Death on the Job (1991)

When this was made, there were over 600,000 industrial accidents in the United States, and a further 2,100 people died as a result of incidents at work. There are a few specific examples developed here, starting with some excessive fishing that resulted in the sinking of a trawler in perfectly calm waters; a mining disaster caused by a build up of methane gas and then a massive explosion at a Texan petrochemical plant. Using interviews from survivors and relatives of these disasters, the thrust of the narrative aims clearly at businesses that cut corners and at regulators who didn't do their jobs properly - if at all. There are no responses offered by either employers or authorities, though according to the text at the conclusion that wasn't for the want of asking, and so what we watch here really does seem to be a critique of the indefensible attitudes taken when profit is king. The archive effectively illustrates not just the hugely complex nature of these operations - not least as we see the vast volume of fish being processed in the Barents sea or the miles and miles of pipelines, valves and chimneys that constitute an oil refinery, and so it isn't hard to see how something could go wrong at the best of times, let alone after many years of neglect. The narration itself is a bit on the dry side, but there are some potent contributions here and it showcases quite strikingly how easy things can fail when safety if compromised.