ROPS are pretty much an OSHA work requirement for employers to have on their equipment. In many ways I think OSHA would require men to wear both a belt & a set of suspenders.
My Snow Trac is a 1972 unit. Its not rolled over yet. In fact its the most stable vehicle I've ever encountered. So is ROPS required or is it dangerous to operate without a ROPS? Clearly no. On the other hand, if I was an employers sending my guys out in an old machine when every new machine manufactured has a ROPS and when OSHA requires them on every commercially operated machine from lawnmowers to tractors to forklifts to whatever, then I would very likely not take the risk of being sued in the very rare event that my employees rolled their snowcat.
QWEST, being a very large communications company, publicly traded on the stock market, does not want to risk the wrath of OSHA, which, from what I can tell, is worse that the wrath of a woman scorned.
JMO