Pro Football and Workplace Safety

I’ve done a post on this subject before. Although some would like for the subject to go away, it obviously isn’t. If anything, it’s receiving more attention than ever.

According to the New York Times, the National Football League is under new pressure because of the growing evidence of a link between playing professional football and brain injuries, particularly as manifested later in life. Simply put, pro football players, who have fairly short careers as it is, don’t have much to look forward to as they age.

Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the NFL, won’t say whether he thinks there’s a link between pro football and cognitive decline. Won’t say? Is he blind? Perhaps he doesn’t watch the games. The hits players (who become bigger and stronger each year) put on each other on the professional football playing field are increasingly ferocious. The only thing that’s surprising is that at least one player isn’t killed every weekend during pro football season.

I like to watch pro football. Its sheer brutality, however, is sometimes surreal. Pro football presents clear issues of workplace safety. Aren’t the players entitled to the protection of the Occupational Safety and Health Act? President Obama promised that OSHA would become active and aggressive under his administration. I wonder if he’s willing to start with the NFL.