It's especially troubling that work-related deaths in North Carolina have risen during a time when some of the industries that historically have been most dangerous – textiles and other manufacturing – have been shedding jobs.

After three years of decline, preliminary N.C. Labor Department figures for 2008 show workplace deaths in North Carolina rose 31 percent, to 59 from 45 in 2007. Some officials at the department say they worry that if companies scrimp on safety measures during tough economic times, more workers will be at risk of injury, even death.

Unfortunately for workers, N.C. Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry, whose department is charged with on-the-job safety, just doesn't seem to get it.

Rather than ensuring that her department is tough in enforcing workplace safety laws, Berry has bragged that she considers employers to be “partners.” She says her department does more to improve safety by cooperating with businesses than by levying stiff fines.

To the contrary, a series of 2008 Observer articles investigating poultry processing in the Carolinas found lax regulations and weak oversight make it easy for that industry to underreport workplace injuries and exploit undocumented immigrant workers.

Here's the bottom line: Working with employers to educate them about workplace safety is a good tool in helping prevent on-the-job injuries and deaths. Too many employers consider work safety laws petty nuisances, and anything that teaches them a different view is welcome.

But that shouldn't be the only tool. No one would think our criminal justice system should abandon enforcement and punishment just because it also values prevention. Why should worker safety be any different? Scofflaw employers would be more inclined to play by the rules if they knew there was a good chance of stiff fines for violating them.

Indeed, national experts expect U.S. worker safety laws to get tougher under the incoming Obama administration. Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has proposed a law that would stiffen penalties for safety violations, even calling for prison terms of up to 10 years if a worker's death can be traced to employers' willfully violating safety laws.

In defending her record, Berry has cited the recent years' decline in workplace deaths – although many experts note that the decline may well be a result of the decline in manufacturing jobs statewide instead of safer workplaces. And now, even that defense from Cherie Berry isn't good enough.

Editorial from the Charlotte Observer