It isn't about safety, really. It's about saving money.
Where I am, we have a workers' compensation board that decides who gets paid for their injury and how much they get paid.
I knew a fellow who hurt his back and had an operation. Afterwards, the only work he could find was guarding a small town police cell at night. The injury got worse until he couldn't drive to work or stay sitting or standing for very long. So, he started collecting full compensation.
The compensation board sent him to a doctor and the doctor recommended against another operation because there was a 50% chance he would never walk after.
The compensation board said they were willing to take that chance.
They liked the odds that there was a 50% chance that they could cut him off. If they lost the bet, they were already paying him, anyway.
I know they have an appeal procedure. Those appeals were handled entirely by another comp board employee. I knew one of them and she was quite unsympathetic to the plight of workers.
