In my leaner days, and when I had a family to support, I sometimes worked on construction crews. It was a wonderful experience, very good for a bookish sort like myself. At any rate, I met a lot of other people in that line of work, including roofers. They're used to this sort of thing, in a way I could never be. They don't want to be interfered with or encumbered.
The suggestion that this an issue of personal liberty is more than a little off-base. Sure, the vast majority of workers will survive these workplace encounters, but the new guys or the crew being pushed to speed up production lack both experience and free choice. If a worker wants to rock the boat and demand a safe work environment, it's common for that worker to be let go - you know, "just until things pick up again".
ReplyDeleteSafety costs money, in equipment and in time, and not all employers are as concerned with the safety of their workers as they might care to admit.
There were 635 fatal workplace falls last year. And while that's a small improvement from from the 645 in 2009 that's still quite a few families who lost a spouse, parent and bread-winner in two years.
The vast majority were preventable. Tie-off, put up some guard rails, slow down and you live. It's painful how simple an equation it is.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cfoi.nr0.htm
Frank,I just marvel at the breath of experiences u have had...Every now and then you drop in hints about your past and they invariably contain elements that sound near mythical to my untrained eye. U have lived, man!!
ReplyDeleteBut Jonathan, have you ever worked in the field? I made no mention of what the employers wanted. I was talking about what the workers preferred. Italian stonemasons who worked on the National Cathedral used to have a lookout in case an OSHA inspector would come by. The lookout would alert them, and they would all quickly put on their masks.You can take all the preventive measures in the world, and the world still will never be fail-safe.
ReplyDeleteI worked in the field for ten years.
ReplyDeleteAnd while dust masks are almost universally hated - they're great for pooling or soaking up sweat (depending on whether you're using paper or rubber masks) and make it impossible to smoke while working - fall-protection isn't.
It can be time consuming and costly to set up (which is where employers come in), can cause unpleasant chafing and gets tangled up in hand tools and ladders, but you get to see your kids after work.
You're absolutely right that it's impossible to remove all risk on a job site. Stuff can fall on you, you can roll your ankle on a bolt or any number of other unpleasant things can and do happen. But losing your footing (due to frost, rain, a sneeze, another worker's inexperience or error)and falling to your death, because you aren't tied off and there's no guard railing - that is preventable.