Safety is not a “luxury enabled by profit”. It’s one of many necessary dimensions for efficiently creating value over time.
If you are a sole trader and you fall off a ladder and hurt yourself because you took some stupid shortcut, the cost is extremely high.
If you work for someone and they make you do something stupid that hurts you, the cost to them has traditionally been relatively low, so they are motivated to push you because that’s better for them. Fortunately, in most modern countries this is no longer the case.
Safety only becomes a “luxury” when capital becomes concentrated into the hands of people for whom other people are disposable.
If you are a sole trader and you fall off a ladder and hurt yourself because you took some stupid shortcut, the cost is extremely high.
If you work for someone and they make you do something stupid that hurts you, the cost to them has traditionally been relatively low, so they are motivated to push you because that’s better for them. Fortunately, in most modern countries this is no longer the case.
Safety only becomes a “luxury” when capital becomes concentrated into the hands of people for whom other people are disposable.