By SJ Otto
This latest story in The
Wichita Eagle is an example of capitalism gone wrong. Two men
died, smothered by grain as they were buried alive. It turns out that the
company that ran the grain elevator has faced 24 cases of safety and health
violations by federal regulators over the past seven years. The elevator is
operated and owned by Gavilon. They own not only the elevator in which the two
men were killed, near Wichita, but they own other grain elevators including one
in Ohio where
a man was crushed by a grain auger. There is little doubt that corners have
been routinely cut by owners who follow the mantra that we have "too many
regulations," a theme we hear often from the Donald Trump administration.
I'm sure the owners scoffed at the idea that we need so many regulation and
that the possibility of an accident from ignoring these rules is just too
remote. But in this case we see that the accident was not remote. The chances
are good that they just ignored the rules and figured nothing would happen.
Such lack of respect for regulations just cost two men their
lives. This accident was probably preventable. If the owners had followed the
safety regulations and did what they were supposed to do, these men would not
have suffocated. When conservatives publically complain that there is too much
regulations of their industries, we need to remember these tragedies and remind
the public that not following the rules cost people their lives. Most of the
time such rules are ignored to save time and money. When preventable deaths
occur, that savings is not worth it.
Conservatives tell us there are too many regulations. These deaths
tell us otherwise.
For The Wichita Eagle story, "Owner of
Wichita grain elevator where two men died has history of safety violations,"
click
here.
Pix
by Shapeways.
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