If I, a factory owner, offer optional safety equipment that slows workers down a bit, but I also demand such high productivity that corners have to be cut - whose fault is it when the inevitable happens?
What if I, a factory owner, provide optional basic safety equipment costing $30 per person, but the mask makes the goggles steam up and the boots aren't comfortable? There's better safety equipment available for $300 per person - is it my fault for not buying it?
What if I, a factory owner, happened to start my factory by hiring macho tough guys who don't like wearing a mask, and subsequent hires learn that behaviour from them?
Generally I to listen to the craftspeople I employ on issues of safety because keeping them safe is the whole point of safety. But they and I have a shared responsibility to make sure, if they say the machine is actually safer without the guard, that they're right about that.
In my experience, most of what happens is that workers don't want to wear the gear because it's hot/uncomfortable and they're working really long hours and get tired and sloppy by the end of it.
I actually worked in such a factory, so this is based on direct experience, and what I saw was people cut corners mostly because they were tired after long shifts, though lack of comfort was also a factor due to the heat.
The employer did try to make everyone wear the gear and had inspections and most people wore most of the stuff most of the time, we even won a safety award at one point for going so long without any OSHA-recordable injury. But we weren't perfect and one day I helped bandage a guy who was airlifted after slicing his arm open in a really bad way, something the kevlar wrist protectors should have stopped.
So I would say that employers do try, to the limit they can, but all accidents happen during gaps. And the employees tend to have their own interests in comfort or cutting corners that sometimes conflict with their safety. More limited shifts and attention to comfort might help, but it's not always clear how to provide that.
You can still have things like the guy who got crushed by his forklift after rushing to dump a hopper of trash by doing something really dangerous while unloading it because he wanted to hurry and finish so he could go to his family for Christmas vacation. And it's not easy to stop that kind of thing, even if you do a lot of warnings and inspections to yell at people who don't do things right and pay attention to close calls.
I don't think there was anything serious that didn't get reported. We never had to use anything beyond a single band-aid for non-recordable injuries that I know of and unless you want the office staff reporting every paper cut to OSHA, I don't think they were being unreasonable there.
If anything I'd worry more about the temperature of the floor or the number of hours worked, but it's hard when some people had second jobs or what have you.
It's common, when counting "days without an accident" and handing out awards and bonuses, to only reset the count for accidents of a certain severity.
After all, if you get a minor injury and you know getting treatment will cost your colleagues a $200 bonus, you might keep quiet about it and tough it out to the end of your shift.
To achieve a good culture of safety, you need to make the rewards for safety strong enough to resist the rewards for cutting corners - but you also need to make sure a guy can get a band-aid from the first aid kit or tell his boss about a trip hazard with no disincentives.
I have had things cut for me and I find myself begging the workers to wear ear pro, eye pro, air pro, and they invariably smile, nod, and work without it. Even if I point out the protective gear sitting near the work area. I too was young once. Now I wear the kit.
You see, in many industries when an employee/contractor doesn't wear protective gear they are walked off site by security because the controlling agent of the property doesn't want OSHA fining them.
There are plenty of people to blame, and there is plenty that can be done. This dumb ass "No regulations needed, free market will take care of itself" is how the rich put the poor or ignorant into early, terrible graves.
This is both a collective action problem (people not using the right gear will be faster and cheaper than those with, meaning bad behavior outcompetes good) and an information asymmetry problem - workers are usually not fully aware of the problems they're creating for themselves.
Also people don't think they care. In high school one kid told me 'I don't want anyone to wipe my butt when i'm old, so I'm going to commit suicide at 50, therefore my smoking isn't going to harm me'. He is now approaching 50, I wonder if he still thinks that, but I haven't seen him since.
Realistically, protective gear (actually protective gear, not thin dust masks) is expensive. The workers cant afford it, and the businesses want to save the money.
There's some small margin of workers who have access to protective gear but don't wear it, but in reality for most workers it's the job of the company to provide it and train workers to use it.
I worked in day labor for less than two days. Day labor is, needless to say, low-skill and high-turnover. But there are still dangerous jobs to be done. My job involved directing a wet-vac to pick up water, inside a store, while the other guy was grinding or something that needed to be wet down.
I am a nerd and my glasses were falling off from the sweat. I think I was wearing a pair of work boots which may be required. But the guy giving me orders on-site was not my employer. These clients are well-aware that day laborers may not be back tomorrow. So why give us durable safety equipment that costs money? The day labor office is my employer, but they may not be accurately informed about the safety requirements of the client and the site. They may require us to purchase safety equipment at own expense, but if we don't know what the site requires, or how long we will be there, that's an up-front expense we are unwilling to part with.
Day laborers are one step up from the guys hanging out in Home Depot parking lots, whereby they are legal to work in these United States, but can't get a job anywhere else.
So it's a 3-way tug-of-war of vagueness and parsimony, and it always just ends up being nod-nod, wink-wink, do the best you can.
Car mechanics have a few cultural things that lead to everyone buying a preposterously expensive box of their own stuff. First is theft (stuff walks away a lot) and second is flat-rate differentiation. Having the right tools can make a flat-rated job take much less time and thus incentivizes the mechanic to have their own tools, and still would even if the garage provided them.
Not saying it's good or right, but there are incentives that push towards it.
The company is to blame. It's law to wear protective gear in many legal jurisdictions, and that 100% means the company is liable, if it does not actively enforce, and create a "culture of safety".
The point remain here: The workers are the ones choosing to not use the safety gear, in some cases.
I was the safety representative at a previous job. Management care a lot about safety and provided everything required, and high quality gear as well. Still people would cut corners and not use the equipment because it was faster not to. These where people paid by the hour, they have zero incentive to work faster. If people work on contact however, it's easy to create an environment where speed is priorities over safety.
Where I live the company is responsible for safety, so if a worker decides to not use the safety equipment the company is liable, not the worker, since they must enforce their usage and check that the workers comply, and if not take measures (that include firing the worker if it refuses to use them).
Of course they made so because otherwise it would be convenient to the company provide the safety equipment and not enforce their usage, this way getting work done faster (and thus have more profit).
Exactly. In general companies don't like OSHA hanging around. They'd rather run fast and lose even if it costs a finger or two. Enforcement of the law is how get compliance.
I know a bit about the welding industry and and it’s a lack of education, macho attitude, bad habit “I know by smell/touch/sound that it’s going well” and of course management not making it mandatory.
Working with respirator is not the fun part of the day, for sure. And mask/gloves slows you down. But well being able to breathe and see at the end the day without the worst sunburn of your live helps ;)
If function is your primary concern, then the only material to choose is the one professional kitchens use: stainless steel. It won't be as good looking depending on your tastes, but it will beat most stones on other properties
What is the cost though? Is rust a concern? And of course, looks are a concern, but I imagine quartz is relatively cheap because many, many people can afford it.
It's not very expensive, though I can't give you a price since I live in a rental apartment. As for rust: not a concern with stainless steel, our kitchen is almost 20 years old and the steel countertop and sink still look immaculate. A bit of steel wool or polishing paste are enough to make it look like new. If it wasn't for the look I bet most kitchens would come with stainless steel countertops
