"Every safety regulation is written in blood. Each of those regulations exists because someone died or was severely hurt or made severely sick by something that regulation would have prevented."
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
I have tried to make this point to dimwit GOPers for years - no one wakes up in the morning and says "now what industry should I burden with unneeded regulation today?"
Every fucking regulation is a RESPONSE to something bad that happened, whether it's pollution, tax evasion, or worker deaths.
If companies didn't try to weasel around regulations, they wouldn't have to be so detailed and byzantine.
The GOPer hatred of regulations has always seemed to me to be the height of stupidity.
As a former General Manager of several manufacturing sites I always made it a practice to invite OSHA in for a inspection. Although this would result in more inspections than just waiting for them to show up I felt it was well worth dong. Firstly I found requesting an inspection set the mood to a more cooperative one. But more importantly even though I have never been fined any fine would be tiny compared to the cost of a serious accident.
Ta, Robyn. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire happened just across town. Haunts me to this day. We both got a lot done at work today; it's time to relax. Good night, beloved Wonketteers. I love and appreciate you all and I bless us all with love, health, peace, and grace. Be kind, especially to yourself, and please stay safe.
One summer when I was in college, I spent a summer working at a factory making popsicles. One day, the boxing machine got jammed. As the guy was trying to get it unjammed, he got sprayed with hot glue and suffered second degree burns.
Nah, that's the dentist from a rural district (Gosar). Biggs is the ASU fan in the Valley (he moved to AZ so he uses ASU as evidence of his connection to the state) who is a big fan of Jan 6 and along with Crane and Gosar are super far right in nice safe districts. Biggs is also openly talking about running for governor, continuing the string of the GOP front runner in big statewide races being an extremist. Hasn't worked out real well for the GOP but they cling to their gerrymandered legislative advantage and will run against the incumbent as a do-nothing veto wielder (because they flooded her with insane, extreme bills).
Most people are a bit like libertarians when it comes to OSHA. We don't want to follow the OSHA regulations, but are very happy to have the legal protections that OSHA regulations provide.
I am so grateful that you opened this article with this line. I first heard it about a year ago on a rocket forum talking about safety regimes in NASA. But, yeah, business hate OSHA because why should they put guard around machinery, or railing out a certain height and so on. A friend of mine told of the time in the 50s when he was working at a stamping plant and someone triggered the press when he was loading it with a fresh sheet of steel. He barely avoided being crushed to death. The he went looking for the SOB who have to be smuggled out of the plant else he would have been killed. OSHA eventually insisted that fail-safes be installed in those machines to it would be impossible for them to operate while someone was working on it. OSHA saves lives.
I had a boss who removed two lockout locks (his and mine) when I was working on an electrical cabinet, because he didn't see me. He then turned the cabinet breaker on and electrocuted me because I was wiring something up, and I went to the ground and slid. Luckily it was not the higher voltage in the cabinet, and I was fine after the muscle soreness wore off.
I never spoke to him again and I got picked for another project in another building, which it now occurs to me was probably his doing to protect himself.
I have gained some hindsight in the 30 years since that happened, apparently.
My Grandfather was a trial lawyer for 50 + years. He specialized in workman's comp cases, probably because he originally wanted to be a doctor but his lawyer father demanded he enter the same profession, so that's what he did.
Anyway, he was involved in all sorts of cases that he summed up by saying it created a new law because somebody died.
I remember one such case, involving the bulldozer driver at a local paper mill that has since gone the way of the dodo. Can't say I miss it because the stench was unbelievable. One day the bulldozer driver was moving around the giant pile of sawdust that was used to make paper and the sawdust pile shifted on him, burying him and his dozer in hundreds of tons of sawdust.
Well unfortunately before the rescue crew could dig him out, he suffocated. But the bulldozer was just fine. Why? Well, it turns out the company only supplied the operator of the dozer with a 15 minute tank of oxygen for just this sort of accident, while the dozer was hooked up to an oxygen tank that would allow it to run while buried for a full hour, because, you know, priorities.
I don't recall him mentioning how much money he won for the family of the dead guy but I hope it was a fucking grip.
Trying to run the government the way he ran his failed businesses. "Kill 10 regs for every new one" crap is pure corporate America. And it NEVER WORKS.
“Doesn’t seem like an America we’d want to go back to.”
WE wouldn’t want to go back to those days. God only knows what Republican voters want. I think a good many of them would prefer being injured on the job to any “woke” or “DEI” safety rules.
I do believe you are correct on that speculation. Trumpers and their ilk consistently vote against their own interests, so it appears that they would prefer injury or death on the job rather than "Woke" or DEI safety rules, never mind that they were written long before "woke" or DEI was a glimmer in a right-wing brain cell.
I was married to a right winger who constantly complained that the union was stealing from his paycheck. Then, after a heart attack, when he returned to work, he was fired for punching a part twice (he was a punch pressman). We were divorced by that point but had remained friends, so when he told me about it, I drove him down to the union hall and we talked to a representative about what had happened. Well, the rep had a sit-down with one of the executives and my ex's firing was changed to retirement. He grudgingly admitted that I was right about unions, but remained right wing until his death (insert facepalm emoji here). He died in 1993, but if he was still alive I expect he would be carrying on about "wokeism" and writing anti-DEI screeds. They never seem to learn.
The summer after my first year in college, I worked on an assembly line in a non-unionized plant making school desks and tables. It was minimum wage, miserable, and sometimes dangerous. And I am forever grateful for that experience because it taught me at a young age to value unions and OSHA.
It was an un-air conditioned metal building with no working fans. The outside temperature was 90-100 degrees every day, which meant it was 10 degrees hotter inside. One guy who worked in a small space, where there was even less air circulation, died of heat prostration. Workers in the adjoining warehouse, where we took each desk after assembling and crating it, had it even worse. On average, new workers in the warehouse lasted less than one month.
One week, to fill in for a worker who was out sick, I worked on a machine where you had to feed thin pieces of plywood that the machine pressed together and cut to make the backs of school chairs. You had to be careful of the machine's metal teeth. There were no safeties built into the machine to protect your hand from being cut off if you weren't careful. I made it through that week, but the following Monday, the worker came back who regularly ran that machine and lost two fingers.
After my valuable experience at American Desk Mfg., I said that anyone who wanted to abolish unions had never done a day's work in a place like that. There's not much hyperbole in that, and it's still true nearly 50 years later. If you don't regulate workplaces and have empowered workers, the employers will take everything from you they can get away with (looking at you, Jeff Bezos)--all in the name of Jeezus and shareholder value.
MAGAts are about to fuck around and find out. But by the time they realize what has happened to the working people they THOUGHT (thanks especially to Pravda, er, Fox News) were being helped by the Orange Mussoli Movement, the oligarchs will be even harder to root out.
I couldn't have said it better. I don't understand workers who just don't "get" that unions and safety regulations are there to protect them and make their work environment safer. My ex husband was a right winger who constantly complained that the union dues were theft, etc. Well after being out for four months after a heart attack, he went back to work and was promptly sacked for punching a part twice (he was a punch pressman). When he told me about it, I took him down to the union hall and after telling the rep the story, the rep went to the company and got the firing changed to retirement. He did grudgingly admit that unions were a good thing. But he could never get rid of the rest of his rightwing beliefs. If he was alive, I expect that he'd be complaining about "wokeism" and writing anti-DEI screeds. They just never seem to learn.
Sadly, because it’s a cult, most of them won’t find out, if by find out you mean actually recognizing that Trump and republicans are the blame for whatever finding out they encounter.
Instead, they’ll blame whatever Fox tells them to, because it’s a cult.
"Every safety regulation is written in blood. Each of those regulations exists because someone died or was severely hurt or made severely sick by something that regulation would have prevented."
THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
I have tried to make this point to dimwit GOPers for years - no one wakes up in the morning and says "now what industry should I burden with unneeded regulation today?"
Every fucking regulation is a RESPONSE to something bad that happened, whether it's pollution, tax evasion, or worker deaths.
If companies didn't try to weasel around regulations, they wouldn't have to be so detailed and byzantine.
The GOPer hatred of regulations has always seemed to me to be the height of stupidity.
Thank you, Robyn. My granddad retired from OSHA and developed my commitment to safety and preventive planning. I’m glad he didn’t live to see this.
As a former General Manager of several manufacturing sites I always made it a practice to invite OSHA in for a inspection. Although this would result in more inspections than just waiting for them to show up I felt it was well worth dong. Firstly I found requesting an inspection set the mood to a more cooperative one. But more importantly even though I have never been fined any fine would be tiny compared to the cost of a serious accident.
Ta, Robyn. The Triangle Shirtwaist fire happened just across town. Haunts me to this day. We both got a lot done at work today; it's time to relax. Good night, beloved Wonketteers. I love and appreciate you all and I bless us all with love, health, peace, and grace. Be kind, especially to yourself, and please stay safe.
Slava Ukraini. 🌻🇺🇦💙💛
I, for one, am looking forward to lunch time lawn darts at work.
With all the martinis and sexual harassment you can devour!
One summer when I was in college, I spent a summer working at a factory making popsicles. One day, the boxing machine got jammed. As the guy was trying to get it unjammed, he got sprayed with hot glue and suffered second degree burns.
Whew.
Andy Biggs ... that's all you needed to say
I forget. Is he the guy from Arizona whose entire family campaigns against him every election?
Nah, that's the dentist from a rural district (Gosar). Biggs is the ASU fan in the Valley (he moved to AZ so he uses ASU as evidence of his connection to the state) who is a big fan of Jan 6 and along with Crane and Gosar are super far right in nice safe districts. Biggs is also openly talking about running for governor, continuing the string of the GOP front runner in big statewide races being an extremist. Hasn't worked out real well for the GOP but they cling to their gerrymandered legislative advantage and will run against the incumbent as a do-nothing veto wielder (because they flooded her with insane, extreme bills).
What laws are Elon Musk breaking and what agency is next? | SoloPod (Native Land Pod)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42mhEVZBJi8
Elon Musk: Everything You Didn't Know About His Sh*tty Past
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y40RU5Nx6U
"The states with the highest rates of worker deaths in 2021 were
Wyoming (10.4 per 100,000 workers)
North Dakota (9.0 per 100,000 workers)
Montana (8.0 per 100,000 workers)
Louisiana (7.7 per 100,000 workers)
Alaska (6.2 per 100,000 workers)
New Mexico (6.2 per 100,000 workers)"
All red states (w/the possible exception of NM).
I'm shocked shocked.
These reps are also showing who their paymasters are, whether or not that's what they planned to do
Eye on the ball, everybody
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.343943/gov.uscourts.wawd.343943.89.1.pdf
https://www.wonkette.com/p/marco-rubio-wants-to-send-asylum/comment/91068768
Most people are a bit like libertarians when it comes to OSHA. We don't want to follow the OSHA regulations, but are very happy to have the legal protections that OSHA regulations provide.
"Every safety regulation is written in blood."
I am so grateful that you opened this article with this line. I first heard it about a year ago on a rocket forum talking about safety regimes in NASA. But, yeah, business hate OSHA because why should they put guard around machinery, or railing out a certain height and so on. A friend of mine told of the time in the 50s when he was working at a stamping plant and someone triggered the press when he was loading it with a fresh sheet of steel. He barely avoided being crushed to death. The he went looking for the SOB who have to be smuggled out of the plant else he would have been killed. OSHA eventually insisted that fail-safes be installed in those machines to it would be impossible for them to operate while someone was working on it. OSHA saves lives.
I had a boss who removed two lockout locks (his and mine) when I was working on an electrical cabinet, because he didn't see me. He then turned the cabinet breaker on and electrocuted me because I was wiring something up, and I went to the ground and slid. Luckily it was not the higher voltage in the cabinet, and I was fine after the muscle soreness wore off.
I never spoke to him again and I got picked for another project in another building, which it now occurs to me was probably his doing to protect himself.
I have gained some hindsight in the 30 years since that happened, apparently.
You gotta admit, in terms of achieving a non-existent goal, getting rid of OSHA makes perfect sense! Just keep on having them babies!
My Grandfather was a trial lawyer for 50 + years. He specialized in workman's comp cases, probably because he originally wanted to be a doctor but his lawyer father demanded he enter the same profession, so that's what he did.
Anyway, he was involved in all sorts of cases that he summed up by saying it created a new law because somebody died.
I remember one such case, involving the bulldozer driver at a local paper mill that has since gone the way of the dodo. Can't say I miss it because the stench was unbelievable. One day the bulldozer driver was moving around the giant pile of sawdust that was used to make paper and the sawdust pile shifted on him, burying him and his dozer in hundreds of tons of sawdust.
Well unfortunately before the rescue crew could dig him out, he suffocated. But the bulldozer was just fine. Why? Well, it turns out the company only supplied the operator of the dozer with a 15 minute tank of oxygen for just this sort of accident, while the dozer was hooked up to an oxygen tank that would allow it to run while buried for a full hour, because, you know, priorities.
I don't recall him mentioning how much money he won for the family of the dead guy but I hope it was a fucking grip.
See also "angle of repose".
Great Wallace Stegner book
Trying to run the government the way he ran his failed businesses. "Kill 10 regs for every new one" crap is pure corporate America. And it NEVER WORKS.
“Doesn’t seem like an America we’d want to go back to.”
WE wouldn’t want to go back to those days. God only knows what Republican voters want. I think a good many of them would prefer being injured on the job to any “woke” or “DEI” safety rules.
I do believe you are correct on that speculation. Trumpers and their ilk consistently vote against their own interests, so it appears that they would prefer injury or death on the job rather than "Woke" or DEI safety rules, never mind that they were written long before "woke" or DEI was a glimmer in a right-wing brain cell.
I was married to a right winger who constantly complained that the union was stealing from his paycheck. Then, after a heart attack, when he returned to work, he was fired for punching a part twice (he was a punch pressman). We were divorced by that point but had remained friends, so when he told me about it, I drove him down to the union hall and we talked to a representative about what had happened. Well, the rep had a sit-down with one of the executives and my ex's firing was changed to retirement. He grudgingly admitted that I was right about unions, but remained right wing until his death (insert facepalm emoji here). He died in 1993, but if he was still alive I expect he would be carrying on about "wokeism" and writing anti-DEI screeds. They never seem to learn.
The summer after my first year in college, I worked on an assembly line in a non-unionized plant making school desks and tables. It was minimum wage, miserable, and sometimes dangerous. And I am forever grateful for that experience because it taught me at a young age to value unions and OSHA.
It was an un-air conditioned metal building with no working fans. The outside temperature was 90-100 degrees every day, which meant it was 10 degrees hotter inside. One guy who worked in a small space, where there was even less air circulation, died of heat prostration. Workers in the adjoining warehouse, where we took each desk after assembling and crating it, had it even worse. On average, new workers in the warehouse lasted less than one month.
One week, to fill in for a worker who was out sick, I worked on a machine where you had to feed thin pieces of plywood that the machine pressed together and cut to make the backs of school chairs. You had to be careful of the machine's metal teeth. There were no safeties built into the machine to protect your hand from being cut off if you weren't careful. I made it through that week, but the following Monday, the worker came back who regularly ran that machine and lost two fingers.
After my valuable experience at American Desk Mfg., I said that anyone who wanted to abolish unions had never done a day's work in a place like that. There's not much hyperbole in that, and it's still true nearly 50 years later. If you don't regulate workplaces and have empowered workers, the employers will take everything from you they can get away with (looking at you, Jeff Bezos)--all in the name of Jeezus and shareholder value.
MAGAts are about to fuck around and find out. But by the time they realize what has happened to the working people they THOUGHT (thanks especially to Pravda, er, Fox News) were being helped by the Orange Mussoli Movement, the oligarchs will be even harder to root out.
I couldn't have said it better. I don't understand workers who just don't "get" that unions and safety regulations are there to protect them and make their work environment safer. My ex husband was a right winger who constantly complained that the union dues were theft, etc. Well after being out for four months after a heart attack, he went back to work and was promptly sacked for punching a part twice (he was a punch pressman). When he told me about it, I took him down to the union hall and after telling the rep the story, the rep went to the company and got the firing changed to retirement. He did grudgingly admit that unions were a good thing. But he could never get rid of the rest of his rightwing beliefs. If he was alive, I expect that he'd be complaining about "wokeism" and writing anti-DEI screeds. They just never seem to learn.
Sadly, because it’s a cult, most of them won’t find out, if by find out you mean actually recognizing that Trump and republicans are the blame for whatever finding out they encounter.
Instead, they’ll blame whatever Fox tells them to, because it’s a cult.
I really do think that is a key to understanding how they adamantly vote against their own interests.