There is no reason similar laws wouldn't work for consumers privacy. Tort law needs to be applied aggressively to data privacy.
How exactly does that source support the FACT? The words "liable" and "liability" appear nowhere in it. They credit the reduction in workplace fatalities to a number of factors, including technology, expanded enforcement powers of federal inspectors, mandatory standards, and the creation of OSHA and NIOSH. They make no mention of product liability or tort laws.
At 40,000 inspections/yr it wasn't much OSHA with their tiny, often negotiated fines that caused the decline. ANSI is pretty much the gold standard for safety, not OSHA regs, so their non-mandatory standards don't get a lot of credit. It wasn't a magical fairy tapping a gossamer wand atop a dangerous machine.
It was thousands of plaintiffs attorneys suing the shit out of manufacturers who designed and sold products that could be made more safely. It was the tort laws that let them to sue. It was the insurance companies who extracted hefty sums to write products liability policies on manufactured machinery. And it was the innovators who used sensors, locking mechanisms, new training methods and private inspection procedures that have made the US a workplace safety leader.
The government legislated accountability. The free market made it happen. It can be the same with data privacy.