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OSHA Silica Enoforcment


Jronman

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Yeah, this is one of the few I can get on board with. Normally it's all Darwin-award stuff, this is actually helpful. I can see why smaller operations would take a long time to convert, not everyone can afford to outfit the whole crew with new dust solutions...a lot won't care because of the "It never was a problem before, be a man" mentality.

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The sad truth is that there will always be someone willing to do the work without the proper safety equipment and procedures in place. A worker living paycheck to paycheck has to decide if they’re going to risk getting fired by standing up to the boss and telling them they won’t do something dangerous or idiotic. Given the choice of definitely not feeding your kids this week or possibly getting injured at some point in the future, most aren’t going to hold out for what’s “right” no matter how justified they actually are. 

 

Unless the company owners get slapped with serious fines and consequences, nothing is going to change and there just aren’t enough inspectors to catch every violation. 

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49 minutes ago, khariV said:

The sad truth is that there will always be someone willing to do the work without the proper safety equipment and procedures in place. A worker living paycheck to paycheck has to decide if they’re going to risk getting fired by standing up to the boss and telling them they won’t do something dangerous or idiotic. Given the choice of definitely not feeding your kids this week or possibly getting injured at some point in the future, most aren’t going to hold out for what’s “right” no matter how justified they actually are. 

 

Unless the company owners get slapped with serious fines and consequences, nothing is going to change and there just aren’t enough inspectors to catch every violation. 

 

...there's plenty of people doing work without a license too...Or illegal workers being paid under the table. If there are rules and regulations there will plenty of people trying to get around them.

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The sad truth is most small companies will not comply because they can slip under the radar. I once did a total gut for a house flipper 1 block away from our local OSHA  office. I had 4 dumpsters setting in front  full of crap and not once in 20 weeks did a inspector stop to see what we were doing. As far as finding somebody to do the work unsafe there is no shortage of idiots to do the work. I bidded on a job not to long ago. The house was built in the 40's . It had loads of lead paint, asbestos, and mold a triple whammy for the flipper. I gave him a price and told him I can take care of the lead but he would have to get someone certified for the mold and asbestos. I drove by the house a few weeks later and saw about 4 guys that hang out at the HD looking for work  hauling the crap out to the dumpster covered in dust and not one piece of PPE.

 

 

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On 9/28/2017 at 9:26 PM, Jronman said:

@regopit could the homeowner get in trouble for that?

Technically... Yes, though shouldn't ever happen, but I have heard a story about 6 hours after a hurricane that code compliance was issuing tickets... So when government gets involved anything can and probably will happen.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm usually a one-man crew masonry contractor, and usually I'm just cutting one or two concrete block every so often. If that's the case, I'll take a long breath and cut quickly. If it's a lot of cutting, I'll wear a respirator. If they can come up with a cordless and waterless solution to suck up the dust, I'm all for it, but until then I'll probably end up taking deep breaths.

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1 hour ago, Jronman said:

I would have expected a masonry saw to have a water system to cool the blade off. Maybe it could suppress the dust too?

 It does. Rented a Husqvarna gas monster with water hook up to cut out for a basement egress window and not a bit of noticeable dust.

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9 hours ago, Cr8ondt said:

 It does. Rented a Husqvarna gas monster with water hook up to cut out for a basement egress window and not a bit of noticeable dust.

 

My saw does do that as well, and it does a great job at cutting down the dust. But when I'm working at a new construction home where there is no water or electric there's not many options for dust control. 

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