Sorry, I'm on my soap box again
Bone to pick with OHSA, really? Again I am by far pro-union or against union but I am 110% committed to workplace safety.
I have investigated more workplace deaths and severe injuries than I care to name but for sake of this thread I will show a few.
Small metal factory that was non-union. 20 yr. old worker (college kid, national wrestling champ, studying electrical engineering), working with a hobb machine cutting teeth into flywheels for auto, loses both hands up to his wrists. 12 yrs. later, working minimum wage jobs living w/parents, fighting severe depression every day. Used to be active in community and now relies on alcohol to cope with loss of hands. Company didn’t have a safety program, no lockout tag out, limited training time no safety curtains, or emergency shut offs – company answer to this was it would cost us $10,000 dollars to do that. Multimillion dollar company with large profits. No longer in US, moved all jobs to Mexico.
Painting company, specializes in painting water towers (non-union) – 20 yr. old employee who is the company owners soon to be son in law, falls from top of water tower and dies while working with his fiancés’ father (the owner). No fall protection program, reason - costs, the program for his company would have cost him around $2000.00 dollars total.
Small excavating company – union. 18 yr. old employee working in a trench running electrical lines to a house. Trench was not secured or benched and a cave in trapped the employee. Employee died from crushing injuries before he could be rescued. Company had a safety program but foreman did not follow work rules or procedures. His comment was they were in a hurry to get the job done and had done this way forever with no problems. Company had a history of citations but usually just slide by with the minimum. Company also had multiple workers comp cases going on as well.
I could go on and on with many more stories. Point is without some type of regulatory agency in place to enforce certain rules this would happen much more often. Construction is the leading offender. Usually 100-150 deaths per year just in the State of Michigan. Probably 90-95% of these cases are employers who say that it cost too much and would put them out of business which I can prove to be untrue. Sure there are costs but they are very small most times. Which costs more, a person’s life or $500.00 lockout tag out kit and about an hour or two worth of labor hours to develop the program.
We can’t rely on common sense for safety issues because things do happen; it’s not a matter of if they happen but rather when they happen. As far as residential roofing, there are ways to do that fairly cheap. It depends on the amount of employees you have. You can do it for less than $100.00 per employee for a base program. A lot cheaper than a workers comp claim or an employee death. The average return on investment for safety is a $6.00 return for every dollar spent and that is proven in many studies. Many employers don’t want to spend or should I say invest in the employees for safety. It all comes down to year end profits. If they only make 2 million this year and they made 8 million last year than they claim they lost money. Either way I see it as they made a profit period. Quality life is worth way more!!!!!!!!
