating mechanism is complicit because in “certain situations, it’s just not worth standing up for yourself because if you do, and they give you a bad rating, it’s not like Uber reaches out to you to get clarification on the issue.”</p>
<h2>Invaluable assets</h2>
<p>Women workers are invaluable assets to the gig ecosystem. For instance, women passengers feel more comfortable when the driver is another woman. One driver told us that “[women passengers] are so creeped out by who the drivers are. [Passengers tell me] ‘Thank God, Tiffany, you’re driving me home.’”</p>
<p>Some platforms have implemented panic buttons that can dial 911 in an emergency, but this measure misses the point that an overwhelming amount of harassment encounters are more subtle, and not all of them are physical. Involving law enforcement could potentially escalate a situation that could place the women in danger or waste valuable money-making time.</p>
<p>Ella, who completes tasks like assembling furniture and home repair, shared that more than 90 per cent of her customers are women. She speculates this is because she herself is a woman.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a woman in a mask wearing a blue shirt puts together furniture" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/472136/original/file-20220702-22-jm9mwx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women taskers — gig workers who complete home-based tasks — are popular on apps like TaskRabbit because other women feel more comfortable hiring them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The platforms do not explicitly discriminate against women workers, but they ignore both the gendered reality of women’s experiences and the advantages women workers bring. Our research highlights the gender-insensitive design of gig platforms by illustrating the platform’s inaction and failure to account for women’s lived experiences.</p>
<p>Ratings are an insufficient and lazy way of quality control that shifts the balance of control to the customer. Gig platforms need to address the limits of rating and rewards systems that further marginalize women. Current rating systems give disproportionate power to customers, <a href="https://doi.org/10.18420/ecscw2017-27">which leads to more biased results for women workers</a>. </p>
<h2>Safety for everyone</h2>
<p>Platforms need to consider gender when designing their features and systems. They can start by listening to women. For example, <a href="https://trips4w.com/">Trips4Women</a> is a women-only ride-sharing platform.</p>
<p>Further, platforms can provide safe spaces for women workers, such as designating public rest areas and partnering with commercial locations to identify worker-friendly washroom and rest facilities.</p>
<p>Both customers and gig platforms benefit when women workers thrive. Supporting women does not come at the cost of alienating other workers. To the contrary, supporting women workers will inevitably benefit workers overall by providing a safe and secure work environment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rating services on ride and task apps disadvantage gig workers, whose future work assignments are affected by their ratings. Women workers are made vulnerable, and have to contend with harassment.Ning Ma, Postdoctoral Researcher, Computer Science, University of British ColumbiaDongwook Yoon, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1701992021-11-09T19:40:31Z2021-11-09T19:40:31ZESG investing has a blind spot that puts the $35 trillion industry’s sustainability promises in doubt: Supply chains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431157/original/file-20211109-23-l1r5vy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C44%2C7337%2C4858&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Environmental, social and governance problems in a company's supply chain can be hard for investors to track.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/container-cargo-port-ship-yard-storage-handling-of-royalty-free-image/1300225698">KDP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you own stocks, chances are good you have heard the term <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/esg-88758">ESG</a>. It stands for environmental, social and governance, and it’s a way to laud corporate leaders who take sustainability – including climate change – and social responsibility seriously, and punish those who do not.</p>
<p>In less than two decades since a <a href="https://www.unepfi.org/fileadmin/documents/freshfields_legal_resp_20051123.pdf">United Nations report</a> drew attention to the concept, ESG investing has evolved into a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/-wild-west-of-esg-ripe-for-a-crackdown-veteran-investor-says">US$35 trillion industry</a>. Money managers overseeing <a href="https://www.ussif.org/files/Trends%20Report%202020%20Executive%20Summary.pdf">one-third of total U.S. assets under management said they used ESG criteria in 2020</a>, and by 2025 global assets managed in portfolios labeled “ESG” are expected to reach <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/blog/esg-assets-may-hit-53-trillion-by-2025-a-third-of-global-aum/">$53 trillion</a>.</p>
<p>These investments have gained momentum in part because they cater to investors’ growing desire to have a positive impact on society. By quantifying a company’s actions and outcomes on environmental, social and governance issues, ESG measures offer investors a way to make informed trading decisions. </p>
<p>However, investors’ trust in ESG funds may be misplaced. As scholars in the field of <a href="https://carey.jhu.edu/faculty/faculty-directory/tinglong-dai-phd">supply chain management</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Kk-QbksAAAAJ&hl=en">sustainable operations</a>, we see a major flaw in how rating agencies, such as Bloomberg, MSCI and Sustainalytics, are measuring companies’ ESG risk: the performance of their supply chains.</p>
<p><iframe id="b0h1v" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/b0h1v/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>The problem with ignoring supply chains</h2>
<p>Nearly every company’s operations are backed by a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3593540">global supply chain</a> that consists of workers, information and resources. To accurately measure a company’s ESG risks, its end-to-end supply chain operations must be considered.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3939968">recent examination</a> of ESG measures shows that most ESG rating agencies do not measure companies’ ESG performance from the lens of the global supply chains supporting their operations. </p>
<p>For example, Bloomberg’s <a href="https://www.oecd.org/finance/ESG-Investing-Practices-Progress-Challenges.pdf">ESG measure</a> lists “supply chain” as an item under the “S” (social) pillar. By this measure, supply chains are treated separately from other items, such as carbon emissions, climate change effects, pollutants, and human rights. This means all those items, if not captured in the ambiguous “supply chain” metric, reflect each company’s own actions but not their supply chain partners’. </p>
<p>Even when companies collect their suppliers’ performance, “selective reporting” can arise because there is no unified reporting standard. One recent study found that companies tend to report environmentally responsible suppliers and conceal “bad” suppliers, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3700310">effectively “greenwashing” their supply chain</a>.</p>
<p>Carbon emissions are another example. Many companies, such as <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-07-13/why-former-executives-warn-of-false-gains-in-esg-frenzy">Timberland</a>, have claimed great successes in reducing emissions from their own operations. Yet the emissions from their supply chain partners and customers, known as “<a href="https://www.msci.com/www/blog-posts/scope-3-carbon-emissions-seeing/02092372761">Scope 3 emissions</a>,” may remain high. ESG rating agencies have not been able to adequately include Scope 3 emissions because of a <a href="https://www.scoperatings.com/#!search/research/detail/166389EN">lack of data</a>: Only 19% of companies in the manufacturing industry and 22% in the service industry disclose this data.</p>
<p>More broadly, without accounting for a company’s entire supply chain, ESG measures fail to reflect global supply chain networks that today’s big and small companies alike depend on for their day-to-day operations.</p>
<h2>Amazon and the third-party-supplier problem</h2>
<p>Amazon, for example, is among ESG funds’ <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_world_may_be_better_off_without_esg_investing">largest</a> and <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9e3e1d8b-bf9f-4d8c-baee-0b25c3113319">favorite</a> holdings. As a company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-bigger-than-walmart-overall-sales-2021-8">bigger</a> than Walmart in terms of annual sales, Amazon has reported emissions from shipping that are only <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-target-amazon-among-biggest-maritime-polluters-overseas-shipping-impact-report-2021-7">one-seventh</a> of Walmart’s. But when researchers for two advocacy groups reviewed public data on imports, they found only about <a href="https://www.pacificenvironment.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/SIZ_Shady-Ships-Report.pdf">15% of Amazon’s ocean shipments</a> could be tracked. </p>
<p>In addition, Amazon’s figure does not reflect emissions generated by its many third-party sellers and their suppliers who operate outside the U.S. This difference matters: Whereas Walmart’s supply chain relies on a centralized procurement strategy, Amazon’s supply chain is highly decentralized – <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/259782/third-party-seller-share-of-amazon-platform/">a large percentage</a> of its revenue comes from third-party suppliers, about <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/safety-first-for-online-markets-or-customers-may-shop-elsewhere-51598370480">40%</a> of which sell directly from China, which further complicates emissions tracking and reporting.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Looking down on a worker at a computer in a large warehouse" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/431156/original/file-20211109-19-503xf3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Retailers are skilled at tracking supply chain goods once they arrive, but the impact those goods may already have had on the climate and workers in other countries is often overlooked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/top-view-of-warehouse-worker-using-laptop-to-check-royalty-free-image/1324728773">Kmatta via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another important ESG metric concerns consumer protection. Amazon prides itself as “<a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us">Earth’s most customer-centric company</a>.” However, when its customers have been injured by products sold by third-party sellers on its platform, Amazon has <a href="https://static.reuters.com/resources/media/editorial/20200924/bolgervamazon--appellopinion.pdf">argued that</a> it should not be held liable for the damage, because it functions as an “online marketplace” matching buyers and sellers. Amazon’s foreign third-party sellers are <a href="https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/is-amazon-liable-for-third-party-9783896/">often not subject to U.S. jurisdiction</a> so <a href="https://www.barrons.com/articles/safety-first-for-online-markets-or-customers-may-shop-elsewhere-51598370480">can’t be held accountable</a>.</p>
<p>Yet major ESG rating agencies do not appear to reflect the supply chain implication on customer protection when measuring Amazon supply chain performance. </p>
<p>For example, in 2020, <a href="https://www.msci.com/our-solutions/esg-investing/esg-ratings/esg-ratings-corporate-search-tool/issuer/amazoncom-inc/IID000000002157075">MSCI</a>, the largest ESG ratings agency, upgraded Amazon’s ESG rating from BB to BBB, reflecting its strength in areas such as <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/stock-market/types-of-stocks/esg-investing/esg-rating/">corporate governance and data security</a>, despite its <a href="https://www.modernretail.co/platforms/amazon-briefing-why-amazons-product-liability-risk-is-growing/">consumer liability risk</a>. </p>
<p>These gaps are also concerns for ratings of companies such as <a href="https://fortune.com/2020/07/25/ppe-supply-chain-national-security/">3M</a>, <a href="https://greenalphaadvisors.com/the-s-in-esg-moderna-vs-exxonmobil/">ExxonMobil</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/timabansal/2021/05/13/how-green-is-tesla-really/?sh=5676ee9b1576">Tesla</a>.</p>
<h2>Other countries are adding pressure</h2>
<p>Currently there is no unified reporting standard, so different companies may cherry-pick certain ESG performance measures to report to boost their sustainability and social ratings. </p>
<p>To improve consistency, the next step would be for ESG rating agencies to redesign their methodology to take into account what may be environmentally harmful and unethical operations across the entire global supply chain. ESG rating agencies could, for example, create incentives for companies to collect and disclose their supply chain partners’ activities, such as Scope 3 emissions. </p>
<p>In June 2021, the German Parliament passed the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2021-08-17/germany-new-law-obligates-companies-to-establish-due-diligence-procedures-in-global-supply-chains-to-safeguard-human-rights-and-the-environment/">Supply Chain Due Diligence Act</a>, which will become effective in 2023. Under this new law, large companies based in Germany will be responsible for social and environmental issues arising from their global supply chain networks.</p>
<p>This includes prohibitions on child labor and forced labor, and attention to occupational health and safety throughout the entire supply chain. Those who violate the law face a <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2021-08-17/germany-new-law-obligates-companies-to-establish-due-diligence-procedures-in-global-supply-chains-to-safeguard-human-rights-and-the-environment/">fine of up to 2%</a> of their annual revenues.</p>
<p>The European Union’s new <a href="https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/what-is-the-impact-of-the-eu-sustainable-finance-disclosure-regulation-sfdr">Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation</a>, which went into effect in March 2021, adds pressure in a different way. It requires funds to report details on how they integrate ESG characteristics into their investment decisions. That has led <a href="http://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-09-29/fund-managers-start-axing-esg-buzzword-as-greenwash-rules-bite">some money managers to drop the phrase</a> “ESG integrated” from some of their assets, Bloomberg reported.</p>
<p>Without similar laws in the U.S., we believe ESG rating agencies could fill an important gap. To be sure, surveying a company’s entire supply chain’s ESG performance is far more complex. Yet by tying all the ESG dimensions to a company’s supply chain end-to-end operations, rating agencies can nudge corporate leaders to be responsible for actions across their supply chains that would otherwise be kept in the dark.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 115,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher S. Tang has been a consultant to Amazon, HP, IBM, Nestlé (USA), GKN (UK) and Accenture.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tinglong Dai does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Two supply chain experts see a major flaw in how ratings agencies measure companies’ environmental, social and governance performance.Tinglong Dai, Professor of Operations Management & Business Analytics, Carey Business School, Johns Hopkins UniversityChristopher S. Tang, Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of California, Los AngelesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1686292021-10-01T12:11:13Z2021-10-01T12:11:13ZA major federal response to occupational extreme heat is here at last<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424083/original/file-20210930-16-1rjiwm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2995%2C2038&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Constructions workers in warm climates are often exposed to dangerous heat.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/worker-with-the-moran-roofing-company-takes-a-drink-during-news-photo/71514845?adppopup=true">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The summer of 2021 was devilishly hot across much of the U.S. Just five minutes in an attic guest room with no air conditioning could be enough to leave a person drenched in sweat and lightheaded, as one of us discovered during a heat wave in Washington state. It’s the kind of heat where it’s impossible to move, to think, to do anything.</p>
<p>In parts of the U.S., people work in heat and then <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.301135">go home to heat</a> all summer long. Research shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.04.006">chronic heat exposure</a> is a growing threat to health and productivity, yet it’s often overlooked by employers.</p>
<p>A new <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/20/fact-sheet-biden-administration-mobilizes-to-protect-workers-and-communities-from-extreme-heat/">federal initiative</a> to combat unhealthy heat exposure for vulnerable populations, including workers, could finally provide some relief. By bringing multiple agencies together to solve the problem of heat, the Biden administration has the opportunity to help workers avoid dangerous acute and chronic heat exposure at work and at home.</p>
<p>But the plan has some important gaps and ambiguities that, as <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZQLdJDUAAAAJ&hl=en">infrastructure and policy</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HJxEu3cAAAAJ&hl=en">researchers</a>, we believe should be addressed to keep people safe.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A worker in a reflective vest holds a " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424084/original/file-20210930-24-10dkwnn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A construction worker guides traffic on a humid, 100-degree day in Washington, D.C.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/construction-workers-guide-traffic-along-hot-pavement-on-news-photo/1227714772">Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Image</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Who’s at risk</h2>
<p>Heat is not a health and safety issue if you’re sitting in a well-constructed, air-conditioned building. But people who work primarily outside, whether in agriculture, construction or mining, in military training or on a utility or wildfire crew, may have limited access to a cool environment on hot days, and that can raise their risks.</p>
<p>Heat indoors can also be a threat to workers, such as cooks in a steamy kitchen or factory workers on an assembly line without adequate airflow. Personal protective equipment and clothing like hazmat suits can also intensify the impact of excessive heat.</p>
<p>When heat combines with other hazards, like humidity, particulate matter or ozone in the air, the health risks increase. Even if none of the hazards on its own is considered “extreme,” <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-018-0156-3">combined they may pose a threat</a>. At many points in the day, a worker may face a large cumulative burden of environmental hazards that add up, with few options for adequately dealing with them.</p>
<p>Workers who are exposed to excess heat on the job are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-013-0752-x">more likely</a> than average Americans to be low-income, to be immigrants, to have chronic health problems, to lack health insurance or to live in poor-quality housing without air conditioning. That suggests they may also lack a cool environment at home and may be at higher risk.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sweating cook carries as plate past rows of ovens. The photo is shot with the cook slightly blurred, capturing the frenetic pace of the kitchen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424085/original/file-20210930-24-1ixiie7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Indoor workplaces like kitchens and factories can expose workers to high heat for many hours at a time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/florida-palm-beach-ocean-grand-hotel-kitchen-chefs-along-news-photo/590636427">Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How the body responds to heat</h2>
<p>Cool night temperatures are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-13-0130.1">important for the body to recover</a> from daytime heat exposure. Research has shown that hot nights can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01208-3">reduce the body’s capacity to rehydrate</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/1880-6805-31-14">negatively affect sleep</a>, potentially leading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.3602">more workplace injuries the following day</a>.</p>
<p>A severe heat episode may also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01208-3">permanently harm internal organs</a>. One study linked hospitalization from acute heat illness to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2007.01.003">an increased risk of early death</a> later in life. </p>
<p>People have different thresholds for heat exposure. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(21)01208-3">Preexisting health conditions</a>, such as those affecting the heart or lungs, can increase the likelihood that extreme heat will harm the person’s health. </p>
<p>Whether a person is acclimatized, meaning they have adjusted to the heat, is also important. One hundred degrees Fahrenheit in Seattle (38 Celsius) is different from 100 F in Las Vegas. However, getting used to a climate can only take you so far. The body’s ability to cool itself off <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120708034">diminishes significantly</a> beyond 95 F (35 C). Hence, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120708034">there are upper limits</a> to acclimatization. Likewise, acclimatization may not prevent health effects from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.04.006">chronic heat exposure</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chart showing where heat crosses the dangerous threshold for each percentage of relative humidity. At 100% humidity, 90 degrees is dangerous. At 40% humidity the same temperature requires caution and 108 becomes dangerous." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423736/original/file-20210929-22-16dspdu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Humidity increases the health risk as temperatures rise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.weather.gov/ama/heatindex">NOAA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Adapting workers for the increasing extreme heat</h2>
<p>There are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfclm/kgab005">many strategies</a> for reducing occupational exposure to heat. A workplace may require breaks and offer water; implement technologies that keep workers cool, such as cooling vests; reduce expected rates of productivity when temperatures climb; or even stop work.</p>
<p>Some of these strategies, however, will likely become less effective under <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/assessment-report/ar6/">intensifying climate change</a>. Some locations may face high temperatures combined with humidity levels <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(18)30240-7">that exceed thresholds for workability</a>.</p>
<p>The Biden administration’s new efforts, <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/09/20/fact-sheet-biden-administration-mobilizes-to-protect-workers-and-communities-from-extreme-heat/">announced in late September 2021</a>, provide direction for adapting to extreme heat in and out of the workplace. Some of the proposed strategies include creating standards for heat exposure at work, improving enforcement and inspections for the heat safety of workers, increasing opportunities to direct federal funds to household cooling assistance and technologies, and transforming schools into locations with free air conditioning access. </p>
<p>As presented, the strategies for workers are isolated to the workplace and hot days. However, chronic heat exposure, whether from living in a hot home or a habitually hot climate, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.04.006">is an emerging risk</a>. Worker-specific responses that target social determinants of health and chronic exposure may be necessary, such as improving access to cooling among itinerant workers in temporary housing.</p>
<p>Rapidly reducing emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases is also essential to reduce climate change that will bring <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/">more frequent exposure to dangerous temperatures</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="About a dozen farmworkers in long sleeves, jeans, hats and boots sit in the shade of a covered, open-air truck bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/424087/original/file-20210930-14-pge8l1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Farmworkers get a shade break while picking melons on a hot day in California.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/HeatWaveWorkerProtections/4a696fbde188411b97114bc2852d2c54/photo">AP Photo/Terry Chea</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Other gaps in the plan</h2>
<p>The proposal for addressing the most pressing heat risks across America also has important gaps.</p>
<p>First, other environmental threats like air pollution exacerbate heat-related health impacts but aren’t currently factored in with high temperatures and humidity when developing workplace health and safety standards and heat-health policies. From emergency responders exposed to toxic dust at the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-miami-area-condo-collapse/2021/07/11/1015079803/90-deaths-have-now-been-confirmed-in-the-florida-condo-collapse">Surfside Condo collapse</a> to farmworkers facing <a href="https://abc7.com/farmworkers-extreme-heat-safety-farmworker-fresno-county/6381907/">wildfire smoke in Fresno, California</a>, addressing heat and poor air quality together is a critical need. </p>
<p>Second, the proposal doesn’t address heat risk in other facilities, including prisons and migration detention centers. Here, heat protections and proper enforcement of those protections are critical for both the workers and the people in those facilities.</p>
<p>[<em>Over 110,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>Third, in addition to increasing federal spending on cooling assistance, utilities could be required to stop residential utility <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tej.2020.106859">shut-offs during extreme heat events</a>. Although many utilities provide such protections to people with medical waivers, this process can be arduous.</p>
<p>Solutions should consider what influences a person’s vulnerability to heat, as well as their threat of chronic exposure. Ambitious heat safety policies are critical in a rapidly warming world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168629/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynée Turek-Hankins receives funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the University of Miami. She is an active member of the Miami Climate Alliance and a chapter author for the US Fifth National Climate Assessment. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharine Mach currently receives funding from NSF, NOAA, and the University of Miami. She has previously received funding from the Packard foundation and the Climate and Land Use Alliance. Mach is a lead author for the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report and a chapter lead for the US Fifth National Climate Assessment. She serves as Co-Editor in Chief for Climate Risk Management, an editorial board member for Oxford Open Climate Change, and an advisory committee member for the Aspen Global Change Institute, the Stratospheric Controlled Perturbation Experiment, and Carbon180.</span></em></p>Excessive heat puts your body at risk for organ damage. When workers don’t have a chance to cool off at home between shifts, that harm can accumulate.Lynée Turek-Hankins, Ph.D. Student in Environmental Science & Policy, University of MiamiKatharine Mach, Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, University of MiamiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1374652020-05-29T12:30:58Z2020-05-29T12:30:58ZWith the coronavirus, where government stumbles, litigation will step in<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338061/original/file-20200527-20233-rtiusp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers leave Ford's Chicago Assembly Plant on May 20, 2020 in Chicago, Illinois. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-leave-fords-chicago-assembly-plant-on-may-20-2020-news-photo/1226082592?adppopup=true">Scott Olson/Getty </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has issued a demand: Any further coronavirus aid legislation must <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2020/05/21/corporations-and-consumer-groups-battle-over-covid-19-liability/">protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits</a>.</p>
<p>Democrats have balked, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying they “<a href="https://www.law360.com/health/articles/1267837/mcconnell-wants-broad-liability-shield-in-next-covid-19-bill">have no interest in diminishing protections for employees and customers</a>.” </p>
<p>Superficially, this standoff seems like another example of Washington’s toxic politics, where hope for any legislation rests on crass political trades among bickering partisan factions. </p>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/how-policy-shapes-politics-9780199756117?cc=ca&lang=en&">Our research</a>, though, indicates there’s more to this struggle than just partisan politics. American ambivalence about government has left litigation to play an outsized role in responding to crises like this one. Including protections for businesses against lawsuits alongside a new aid package might make sense. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338063/original/file-20200527-20264-1n65kyk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some passengers on the cruise ship Grand Princess, seen here, sued the ship’s owner for negligence for exposing them to the coronavirus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-coronavirus-stricken-grand-princess-cruise-ship-is-news-photo/1218105547?adppopup=true">Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Disasters lead to court</h2>
<p>Health disasters in the United States – the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30146985/">opioid epidemic</a>, the diseases caused by <a href="https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/up-in-smoke/book237268">tobacco use</a>, <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/291047/suing_the_tobacco_and_lead_pigment_industries">lead paint</a>, <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/dust">asbestos</a>, <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674010260">Agent Orange</a> and <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo5378458.html">many others</a> – often generate a surge of court cases.</p>
<p>But research shows that litigation is an expensive, haphazard way to handle injury claims. Legal action can drive some businesses into bankruptcy while leaving many victims without the money and damages they sought. Studies of the personal injury system suggest that for <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3391.html">every dollar the injured recover, another dollar is spent on lawyers and lawyering</a>. </p>
<p>Although only a small number of cases have been filed so far, the coronavirus pandemic seems likely to replicate this pattern.</p>
<p>At this early stage, class action lawsuits are pending against <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/22/840525310/even-with-covid-19-cases-suing-cruise-lines-is-extraordinarily-difficult">cruise ships</a> on the grounds that they negligently exposed passengers to the virus and, in some cases, prevented them from seeking treatment. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-17/officials-mishandled-lompoc-terminal-island-prison-outbreaks-lawsuit">Prisons</a> and <a href="https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2020/04/23/trapped-in-litigation-lawsuit-warned-of-staffing-shortfalls-at-bronx-nursing-home-before-covid-19-wave/">nursing homes</a>, where many have died as a result of COVID-19, face similar suits. </p>
<p>And personal injury lawsuits are only one type of litigation related to COVID-19. Employers are concerned about <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-coronavirus-employer-liability-workplace-exposure-20200501-dye6husnszchpnpaadiensn2ja-story.html">potential liability for bringing workers back too soon</a>, while others are already facing suits over <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/class-action-litigation-related-to-covid-19-filed-and-anticipated-cases">wages, worker safety protections, pensions, privacy, and disability accommodations and discrimination claims</a>. </p>
<p>Consumers are suing airlines, colleges and universities, ticketing agencies and others for <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/class-action-litigation-related-to-covid-19-filed-and-anticipated-cases">refunds</a>. Bankruptcies – another kind of litigation – are <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/wisconsin/articles/2020-04-14/more-wisconsin-farmers-filing-for-bankruptcy">reportedly on the rise</a>, and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/bankruptcy-and-the-coronavirus/">many more will surely follow</a>, as businesses collapse under the weight of stay-at-home orders and people with no or limited insurance face crushing medical bills. </p>
<p>While conservatives like McConnell and his fellow party members have legitimate concerns about the potential costs of litigation, they’re wrong about why litigation happens in the first place. They tend to attribute surges of litigation to a kind of character defect: Americans, they contend, have become whiny victims who, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/stop-the-lawsuits-related-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic">urged on by greedy lawyers, sue at every opportunity</a>. </p>
<p>Scholars, however, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/884211/Reading_the_landscape_of_disputes_What_we_know_and_dont_know_and_think_we_know_about_our_allegedly_contentious_and_litigious_society">question whether Americans are more innately litigious than citizens of other affluent countries</a>. They point instead to a <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674238367">fundamental tension in American politics that gives courts an unusually prominent role in public policy</a>. </p>
<p>On one hand, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/26/few-americans-support-cuts-to-most-government-programs-including-medicaid/">Americans want protections against pervasive social problems</a>, such as environmental harms, unsafe products and sudden economic downturns. </p>
<p>On the other hand, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520243231/lawyers-lawsuits-and-legal-rights">many Americans are skeptical of the typical response of most nations to such problems</a>: a larger welfare and regulatory state.</p>
<p>And even when a majority of Americans favor expanding government, our fragmented lawmaking process, in which bills must pass through multiple committees and two chambers of Congress and be signed by the president, provide repeated opportunities for special interest groups to block sweeping reforms.</p>
<p>This leaves those in distress to pursue help where they can find it, in the legal system.</p>
<h2>Asbestos cases: 730,000 claims in US, only 10 in Netherlands</h2>
<p>Consider the <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/dust">asbestos crisis</a>. Asbestos is a “<a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/magic-mineral-to-killer-dust-9780198296904?cc=ca&lang=en&">magic mineral</a>,” which is flexible enough to be woven into cloth yet stronger than steel. After World War II, manufacturers used it in everything from hair driers to automobile brakes to ship boilers. </p>
<p>The problem is that exposure to asbestos can be deadly, causing fatal diseases such as asbestosis, a progressive scarring of the lungs that slowly strangulates its victims, and mesothelioma, a fast-acting cancer of the linings of the lungs.</p>
<p>Contrary to the myth of litigiousness, American workers exposed to asbestos did not immediately sue when they starting falling ill in growing numbers in the late 1960s. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338067/original/file-20200527-20264-18jweul.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">GOP leader Sen. Mitch McConnell says any further coronavirus aid legislation must protect businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/senate-majority-leader-mitch-mcconnell-republican-of-news-photo/1214038033?adppopup=true">Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, they filed claims with state workers’ compensation programs for lost wages and help with their medical bills. When these programs provided very limited relief, they turned to lawyers, who found new ways to hold companies liable for the failure to warn their workers about the dangers of their products. </p>
<p>Over the next few decades, asbestos litigation skyrocketed. By the early 2000s, Americans had filed an estimated 730,000 claims for damages associated with their illnesses and to punish companies for their reckless conduct. Those claims have bankrupted scores of businesses while providing victims slow and erratic payments. The final price tag could reach an estimated <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/dust">US$325 billion in today’s dollars</a>.</p>
<p>The Netherlands offers an instructive contrast. Dutch workers suffered from asbestos-related diseases at five to 10 times the rate of <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674238367">American workers</a>. </p>
<p>Yet Dutch workers had filed a total of 10 – 10! – <a href="http://press.georgetown.edu/book/georgetown/dust">lawsuits against businesses by the early 1990s</a>.</p>
<p>Dutch workers had little incentive to sue, because they were guaranteed relatively generous health and unemployment benefits from the government that would be deducted from any recovery in the courts.</p>
<h2>Less government; more litigation</h2>
<p>The asbestos example underscores an implicit trade in the American approach to social problems that leaves both Republicans and Democrats unsatisfied: less “government” but more litigation. </p>
<p>It is the same trade that leaves <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/15/us/politics/republicans-health-care-bill-medical-malpractice-suits.html">Republicans railing against medical malpractice lawsuits</a> while <a href="https://democrats.org/where-we-stand/the-issues/health-care/">Democrats decry the lack of universal health insurance</a>. </p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic, like other health disasters, has revealed the downsides of this trade for both businesses and households. Businesses, already under financial strain from the pandemic, worry that the trickle of lawsuits that has already begun will turn into a torrent. Displaced workers lack adequate health care insurance and have no guarantee they will be protected from poverty when their unemployment benefits run out.</p>
<p>This brings us back to the congressional standoff. Congress could clarify the responsibilities of businesses, creating a safe harbor from lawsuits: If businesses adopt model sanitation and social distancing measures and provide workers with protective equipment, they could not be sued on the grounds that these procedures were inadequate. In exchange, the aid package should ensure that workers’ lost wages and medical costs associated with the pandemic are fully covered. </p>
<p>This would not be a cynical partisan deal. It would be an exchange of remedies, replacing some forms of litigation, which have often proved expensive and unreliable mechanisms for protecting workers and consumers, with direct support for those whose health and livelihoods have been devastated. </p>
<p>If properly structured, such a deal would offer more aid for victims of the coronavirus and more legal certainty for businesses seeking to reopen. That would be a win for both sides – and a step away from depending so much on courts to respond to disasters like this pandemic.</p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137465/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>American ambivalence about government has left the courts to play an outsized role responding to public health crises like lead poisoning, asbestos-related illnesses and now, the coronavirus pandemic.Jeb Barnes, Professor of Political Science, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and SciencesThomas F. Burke, Ralph Emerson and Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of Political Science, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1375622020-05-01T12:17:03Z2020-05-01T12:17:03ZWhy offering businesses immunity from coronavirus liability is a bad idea<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/331640/original/file-20200430-42942-5kvqlo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C4277%2C2529&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Taking reasonable precautions such as wearing gloves can help businesses avoid civil liability.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Governors around the country are attempting to restart the economy by <a href="https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/us/states-reopen-coronavirus-trnd/">easing restrictions</a> put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The prospect of returning to “normal” amid a pandemic has businesses <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/business/businesses-coronavirus-liability.html">lobbying Congress</a> to grant them sweeping immunity from civil liability for failure to adequately protect workers and customers from infection.</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/business/businesses-coronavirus-liability.html">warned</a> of an “avalanche” of lawsuits that will stymie economic recovery efforts if Congress does not act quickly. He said <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/495155-mcconnell-draws-red-line-coronavirus-bill-wont-pass-senate-without-liability">he won’t let another coronavirus bailout pass the Senate</a> unless it also shields companies from coronavirus-related liability.</p>
<p><a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo35855002.html">My research</a> on the role of civil lawsuits in reducing foodborne illness outbreaks suggests that fears of excessive litigation are unwarranted. What’s more, the modest liability exposure that does exist is important to ensuring businesses take reasonable coronavirus precautions as they reopen their doors.</p>
<h2>How not to be careless</h2>
<p>As a general matter, businesses are subject to civil liability for <a href="https://injury.findlaw.com/accident-injury-law/proving-fault-what-is-negligence.html">carelessness</a> that causes injury to others. The law defines carelessness as a failure to exercise “reasonable care.”</p>
<p>In applying this standard, courts consider several factors: </p>
<ul>
<li>Did the business take available <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/negligence">cost-effective precautions</a> to prevent injury? </li>
<li>Did the business comply with <a href="https://www.nolo.com/dictionary/negligence-per-se-term.html">laws or regulations</a> designed to protect public health and safety? </li>
<li>Did the business conform to <a href="http://www.kohlerlaw.com/CustomasProofofNegligence">industry standards</a> for health and safety? </li>
<li>Did the business exercise <a href="https://www.lawnow.org/the-reasonable-person/">common sense</a>? </li>
</ul>
<p>If the answer to one or more of the questions is no, then a court may conclude that the business was careless and is subject to liability for damages to customers who suffered harm. </p>
<p>In the context of the current pandemic, I believe that reasonable care sets a clear standard for business owners. Invest in cost-effective precautions like ensuring employees wear masks and gloves and keeping customers apart. Follow the guidance of health officials and all health and safety regulations. Keep up with what other similar businesses are doing to prevent infection. Use common sense.</p>
<p>Law abiding, thoughtful <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/business/coronavirus-states-businesses-reopen.html">business owners</a> – those who care about the safety of their employees and their patrons – are likely to exercise reasonable care to prevent COVID-19 transmission with or without the threat of a lawsuit.</p>
<p>For example, the owner of a nail salon in Georgia <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/opinion/coronavirus-reopening-georgia.html">recently described</a> her plans for reopening. The salon will accept patrons by appointment only, conduct pre-screening telephone interviews for signs of illness, limit the number of people in the salon at any one time, take temperatures before allowing people to enter, require hand-washing, equip employees and patrons with masks and gloves, and sanitize all work areas between appointments.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/business/coronavirus-states-businesses-reopen.html">Conscientious business owners</a> like this have no reason to fear a lawsuit alleging they failed to take reasonable precautions. </p>
<p>Predictions of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/24/liability-shield-white-house-coronavirus/">“frivolous” lawsuits</a> appear to be generating unnecessary anxiety among business groups. But they shouldn’t. Personal injury lawyers representing victims work on a <a href="https://law.freeadvice.com/litigation/litigation/lawyer_contingency_fee.htm">contingency fee</a> basis. This means that they only earn fees when they bring cases with a strong enough chance of winning to reach a favorable settlement or a judgment.</p>
<p>Lawyers have no incentive to bring sure losers, and they risk being <a href="https://www.cga.ct.gov/PS98/rpt%5Colr%5Chtm/98-R-0916.htm">disciplined</a> for professional misconduct if they do so. For these reasons, frivolous lawsuits are <a href="https://www.library.ca.gov/Content/pdf/crb/reports/FrivolousActionFilingsReport.pdf">rare</a> and highly unlikely in the context of COVID-19 transmission claims against businesses.</p>
<h2>Exaggerated fears</h2>
<p>Even for business owners who fail to take reasonable precautions, the prospect of a lawsuit is still remote.</p>
<p>To successfully sue a business for COVID-19 transmission, a patron would have to prove that he or she contracted COVID-19 from the business and not from some other source. However, most people infected with COVID-19 currently have no reliable way of <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/challenge-proximity-apps-covid-19-contact-tracing">identifying the source</a> of their infection. The <a href="https://annals.org/aim/fullarticle/2762808/incubation-period-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19-from-publicly-reported">gap of three to 11 days</a> between infection and illness, the difficulty of <a href="https://news.fiu.edu/2020/tracking-the-path-of-an-outbreak">recalling all of one’s contacts</a> during that interval and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/opinion/coronavirus-testing.html">limited testing</a> for the virus present formidable obstacles to establishing causation.</p>
<p>Moreover, a business would not be liable to patrons who knowingly and voluntarily assumed the risk of infection. Patrons of crowded stores or businesses where many customers and employees are not wearing masks, for example, would not have viable legal claims even if they can prove carelessness and causation. </p>
<h2>Sending a strong signal</h2>
<p>Because of these considerable challenges, viable legal claims related to COVID-19 are likely to be extremely rare. </p>
<p>Yet even occasional lawsuits act as a nudge, encouraging the entire business community to adopt reasonable precautions. This is one of the lessons of civil litigation arising out of foodborne illness outbreaks.</p>
<p>As I document in my 2019 book, “<a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/O/bo35855002.html">Outbreak: Foodborne Illness and the Struggle for Food Safety</a>,” a small handful of high-profile lawsuits against food companies have encouraged businesses at every link along the supply chain to improve their safety practices. That’s what happened after lawsuits against <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2017/12/jack-in-the-box-e-coli-outbreak-25th-anniversary/">Jack in the Box</a> over contaminated hamburgers in 1993 and <a href="https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2009/09/meaningful-outbreak-7-dole-spinach-e-coli-outbreak/">Dole</a> over <em>E. coli</em> in baby spinach in 2006.</p>
<p>Similarly, the prospect of liability for COVID-19 transmission is likely to encourage business owners to invest in cost-effective precautions, follow the advice of public health authorities, adopt industry safety standards and use common sense.</p>
<p>Shielding business owners from this liability is one kind of immunity that will not help end the current crisis.</p>
<p>[<em>Get facts about coronavirus and the latest research.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=upper-coronavirus-facts">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.</a>]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/137562/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy D. Lytton is a member of the American Association for Justice.</span></em></p>Some members of Congress want to grant businesses total immunity from coronavirus-related civil liability. A legal scholar explains why it’s unnecessary – and may be counterproductive.Timothy D. Lytton, Distinguished University Professor & Professor of Law, Georgia State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/761962017-04-20T23:20:40Z2017-04-20T23:20:40ZWhat Gorsuch’s conservative Supreme Court means for workers<p>As Neil Gorsuch takes his seat on the Supreme Court, the 4-4 ideological stalemate that plagued the institution after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia has been broken, reestablishing its conservative tilt. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-supreme-court-matters-for-workers-67498">In an article I wrote last year</a> on the implications of Donald Trump getting the chance to fill Scalia’s seat, I described how the conservative members of the court have long held a 5-4 majority that routinely ruled for businesses over workers. </p>
<p>So now that they have their majority back, what does this portend for the court and cases involving worker rights? A careful look at Gorsuch’s record demonstrates, I believe, how this will be bad news for American workers and anyone who cares about economic justice.</p>
<h2>Religion in the workplace</h2>
<p>As an appellate judge on the 10th Circuit, <a href="https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/12/12-6294.pdf">Gorsuch joined the majority</a> in June 2013 granting Hobby Lobby, a chain of craft stores, the right to deny legally mandated contraception to its workers on religious grounds. The <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf">Supreme Court affirmed that opinion</a> a year later.</p>
<p>The key context here is that limiting women’s access to birth control has been shown to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-limiting-womens-access-to-birth-control-and-abortions-hurts-the-economy-57546">increase economic inequality</a>. Without control over the timing and size of their families, women struggle to complete their educations and advance in the workplace. In turn, this depresses their family’s income. </p>
<p>Yet Gorsuch and the Supreme Court majority have ranked the religious beliefs of business owners over the health care needs of workers. Indeed, in a subsequent case, Gorsuch <a href="https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/13/13-1540.pdf">joined a dissent</a> that argued that asking a religious organization to simply fill out a form to opt out of the contraception requirement is too great a burden. </p>
<p>This issue is likely to return to the court, where Gorsuch will certainly break a 2016 impasse <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf">that sent a similar case</a> back to lower courts for resolution. Future cases are also likely to raise more conflicts over religion in the workplace. </p>
<p>As Justice Ginsburg warned in <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/13pdf/13-354_olp1.pdf">her Hobby Lobby dissent</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Suppose an employer’s sincerely held religious belief is offended by health coverage of vaccines, or paying the minimum wage … or according women equal pay for substantially similar work?” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Worker safety and the ‘frozen trucker’</h2>
<p>So what about his record on worker rights? His opinion in what has become known as the “frozen trucker” case illustrates Justice Gorsuch’s <a href="https://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/15/15-9504.pdf">lack of empathy</a> for blue-collar workers. </p>
<p>In 2009, a truck driver was trapped in his cab after the brakes on his trailer froze in subzero temperatures. Before long, the driver was losing sensation in his limbs and having trouble breathing. After calling his employer and waiting for over three hours for a repair vehicle, he unhitched his truck and drove to a nearby gas station. He was fired for abandoning his haul. </p>
<p>The majority of the three-judge appellate court upheld the Department of Labor’s decision that the trucker’s termination violated a law permitting drivers to “refuse to operate” trucks in unsafe conditions. Gorsuch dissented, however, arguing the statute did not protect the trucker but instead directed him to “sit and wait for help to arrive (a legal if unpleasant option).” </p>
<p>Gorsuch’s narrow and selective reading of ambiguous statutory terms led the majority to quote his own words from the oral argument back to him: “Our job isn’t to legislate and add new words that aren’t present in the statute.”</p>
<p>Gorsuch’s dissent makes clear that he is a textualist, meaning he looks solely to the plain meaning of a statute without regard to its context or congressional intent in enacting it. It also suggests that Gorsuch is out of touch with the realities of life in the modern day workforce outside a judge’s rarefied chambers. </p>
<h2>A boon for arbitrators</h2>
<p>Gorsuch also appears likely to continue the court’s embrace of mandatory arbitration, which Scalia spearheaded in a <a href="http://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Schwartz.pdf">series</a> of 5-4 decisions that limited the rights of consumers and employees to have their day in court. </p>
<p>In the employment context, mandatory arbitration means that disputes on issues such as discrimination, unpaid wages and sexual harassment are heard in a private forum that has no right of appeal and <a href="http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1959&context=facpub">favors businesses</a>. Arbitration agreements <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2775437">are usually buried</a> in the fine print in one-sided contracts, and most employees have no option but to sign if they want the job. </p>
<p>In his own jurisprudence, Gorsuch <a href="http://www.scotusblog.com/2017/03/judge-gorsuchs-arbitration-jurisprudence/">generally enforced the presumption in favor</a> of arbitration, even where the contractual terms were contradictory or ambiguous. His views on arbitration <a href="https://www.law360.com/articles/887293/gorsuch-and-the-future-of-class-action-waivers">will become clearer</a> when the Supreme Court hears a pivotal case in October that will decide whether employers can evade class actions by forcing workers into individual arbitrations. </p>
<p>These class action waivers <a href="http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2019&context=articles">are increasingly popular</a> among employers, yet they destroy the ability of employees to bring cases together that would individually not attract a lawyer due to small dollar amounts. </p>
<h2>Furthering unions’ decline</h2>
<p>Finally, Justice Gorsuch <a href="https://www.bna.com/gorsuch-bring-conservative-n73014450227/">is expected</a> to align himself with Justice Scalia’s critical views on organized labor. </p>
<p>Justice Scalia’s death in February 2016 granted unions a reprieve in a case involving the constitutionality of requiring public workers to pay their fair share of union dues, even if they aren’t members. That case <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-915_1bn2.pdf">was decided just a few weeks later</a> in a 4-4 split that left a lower court’s decision upholding such fees intact. </p>
<p>The issue is certain to return to the court in the future – with Gorsuch a likely fifth vote to rule against the unions.</p>
<p>Union membership <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/benefits-of-collective-bargaining/">is associated</a> with a wage premium of 13.6 percent as compared with nonunionized workers, according to the progressive think tank Economic Policy Institute. At the same time, the decline in union membership <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-us-labor-unions-and-why-they-still-matter-38263">is a factor in growing economic inequality</a> due to the wage depression suffered by union and nonunion members alike. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/02/24/donald-trump-claims-remake-gop-party-american-worker/PeF6IjybU9C77idKYgIshK/story.html">President Trump claims</a> to be a champion for America’s forgotten workers. Yet his main accomplishment in his first 100 days is the appointment of Gorsuch.</p>
<p>For all the reasons I’ve outlined, I expect the appointment of Gorsuch to undermine the rights of workers, including Trump’s supporters, and further weaken the middle class.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76196/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michele Gilman is affiliated with the ACLU of Maryland and the Women's Law Center of Maryland.</span></em></p>With Neil Gorsuch’s appointment to the high court, conservatives regain their 5-4 majority, which will likely benefit employers over workers.Michele Gilman, Venable Professor of Law, University of BaltimoreLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/474452015-09-29T08:40:42Z2015-09-29T08:40:42ZSafer chemicals would benefit both consumers and workers<p>Almost every product we purchase, use in our homes or give to our children contains tens, if not hundreds, of chemicals. The United States chemical industry alone produced <a href="http://selectusa.commerce.gov/industry-snapshots/chemical-industry-united-states">US$769.4 billion worth of chemicals</a> in 2012. The electronics that light up our smartphones and make today’s cars safe contain metals, plastics, ceramics and a host of other materials. Even plastic packaging is a complex mixture of molecules, and each one plays a role: they provide the strength, color, texture, elasticity and durability we associate with performance.</p>
<p>Few people would say it’s worth the risk of a hazardous chemical exposure to check football scores or calm a fussy toddler. And consumers in North America and Europe are starting to expect that regulation will protect us from harmful chemicals in the products we buy. Unfortunately hazardous chemicals are still all around us – every time a child picks up a plastic toy, she may be exposed to myriad <a href="http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/endocrine/">hormone disruptors</a>, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/03/the-toxins-that-threaten-our-brains/284466/">neurotoxins</a>, <a href="http://www.sustainableproduction.org/downloads/PhthalateAlternatives-January2011.pdf">dermal sensitizers</a>, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/sep/17/health-asthma-plastic-pregnancy-children-home-phthalates">asthmagens</a> or <a href="http://www.breastcancerfund.org/clear-science/environmental-breast-cancer-links/plastics/">carcinogens</a>. </p>
<p>Regulators are starting to take steps toward protecting end users from these risks. Consumer awareness and community activism exert pressure on manufacturers, and <a href="https://www.dtsc.ca.gov/SCP/upload/PriorityProductWorkPlan_2015.pdf">early-stage legislation</a> is testing the waters of government involvement in the United States.</p>
<p>But when considering the dangers of hazardous chemicals in our products, manufacturers often underestimate risk by evaluating only the best-case scenario and considering only consumers. How these products are made by real workers in unregulated environments offers a stark contrast.</p>
<p>As a chemist pursuing green chemistry – developing chemical processes and products that are inherently safer for humans and the environment – I have seen this problem firsthand. We imagine production lines using top-of-the-line safety equipment, full containment of hazards and well-trained workers, but this is rarely the reality in our global economy. We need to design products that are inherently safer not just for consumers, but for workers in un- or underregulated environments.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96516/original/image-20150928-30967-s6qtit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers in the paint area of an Indian factory with no ventilation and no masks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/iloasiapacific/8390889185">ILO in Asia and the Pacific</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Acute versus chronic dangers</h2>
<p>Our widespread lack of awareness of the risks workers face along the production pipeline hit home for me on a recent visit to India. I was part of a team developing greener building materials for low-income housing. It became obvious that we can’t assume recommended safeguards will be universally adopted when chemicals are part of the manufacturing process in underregulated workplaces. </p>
<p>Safety goggles, gloves and even shoes are beyond the means of workers in factories like the one where I worked in Ahmedabad, and are rarely mandated or provided by employers. People are working without the simplest protection, at times with chemicals that we know have affiliated health risks.</p>
<p>No one I worked with was overtly disturbed by this lack of protection that delivered to their lungs and skin a daily cocktail of chemical additives. Even in a company producing “greener” building materials made primarily from recycled cardboard, our workers were exposed to hazardous airborne dust and gases, and handled ingredients whose chemical composition was a mystery to everyone on the factory floor.</p>
<p>In my experience, safety has a different meaning to the average Indian laborer than it does to a North American chemist. For them, the acute hazards of even getting to work overshadowed the chronic dangers they were exposed to once they arrived. India has one of the highest rates of deaths from traffic accidents in the world, with <a href="http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/road_traffic/countrywork/ind/en/">over 200,000 per year</a>. Another 48,000 Indians die annually from <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/222406148_Global_estimates_of_occupational_accidents">accidents in their workplaces</a>, and countless undocumented injuries destroy people’s lives and livelihoods.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96537/original/image-20150928-30964-1xmq8k3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Activists protest on the anniversary of the Union Carbide pesticide plant disaster in Bhopal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bhopalmedicalappeal/8433561164">Bhopal Medical Appeal</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Furthermore, there are few protections for Indian laborers who become unable to work. Concerns about job security for the working poor overshadow questions of job safety, particularly in the face of invisible, chronic hazards. It’s not that workers are cavalier about their health; they just often don’t have better options or the power to demand improved conditions.</p>
<h2>Workers largely lack protections consumers are starting to demand</h2>
<p>In North America, we are gradually becoming aware of the risks to consumers of hazardous materials that are ubiquitous in our homes and workplaces. We know about <a href="http://www.epa.gov/oppt/existingchemicals/pubs/actionplans/pbde.html">hormone-disrupting flame retardants</a> in furniture and baby clothing, <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nas/RDRP/ch4.1b.htm">asthma-inducing diisocyanates</a> in spray foam polyurethane insulation, <a href="http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@term+@DOCNO+164">neurotoxic formaldehydes</a> in particleboard resins and a host of others.</p>
<p>The growing body of evidence has mobilized scientists, advocacy groups, public health experts and legislators and has <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/10/01/13480/california-bypasses-feds-presses-ahead-regulation-toxic-chemicals">led to such groundbreaking laws</a> as the California Department of Toxic Substance Control’s (<a href="https://www.dtsc.ca.gov/">DTSC</a>) Safer Consumer Product (<a href="https://www.dtsc.ca.gov/SCP/upload/PriorityProductWorkPlan_2015.pdf">SCP</a>) regulations. Little federal regulation exists, but the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/science-and-technology/substances-and-toxics-science">also taking action</a> by acting as an information clearinghouse. At the same time, <a href="http://news.sciencemag.org/chemistry/2015/06/u-s-chemical-regulation-reform-gets-boost-house-passes-tsca-rewrite">reforms of the Toxic Substances Control Act</a> currently under review could bring more authority to EPA. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Su-7SiFn618?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">California’s DTSC asks manufacturers to answer the question whether toxic chemicals are necessary in their products.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is important that movement toward controlling chemicals in the United States considers those most affected by chronic chemical exposure: not only consumers, but also workers.</p>
<p>Since their passage in 2013, the DTSC SCP regulations have taken a clear stance on the importance of worker safety in California; one of the first three chemical-product combinations regulated was <a href="https://www.dtsc.ca.gov/SCP/Spray_Polyurethane_Foam.cfm">diisocyanates in spray-foam insulation</a>. Studies have shown that workers who install this insulation and therefore experience chronic exposure to diisocyanates have an <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18759878">increased incidence of allergic sensitization</a> and <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/nas/RDRP/ch4.1b.htm">asthma</a>. There are some risks to building occupants associated with ongoing release of diisocyanates from improperly cured insulation. But in this case, the SCP regulations successfully pinpoint the most at-risk group for exposure to this hazardous chemical, and require suppliers to consider how worker safety is affected by proposed alternatives.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96675/original/image-20150929-31012-1o38zir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Even this press for making greener building materials out of cardboard waste can have hazardous chemical inputs, as the author saw in Ahmedabad.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Heather Buckley</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Imports allow us to export work with chemicals</h2>
<p>The environment in which diisocyanates and their safer alternatives are used can be controlled in California by active regulation and enforcement. Many of the other chemicals and products of concern identified by the DTSC are manufactured in parts of the world with considerably less safety oversight.</p>
<p>For instance, the US <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/where-the-u-s-gets-its-clothing-one-year-after-the-bangladesh-factory-collapse/">imports about 14 times more clothing</a>, mostly from China and Vietnam, than it exports (by dollar value). Clothing production can include dangerous chemicals, such as formaldehyde additives to create “wrinkle-free” products. By the time a wrinkle-free shirt gets to the store, the levels of <a href="http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/mmg/mmg.asp?id=216&tid=39">formaldehyde</a> it off-gases are likely too small to be dangerous for most customers. But when the finish is applied, workers are <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/pgms/worknotify/Formaldehyde2.html">exposed to the chemical</a> at significant doses.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/96546/original/image-20150929-30986-vt0az7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents’ concerns about what their children are exposed to can trigger industry changes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/21524179@N08/3668580431">nerissa's ring</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Grassroots activism typically focuses on issues close to home such as what babies ingest when they drink from <a href="http://www.babygearlab.com/a/11078/Are-Plastics-Safe-for-Baby-Bottles-and-Sippy-Cups">plastic bottles</a>, whether certain <a href="http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/top-tips-for-safer-products/">soaps produce a skin rash</a> in sensitive children, and what nanoparticle antimicrobials in clothing might do to <a href="http://www.amnh.org/learn-teach/young-naturalist-awards/winning-essays2/2008-winning-essays/investigating-the-effect-of-silver-nanoparticles-on-aquatic-organisms">fish in the local watershed</a>. These are critically important issues, and local concerns are often what lead to the creation of legislation such as the Safer Consumer Product Regulations.</p>
<p>But American consumers are not the only ones who need protection. With implementation of the SCP regulations, the California Department of Toxic Substance Control is poised to be a national and international leader in defining what it means for a product to be “safer.” Safety for all people – workers and consumers – and ecosystems as they actually interact with the chemistry at all stages of the product life cycle should be a priority. The gold standard for safe material formulations should be that they can be manufactured without chronic health impacts on workers, even in unregulated environments.</p>
<h2>Toward a truly green chemistry</h2>
<p>During my last days in Ahmedabad, as I was preparing samples to ship back to North America, I felt something soft hit me on the shoulder. In the 110 degree Fahrenheit heat, I was startled to turn around and see one of my coworkers playfully dodging a hail of snowballs. I quickly spotted the source of this mysterious “snow” – we were testing sodium polyacrylate as a processing agent, and a scoopful had fallen into a washbasin. The benign desiccant had quickly swelled to 300 times its original volume. Umya, my assailant, had been the first to recognize its mischievous potential.</p>
<p>As “snowballs” flew through the air, I realized that this was the embodiment of safer chemistry – materials so safe that we could play with them, never worrying that they covered our hair, our hands and faces. No protection necessary.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47445/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Buckley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Regulations are catching up with toxic chemicals we’re exposed to as products’ end users. But workers in un- or underregulated places are still at risk, even from chemicals designed to be “green.”Heather Buckley, Associate Director of International Partnerships, Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, University of California, BerkeleyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/259552014-04-25T14:37:28Z2014-04-25T14:37:28ZTragedy is inevitable when Bangladesh competes on its own citizens’ poverty<p>A year has now passed since an 8-storey building in Dhaka known as Rana Plaza collapsed killing 1,134 workers in just an hour. Much of the commentary since has focused on the need for Western brands to be more vigilant when it comes to “dodgy” third-world suppliers. Much less attention, surprisingly, has been paid to the systemic nature of the problem which increases the likelihood of such tragedies. </p>
<p>The story begins at home. Apparel is a mature, competitive market. Brands are locked in a struggle where they need increasingly cheaper locations to make the garments – and shorter turn-around times. </p>
<p>Think of it as a network in which some nodes are central and powerful. These are the brands. There are others that are more peripheral and much less powerful. These are factories based in the developing world. Most of them are making “commodities”, or apparel that is essentially the same. They compete on price. In order to grow their profits, brands keep pushing factory owners – who pass on that pressure to hapless workers, whose desperate poverty leaves them little choice in the matter. </p>
<p>When it comes to the relationship between big brands and Bangladesh, the brands own the customers and have all the power. Bangladesh is desperately dependent on its apparel industry – it employs almost 4m workers and accounts for <a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/bangladeshs-chance-to-get-it-right/">more than 80%</a> of the country’s exports. It simply cannot afford to lose the business big brands send its way. And the reason they do it is only because Bangladesh remains by some distance the cheapest place on the planet to get a ready-made garment stitched. </p>
<p>In this equation, the Rana Plaza tragedy really becomes a problem only for Bangladesh. For the brands, it is no more than an inconvenience. Indeed, the apparel industry continues to boom, with brands such as Primark announcing <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24815758">significant rises</a> in profitability. </p>
<p>The grist for the mill here is poverty. The astonishingly low cost that Bangladesh offers (20p an hour) at the expense of workers’ welfare is the foremost reason for its apparel industry’s much vaunted “success”. Bangladesh’s “competitiveness” in the apparel trade essentially boils down to desperate poverty and a lack of industrialisation, which means workers have to accept a choice between paltry wages – which keep them below the poverty line – and nothing at all.</p>
<p>Any labour movement to raise workers’ wages is met with either the threat of unemployment or brute force. Both have proved to be highly effective. In 2012, a leader of the Bangladesh Centre for Worker Solidarity was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/asia/killing-of-bangladesh-labor-leader-spotlights-grievances-of-workers.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&">tortured and murdered</a>. Similarly, worker strikes in the past have been met with harassment, including <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/02/06/bangladesh-protect-garment-workers-rights">death threats</a>. </p>
<p>Don’t expect the Bangladeshi government to do anything to seriously stop this: it knows full well that its precious foreign exchange is only guaranteed by worker poverty and the existence of a large network of subcontractors functioning under the surface (these are the unaudited facilities where workers toil away in subhuman conditions).</p>
<h2>A global problem</h2>
<p>This pressure to reduce costs through worker mistreatment isn’t unique to Rana Plaza, or even to Bangladesh. Rana Plaza was simply the latest in a series of disasters that have taken place in textile factories in the global South. In 2012, 289 workers died in a fire at a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19566851">garment factory in Karachi</a>. In the same year, at least 112 workers were burned alive in a similar factory <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/nov/25/bangladesh-factory-fire-dhaka">outside Dhaka</a>. </p>
<p>In a globalised production system, where unindustrialised poor countries find themselves locked in desperate competition for business from Western brands, workers pay with their lives to keep brands competitive in affluent markets. In a capitalist system, competitors have no choice but to grow. When markets are mature and margins thin, it is the weakest link in the chain that comes under the greatest strain.</p>
<p>The plight of Bangladeshi workers is not going to get better through Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. Big brands are loathe to commit to any relationship beyond a few consignments, which makes them wary of investing anything in a particular factory. They are faced with a much more powerful imperative: increased profits.</p>
<p>In a neoliberal world order, neat, clean, sustainable factories which pay workers a decent wage do not do much for anyone’s business model. Our economies thrive on consumption. After every crisis, we are told to go back to the shopping malls and buy more. It is unlikely that any government is going to risk a recession by suggesting that we cut back on consumption.</p>
<p>Bangladesh has been lauded in recent years for its economic growth. But in effect the country is simply winning a race that only leads to the bottom. Continuing to compete on its poverty is an unsustainable strategy. How many workers need to lay down their lives before something changes? The Bangladeshi government is unlikely to risk losing all its business by giving workers a fair wage and the International Labor Organization long ago lost all its teeth along with its spine.</p>
<p>Rana Plaza is merely a symptom of a deeper malaise: global production networks in which consumers in affluent countries continuously dress themselves in new robes at the expense of invisible, desperate workers in far away places. In a globalised world we need new global institutions which are equally committed to all workers, regardless of whether they are in the European Union or South Asia. Anything short of that is merely shifting chairs on the deck of the Titanic.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/25955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kamal A Munir does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A year has now passed since an 8-storey building in Dhaka known as Rana Plaza collapsed killing 1,134 workers in just an hour. Much of the commentary since has focused on the need for Western brands to…Kamal A Munir, Associate Professor of Strategy and Policy, Cambridge Judge Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.