High Rise Construction-A Deadly Game Yesterday, the man from the killed in industrial accidents. Ten Occupational Safety and Health Admillion workers were injured. Almost ministration (OSHA) came to the 400,000 suffered a disability resulthotel construction site I’m working ing from an occupation disease and on. He walked the job, workers hid 10,000 died a “ slow death” as a the safety hazards and illegal proceresult of work. This doesn’t count the dures from his view. Typical rule millions of casualties created by the violations included no railings on daily stress and tension of work. open holes, no safety belts for workers on scaffolds, no ropes around the areas being stripped of overhead forms, no scaffolds for working on narrow side beams, and on and on. Everyone from highest super to meanest laborer views the OSHA man with shared distrust and dislike, as if he were a common enemy. Later, talking over lunch, I asked some laborers and carpenters why they felt that way. They didn’t reply with the usual. It wasn’t nitpicking or safety procedures which make work more difficult that bug them. They feel that if we worked the way OSHA wanted us I’m a laborer, laborers do all kinds to it would take twice as long and of shit work: clean ships, often of cost the company twice as much. asbestos dust; pour concrete for Company profits put us to work and dams, bridges, and buildings, in pay our wages, they explained. which they are occasionally buried. “ But,” I said naively, “ is it worth Dig holes, which sometimes collapse risking our lives so the company can because of inadequate shoring. Carmake more money? And if we ry materials for the other workers, followed safety procedures wouldn’t often injuring their backs. Use that create more work for everyjackhammers on concrete, which body? The company certainly didn’t creates neurological and hearing pass its profits alont to us. If we left problems, and any other number of it up to the company there wouldn’t physically difficult, paintul and often be any safey procedures at all. dangerous jobs. “ No,” everyone said, “ it’s the My job now is stripping the forms company’s profits that pays our off of the hardened concrete. At first, checks.” I was terrified to work up on the six Once a week we have a safety story high scaffolds. Walking a small meeting at which the boss, says ledge, prying with, my wrecking bar “ Watch those nails,“ (left in the or wrestling with the long 4 x 12's I wood) and we sign a sheet saying we used to wonder if I was going to die. attended a safety meeting. Either you stop worrying or find a Last year over 5000 workers were different job. I stopped worrying. MAG^C STAR NATURAL FOODS RESTAURANT AM - 10 .00 m Last year, I worked on one of the largest office buildings downtown, recaulking the marble precasts on the outside of the building. Every day my partner and I rode our three by ten scaffold up and down the outside of the building, depending on two lonely steel cables to keep us up. Being terrified of heights I almost fainted when they told me to go up the first time. I was too scared to refuse and too scared to do it. But if I didn’t want to do the job there was a long list at the Laborers Hall of people who would do it. Luckily, I was so cold I could think of nothing except trying to stay warm, the whole first day. After two weeks I was used to it and rarely thought about what I was doing. Once though, the power line shorted out and we were stranded as a sudden rain squall came up, and tossed us around. “ Why are we dointoahis,” I asked my partner. “ Hell,” he replied, “you can die crossing the street.” Ater several hours we made it down. And of course the next day I thought nothing of going up there again. Last April I walked into work with the morning paper. Fifty one West Virginia construction workers were killed on a collapsed scaffold. Fifteen stories high, it broke bolt by bolt. “There wasn’t a damn thing they could do but scream,” said one witness. “ Why did this happen?” I asked. The men at work read the story or had heard of it. The 29th layer was being poured one day after the 28th layer, to which the scaffold was attached. “ Green concrete,” they all said. (Green means not dry, not up to strength.) Why did the men go up? Everyone knows it takes at least 24 hours and warm weather (it had been in the 30’s that day) for concrete to harden. “What else are you going to do?” they said. “Go up or lose your job. Anyway, that’s what we’re paid for!” Why do we continue to do this work. How do we deal with the danger? I think there are several explanations. First, people need jobs. Many of the most dangerous jobs—textiles, coal mining, chemical workers, laborers—are unskilled jobs. All of us are easily replaced. Second, people accept a very high degree of danger, unpleasantness and hardship as the natural way of work. They put up with incredible difficulties and speed-ups as an ordinary part of life. Third, they try not to think about it. It’s too hard to worry all the time. Instead, you stop worrying. “ After all, look at all the people killed in traffic accidents,” my partners always say. Also, you get used to it. It really doesn’t affect you after a while. Fourth, in the construction business, all this is complicated by a large degree of machoism. You disregard danger to prove you’re tough and unafraid. Even when you don’t have to take a dangerous job on a particular site, th e re ’s social pressure to take it. Finally, workers often accept the companies’ case that profits must come before safety. Luckily, this attitude is changing as workers in many industries —coal, textiles, chemical workers—are fighting for safer working conditions. After all, they are human beings and not renlacable pieces of equipment. KNG HARVEST NATURAL FOODS 23S '-S35’8 14
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