Asbestos Is Back!!!
Who doesn’t one day dream of dying of asbestosis?
I hear it’s a particularly nasty way to go, but a small price to pay when a developer needs to save a few thousand dollars.
I work in the safety field.
I must admit that I’ve watched the asbestos safety about 800 times over the last ten years. Think cancer, rapid weight loss, chemo, radiation, death.
Yet, I’ve also had arguments with owners and general contractors who’ve wanted me to stop aggravating them with my “bullshit.”
A few years back, I got a call from a dry waller who was installing ceiling tiles in a hallway, at a college, that was leading to the pool. There were students passing by, as this worker was on a ladder, banging into a pipe that had suspicious looking materials on it.
“Cliff, I am pretty sure it’s asbestos.”
I was in the hallway looking up when a man in a very fancy suit started screaming in my direction.
“Who the f*** are you?” He asked.
“Cliff,” I said. “I’m his safety consultant. Who the f*** are you?”
He didn’t smile.
“I’m the president of this college and this man is here to put in ceiling tiles, not cause World War III.”
“Is that asbestos?” I asked.
“It’s hot,” he said. “If It were me I’d put on a dust mask and get the job done!”
He was screaming. The smart thing would’ve been to defuse the situation.
I didn’t do that.
“If it were you I wouldn’t give a flying f*** if you went up there in a bikini to do it, but my job is to keep this guy, and all of your students safe. So what are we going to do?”
He did what he could.
He called security and I was removed from the site.
Here’s the kicker:
The company where my guy worked was livid...
...at me!
“We need that contract! Why did you cause so much trouble?”
The next phone call came from the guy on the ladder.
“Thank you. I have young kids at home. I didn’t want to bring that dust home.”
There was a happy ending.
OSHA was informed (not by me...but by an employee working with another contractor).
The asbestos was abated properly.
Do you know why they didn’t do it in the first place?
Five-thousand-dollars!
That’s what it would’ve cost to do it right in the first place.
“What are the chances that guy might come down with asbestosis?” One company owner asked me. “We used to work in it all the time.”
“And people died in their 50’s with brain tumors.”
“Ahhh! Pussies!!” The company owner said.
Making asbestos great again will cost every day working men their lives.
For five grand a pop.
Horrifying.
Mystifying.
Criminal.
Sad.
Really, really sad, because these men are disposable...
...for money.
It needs to be stopped.
But the developer-in-chief simply doesn’t care.
“The regulations were hurting us!”
Honestly, the regulations were saving us.
But that’s just a drywall guy.
Who cares, right?
I hear it’s a particularly nasty way to go, but a small price to pay when a developer needs to save a few thousand dollars.
I work in the safety field.
I must admit that I’ve watched the asbestos safety about 800 times over the last ten years. Think cancer, rapid weight loss, chemo, radiation, death.
Yet, I’ve also had arguments with owners and general contractors who’ve wanted me to stop aggravating them with my “bullshit.”
A few years back, I got a call from a dry waller who was installing ceiling tiles in a hallway, at a college, that was leading to the pool. There were students passing by, as this worker was on a ladder, banging into a pipe that had suspicious looking materials on it.
“Cliff, I am pretty sure it’s asbestos.”
I was in the hallway looking up when a man in a very fancy suit started screaming in my direction.
“Who the f*** are you?” He asked.
“Cliff,” I said. “I’m his safety consultant. Who the f*** are you?”
He didn’t smile.
“I’m the president of this college and this man is here to put in ceiling tiles, not cause World War III.”
“Is that asbestos?” I asked.
“It’s hot,” he said. “If It were me I’d put on a dust mask and get the job done!”
He was screaming. The smart thing would’ve been to defuse the situation.
I didn’t do that.
“If it were you I wouldn’t give a flying f*** if you went up there in a bikini to do it, but my job is to keep this guy, and all of your students safe. So what are we going to do?”
He did what he could.
He called security and I was removed from the site.
Here’s the kicker:
The company where my guy worked was livid...
...at me!
“We need that contract! Why did you cause so much trouble?”
The next phone call came from the guy on the ladder.
“Thank you. I have young kids at home. I didn’t want to bring that dust home.”
There was a happy ending.
OSHA was informed (not by me...but by an employee working with another contractor).
The asbestos was abated properly.
Do you know why they didn’t do it in the first place?
Five-thousand-dollars!
That’s what it would’ve cost to do it right in the first place.
“What are the chances that guy might come down with asbestosis?” One company owner asked me. “We used to work in it all the time.”
“And people died in their 50’s with brain tumors.”
“Ahhh! Pussies!!” The company owner said.
Making asbestos great again will cost every day working men their lives.
For five grand a pop.
Horrifying.
Mystifying.
Criminal.
Sad.
Really, really sad, because these men are disposable...
...for money.
It needs to be stopped.
But the developer-in-chief simply doesn’t care.
“The regulations were hurting us!”
Honestly, the regulations were saving us.
But that’s just a drywall guy.
Who cares, right?
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