You're arguing about the merits of the system, not the actual question at hand. Whether you agree with it or not, that is exactly what capitalism is. The owners of the means of production decide who can and will be employed, the terms of that employment, the compensation rate for said employment and are free to set their own hiring/firing standards as long as those standards and practices don't violate any existing local, state or federal laws.
And talk about comparing "apples and footballs," as you called it earlier... Working in the porn industry is a little different than working in the coal industry. Likening the coal mining industry to the pornography industry is just absurd, making references such as "... if you grow up in a town where the only employment is a coal mine..." have little validity towards your argument, as I know of no place on earth where the only employment opportunity is the porn industry. Its not as if there are 3rd and 4th generation pornstars that grew up in a porn family and that is all they know and the only employment opportunity they have, such as is common in coal mining communities.
And as far as the coal mining industry goes, if one doesn't wear a respirator while working in a coal mine, that is a considerably greater occupational hazard than most. If the employer chooses to not employ the use of respirators (And I'm not even positive that's an option in the coal mining industry?) it then becomes a risk/reward decision that the potential employee must make. A measure of personal responsibility/liability has to be laid upon the potential worker in these situations. Its the basis of the free-market system, and those companies/industries that choose to make the work environment increasingly dangerous for employees will eventually fail. The paternalistic attitude that the government must look after everyone and make everyone safe simply reflects the attitude of the government that workers are incapable of making their own decisions about what is best for themselves, which is, in my opinion, demeaning and simply untrue.
If you don't like capitalism, either move to a place that doesn't have it, devise your own, better economic system, or realize that the capitalistic system is somewhat imperfect, yet offers potential employees the right to seek out alternate avenues of employment if they deem a certain industry potentially hazardous.
