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Originally Posted by gmw
I did wonder if everyone was going to let me get away with that uncontested  |
Almost! I had read your comment before finishing the book, and didn't want to respond till I was done; then I nearly forget.
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There is a regrettable tendency for people to see companies as things with no human side, that can stand there and part with money with no ill effects, or if there are ill effects they are seen as deserved - never quite acknowledging the fact that those effects have a real cost that someone has to pay.
In this case the companies obviously had the resources that they could have helped these women, although at some point the insurance companies get involved and things get extra messy. In situations like this there is a real risk that a company might collapse - not necessarily because of what it pays out, but because of reputation loss and related factors. The impacts of this hits management, employees - the man I was speaking of might lose his job anyway - and shareholders (who are not necessarily rich people that can afford the loss).
So the people that are acting to protect the corporation are not necessarily acting for evil or selfish purposes, many are attempting to do the best they can for the company because that best for the employees and customers and shareholders.
None of this is arguing that the company should not be held responsible for their actions, but it is useful to keep in mind that there are real people behind the corporate mask that will pay the actual costs.
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The "real people" who are paying the actual costs are the workers and the consumers. Costs simply get passed along to those on the bottom rungs.
But let me try to understand your argument. You seem to be saying that it's perhaps OK for a company to endanger the lives of its employees, because trying to avoid/correct that danger might be expensive and threaten the livelihoods of even more employees.
I suspect that companies and industries have probably pushed back against every safety regulation ever proposed by saying it was too much cost for too little potential benefit, by calling it unnecessary and intrusive.