ABSTRACT
In a grotesque footnote to a story on the report, one newspaper noted that 30 corpses have still not been recovered from the wreckage of the Piper Alpha under the North Sea because the oil company thinks it would be too expensive to retrieve them. The academic discussion arising from work deaths has for the most part been generated from theoretical debates alone, as opposed to empirical evidence garnered by the writers. Deaths from severe head injuries following falls from scaffolding are quite common. In case 32, Mr. Morris died in such circumstances because, ultimately, there was a reluctance to incur the additional expense that would have been entailed in acquiring extra scaffolding to raise the painting platform being used to a suitable height for work. Wells has gone much further than most in seeking to examine the criminality of corporations in a broad context of the political economy.
