Written completely without irony, apparently:
Sadly, Larry usually worked “without a mask and without OSHA rules for much of his life, unloading copper-, chromate- and arsenic-treated lumber, still dripping with green liquid, and then going home with his jeans soaked in the stuff.”
His life ended last month, at 80.
***
Remember…
UPDATE: thanks to the loyal 5FF reader who sent this in — it’s Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame...
Making money is more important than safety – always – and it’s very dangerous in my opinion to ignore that. When we start to believe that someone else is more concerned about our own safety than we are, we become complacent, and then, we get careless. When a business tells you that they are more concerned with your safety than anything else, beware. They are not being honest. They are hedging their own bets, and following the advice of lawyers hired to protect them from lawsuits arising from accidents.
From the comments:
* The worst injury I ever received on the job was by virtue of tripping over my own steel-toed boots. Fell flat on my face. No manufacturer makes boots suitable for petite females with tiny feet, and so we all struggle with these oversized things, try to adjust our strides accordingly, but it’s not natural, and I fall on my face routinely.
I don’t perform any job functions that actually require steel-toed boots, but they are a blanket requirement in most industrial facilities. So not only are they not protecting me from anything, they actually increase my risk of injury substantially.
* Mike, are you a closet Burner? Have you ever attended the Burning Man Festival?
If you are looking for a Dirty Job to appear on, you should make a note to go work with the Department of Public Works crew at Black Rock City. They are the hardworking individuals who put together the infrastructure for the Burning Man Festival out at Black Rock Desert, NV.
Before the hippies come out to party, the DPW spends 2 weeks pounding in fence posts, digging trenches, and a ton of carpentry, all in temperatures exceeding 105F.
And, their motto is, “Safety Third!”
