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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that strives to ensure the well-being of workers across various industries, such as construction, agriculture, and so on.
It achieves this by setting standards, providing training, outreach, education, and assistance, as well as enforcing compliance with regulations through inspections and enforcement actions.
However, since OSHA has jurisdiction over approximately 7 million worksites, the agency's employees regularly encounter a very diverse array of situations. So when Reddit user Vesper4255 asked them to share the craziest and most memorable stories, there were plenty to go around.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
This one time there was a deadly pandemic that killed millions worldwide, we had refrigerated body trucks in the streets, hospital was chronically collapse-level overwhelmed. The personal protective equipment they gave us for infection control? Plastic garbage bags to wear over our scrubs. Face masks designed for 30 minutes of effective use were worn for days. 115,000 of us died.
María Hermida 2 years ago
This, unfortunately, happened all over the world. I don't know how many doctors, nurses, paramedics, etc died in Spain due to insufficient or faulty protective equipment, but I guess a lot. I know seven thousand elderly people died like rats in their nursing homes without even the most basic medical care, because there were orders from "high up" that the elderly weren't worth the efforts and the resources. The "healthy" were quarantined in the same rooms as the dying. I know the army had to send specially trained people to pick up the corpses. I know several politicians grew richer buying defective masks. Nothing happened. Nobody cares. Let's sit down to wait for the next pandemic.
XenoMurph 2 years ago
Would help if the PPE could be stored for longer than a couple of years. It's incredibly wasteful for a responsible government to have on hand millions of pieces of PPE, but need to dispose of them every few years because they are "out of date", even though it's completely fine to use.
Anna Ekberg 2 years ago
"Face masks designed for 30 minutes of effective"? What kind of face masks were those, never heard of before.
Seadog 2 years ago
Hospital where my grandson was born they handed out those leaf masks (yes, that's what they are, they're sold at home improvement stores and it says right on the box NOT FOR MEDICAL USE) that most people wore. Upon exit they'd retrieve the mask, fold it up nice and neat and put it right back in the box. Yes, the hospital had a nurse doing this. Tell me again it's a deadly virus? My son threw his on the ground, twisted his bott on it several times, picked it up and handed it to the nurse and told her to reuse that one. He's a truck driver and one truck stop he was at was doing the same thing. He did the same thing to them.
David Paterson 2 years ago
Here, COVID meant that the whole country had to go 8 months without any thermometers. We were even told not to wear face masks.
RELATED:
#2
Not an OSHA inspector, but related, and I regularly do inspections together with them. One of the factories that a related, but not quite subsidiary company, runs received a formal complaint which triggered an OSHA inspection. The complaint mentioned something along the lines of machines not being properly barricaded, resulting in someone losing two fingers and could result in a big lawsuit. My company wasn't happy as although they weren't in the direct line of fire, there was reputational damage involved. We got there, foreman pointed us to the machine. We got them to break it open to see the damage. Out pops not two, but SIX little blobs. Two of them were definitely fingers, bloody gristly and all that Jazz. In my mind, I was going, "Great, incident verified. The dimwit running the place was gonna get slapped with a stupid fine, time to wrap up and go home." Then the inspector started poking at the other four shrivelled grey blobs, because those were rats right? Dead rats? But why don't they have any skulls? He poked one of them until it crumbled open and voila, those weren't rats. Those were dessicated, f*****g fingers. There SIX f*****g fingers in one machine. After the two of us spent some time hurling chunks in a pot nearby, we got to hear some even better news. This machine with the s****y safety s**t and six fingers in it? There were seven more machines just like that one in the factory. And the foreman admitted that the factory owner has been firing all the foreign workers operating the machine if anyone ever spoke about past incidents and suppressing all the incidents until someone finally had enough and reported him. It was at that point where this stopped being an inspection and turned into a full blown criminal investigation and my company dropped the factory like a hot potato, but not before we sued the pants off the sick S.O.B naturally. Last I heard, they had found close to 40 fingers and an actual goddamn ARM in the other machines and the dude was facing life in prison. My country is pretty s**t about workers rights, especially foreign workers, so I was honestly quite surprised they even managed to drag him to court in the first place.
Hey! 2 years ago
Maybe the title changed in between you reading and me reading. Now it's: From The Job That Left Them Flabbergasted
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Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
You know I've worked in factories and yeah I can see all this being true I'm glad he got in trouble. These people that run them, well half of the factories ran by s.o.b that don't give s**t what happens to you. They just care the work gets done. They don't really give 2 shits about safety or nothing like that. They just want there figures at the end of the day to be what it should and I get that. But you have to care about people's life's all of them and any of them to have a good logical work place. That someone is willing to work at. Like I've aways said. Money no matter how much it is, is not worth your life. And or not worth your wife or husband not having a spouse and your children not having a dad or mom. Or just you being Abel to be alive. Not worth distract measures to try to stay alive working a 12hr or 16hr shift your already tried at that point.
Laly Lynch 2 years ago
At least it had a happy ending where dude got locked up & they threw away the keys.
SnackbarKaat 2 years ago
As a student I worked two weeks in a coffee factory and I saw a technician with only 2 fingers on one hand. Apparently every technician lost some fingers in his career there and it was considered part of the job and the good salary. I'm from western Europe..
#3
Not an inspector, but i work in the food industry and there are these big packaging robots in our factory. These things have gates that close of every part of the machine so that no one can access anything while it's active and it shuts down as soon as a gate is opened.
Well here's the thing. It takes a while to reboot the machine when it shuts down and the operators don't like that. So in some MacGyver way they managed to rig the sensor in not noticing that the door is opened if they need to fix something or get some cardboard unstuck.
Last year a guy climbed into that machine to fix something and while he thought he was safe asked the new guy to press the start button on the machine to test if the fix had worked. The machine however didn't shut down because the gate had opened and just immediately restarted. The guy inside only had his ribs crushed because the new guy luckily had the reaction speed to press the emergency shutdown button in time.
Safe to say we've been in safety meetings and giving safety training for over a year now...
Midwest Mike 2 years ago
I currently work in a company that does Alcohol Bottling and to a small part distilling. I work in IT. I'm not a huge fan of the job for some reasons. But at least this place takes Job Safety and Training SUPER SERIOUSLY!!! Doesn't matter if your not on the "Factory Floor". Your in IT, Marketing, even the Finance Dept. YOU MUST GO TO THE SAFETY TRAINING CLASSES BI-YEARLY!!! And there is a lotto based on how many days there hasn't been an Employee OSHA issue. For as much as my company has problems. THEY TAKE SAFETY SUPER SERIOUSLY!!! This should be the standard. I have watched: Day Davis of the Bacardi Bottling Plant in Jacksonville Florida being crushed 4 times in my works safety training. People die because of Employers lax safety standards. Your life in worth more than what your job is. Please for Day Davis 's sake watch the video on youtube.com. Its the mans last hours of his life as he worked to make a better life for him and his fiance. Marriage didn'
Hugh Cookson 2 years ago
If you worked at sea in the merchant fleet (including cruise ships) in the 80' and 90's, you will have been told about the danger of trying to get through a below decks watertight door during both an exercise and a real emergency. Despite this, during the weekly drills people would still play chicken with the doors. We then had a new Crew Purser / Health and Safety guy come aboard. He brought a video (yes, it was loooong ago) showing in grahic detail what happens to a body (several actually, over the 30 minute show) once you and a watertight door get intimate - it was very bloody with many vids of people bisected in various ways. Needless to say, many, many people who watched this vomited or passed out. No one ever tried to outrun a watertight door after that though .....
Tameeza Joyce Lightowler 2 years ago
Why do some people seriously NEED it drilled into their heads that protocols are there for their own safety? You Are Not Immortal.
Load More Replies... Cider’s Agenda 2 years ago
There are definitely companies that don’t care about safety! There are also employees who don’t care either. I used to work at a manufacturing facility. One employee in the maintenance department REFUSED to follow any safety protocols, and encouraged others to do the same. He thought the OSHA rules were “bullsh*t”. After many trainings and warnings, and despite being a great mechanic, he was fired.
DarkViolet 2 years ago
Had he been injured, no doubt he would have tried to sue for the cost of a fleet of Ferraris.
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#4
My old boss fell into an open pit while showing the inspectors around. Good times.
Alethea Fletcher 2 years ago
According to the OP on the original article on Reddit, yes. Just a few cuts and bruises. However the site was closed down for a few months due to that, and other issues.
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Zakaar Bovus 2 years ago
The pit I fell in it, the pit You fell in it, the pit We all were in that pit
Richard Keel 2 years ago
My old boss had had a previous career in construction and once watched a site manager walk backwards of scaffolding twice in one day. Fortunately, he was only a few feet up, but after his second "taking a couple of steps back to get a better look at the building", he was sent home for the afternoon
#5
A man crushed under a piece of marble. He was already meeting his maker and his mortal remains are seared into my memory. The owner hadn’t checked on him in a few days and he probably had been conscious for a while, evidenced by the lack of nails, the scratch marks in the dirt, on the block and the lack of gas in the forklift. My first successful prosecution, go me!
Brian Droste 2 years ago
Didn't they have sometime of time clock and nobody noticed that didn't clock out after his shift?
Clown fish 2 years ago
What are you on about? It says in dirt where you getting marmor from?
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#6
I started work in a little factory. It’s been operating for almost 30 years. The day I started, I noticed there were zero fire extinguishers anywhere. None. Anywhere. In the entire building. Upon further inspection, there were no smoke detectors or fire alarms. I started asking around, and the employees told me they hadn’t ever had a fire drill. Ever. There wasn’t even a plan. The welders told me *there’s fires in the building all the time,* and they just scramble to put them out with whatever is on hand. For some reason, no one thought twice about it. They didn’t think about it ever. It was just cool.
I asked the safety guy. Like the manager dude that has “health and safety” on his badge. He lied to me and said that the plant was “grandfathered in to not having fire measures.”
Needless to say I quit. I had a conversation with a friend who works with an OSHA compliance agency, and he alerted whatever authority could take action. My friend’s employer actually ended up gaining a big contract from that factory to bring them up to code. The factory was ordered to do so under penalty.
Karal Moon(They/Them) 2 years ago
it took me WAY too long to figure out what the picture was 🤦
#7
Non American OSHA:
You people know that meme about the forklift carrying its younglings so they can reach the top of the shelf?
Exactly that but IRL with a 6ton and a 1.5 ton forklift in a building with 1t/m2 floor carrying capacity and about 1 ton of flammable s**t as cargo.
I'm no longer a safety inspector to keep my own health and sanity
Brian Hawley 2 years ago
I used to run a defended compound in Saudi. I introduced a protocol for replacing our street light bulbs. Scaffolding tower, side props locked in, wheels locked, toe boards, only climb up inside the tower, harnesses, road coned off, flag man, lookout etc. etc. The guys didn’t like it. “Too much work. This isn’t how we did it under the previous boss” So how did they do it? “Akbar used to be a coconut picker. He’d just climb up the lamppost using is arms and legs,”
My O My 2 years ago
Now, that's hard to answer. Because they do have a valid reason
Load More Replies... #8
Once saw a makeshift welding station shielded by beach umbrellas and duct tape. The worker was wearing sunglasses instead of a welding mask. Said it gave him a 'summer vibe'. I was speechless!
Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
Maybe it's because I just woke up, but I misread "welding" as "wedding" and got pretty confused.
SCP 4666 2 years ago (edited)
Me too .Especially with the picture of the chairs on the beach I thought they were going to marry on a makeshift Wedding Station 😄
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Alethea Fletcher 2 years ago
I read that as a makeshift WEDDING station😬🤦♀️...that photo really isn't matching the words is it 😕
Amused panda 2 years ago
Well, considering I've seen clips of people using plastic bags in lieu of a welders mask, the sunglasses doesn't surprise me
Con O Cuinn 2 years ago
Depends on the type of welding. OAG welding, his eyes probably would be fine.
Andrew Parsons 2 years ago
Never speak on welding safety again. Always wear protective gear
Load More Replies... David Paterson 2 years ago
Any worse than on some TV programs like Scrapheap Challenge? Even Mythbusters has had some OHS moments.
Mario Strada 2 years ago
In my teenage years I welded a motorcycle muffler without eye protection. It's a mistake I will never repeat for as long as I live. I spent two days with potato slices over my eyes, unable to sleep or stay awake with tiny exacto blades under my eyelids. It's like all the beach sand of all the world's shores was under my eyelids (with the exacto blades). Absolute agony. The only thing more painful was kidney stones.
#9
Not an OSHA inspector but as an electrician in the elevator industry one of our supervisors walked in to a 7 or 8 story lift shaft to find one worker in a makeshift harness made by combining and tying slings together being lifted up the shaft by a co worker using an electric winch hanging on the top of the shaft... They were both Chinese nationals the boss had bought over to work and were Actually very good Liftys but had absolute NO CONCEPT of safety and clearly no regard for their own lives
Stephanie Did It 2 years ago
Judging from the images we've seen from India and other Asian countries, apparently this is absolutely normal for their workers. Terrifying.
Rostit. . 2 years ago
its due to the lack of value they place on human life.
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Tameeza Joyce Lightowler 2 years ago
Vote down for the racial aspect of it. It goes a lot deeper than Chinese nationals "having no concept of safety and clearly no regard for their own lives". ... These are People who are, as it states, the boss had brought over to work. And to let's face it. For the Boss to Save Money. These workers are trying to provide for their families and are being exploited for it at the risk of their own lives. They are Human. They obviously Value their owns lives. Just as you do.
Nice Beast Ludo 2 years ago
There is no money in the world that would make me be able to do that if I wanted to. My body would shut down
Nicola Mawson 2 years ago
My dad worked on mines in South Africa. Someone bypassed the stop safety. A rock cage went tearing down the shaft. Thank goodness it wasn't a man winder. The incident was taken exceptionally seriously
Herobrine 2 years ago
Yeah. By the evidence of those viral safety videos from china, they have no concept of work place safety.
María Hermida 2 years ago
Unfortunately, we, the westerners, are partly responsible. Every time we buy a cheap pair of jeans, household appliance, etc from places with zero quality control, like AliExpress, Amazon, etc, we are "voting" in favour of this exploitative system. They have no concept of work place safety, no concept of protection of the environment, no concept of workers' rights. China is partly to blame, but we (Europe and America) are also responsible because we consent, pretend not to know and take our industries there. Out of sight, out of mind.
Load More Replies... #10
We had a volunteer (non profit business) with 20 years experience in building trades and another 5 as a volunteer, fire a nail gun through his hand while demonstrating to our clients how a nail gun has a mechanism to stop it from firing unless it was pressed up against something....
Lydsylou 2 years ago
Amazing! I have done something similar but not nearly so bad when I was pretending that I was going to staple my finger to scare my 4 year old brother. To make it realistic I pressed down on the stapler a bit and proceeded to actually staple my finger. It actually didn't hurt as much as you would think it did
María Hermida 2 years ago
How old were you? Kids and teens may be careless, but an adult should know better, especially one who is supposed to be a professional.
Load More Replies... John Paul 2 years ago
I know the company you are referring to… added a safety lever to the nail guns, so that the operator has to use both hands to use one.
María Hermida 2 years ago
The best safety features are the ones that don't make users think, and don't give them options. If there is just ONE remote possibility to do something stupid and get hurt, somebody, somewhere will do something stupid and will get hurt.
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#11
Former hospital safety inspector here. We acquired a surgeon’s private practice and when I went in to inspect the first time, there were soiled instruments with blood on them in the sink of the employee break room next to the used coffee cups. Biohazard waste receptacle and autoclave in there too. No separation of clean and soiled. I’m a firm believer in doctor’s offices being owned and run by hospitals because the standards are higher.
KimB 2 years ago
I work in a private physician office. (Us) My office is definitely cleaner than the hospital we are attached to. We have regular inspections by "Free-standing Facility" who is like OSHA but just for free standing doctors offices/clinics. Our staff does most of the cleaning with antibacterial wipes after every patient. After hours the office is cleaned by a professional cleaning company. I can't speak for all offices but come to mine we'll keep you safe and sound and take good care of your heart health :)
Nonbinary Reptile 2 years ago
That's not how that works David. HACs are because some microbes can stay in the air for hours and travel in the facility. You won't find a conclave in an employer break room. SOURCE: myself, partner and my two siblings all work in the medical field in hospitals.
Load More Replies... #12
I'm not an OSHA inspector, but if my workplace had an inspection, it would go down badly.
Guy working a large drillpress at high feed with barely enough emulsion and no ventilation in a 4×4m box. Those fumes fry ur lungs and brain.
India styled cable management hanging atop and from a single pole hangar crane with a max lifting load of 1t, lifting 3t while bending about 10%.
Rod polishing on lathes with hands in gloves and long sleeve hoodies.
Hydraulic oil everywhere, usually collected if not spilled in large barells, then burned during winter in a shady oil furnace that catches fire once a week.
Chemicals in used water bottles with no labeling all around the place.
Everything that you touch zaps you most of the time, especially tap water while washing hands. We once took a tester and turned out everything in that place, even the hangar itself, had 35v running through at all times. Every single thing. Even the tap water.
Tens of unreported accidents a year. There was an employee who blew himself up a few years back. He was doing DIY pyrotechnics and smoked next to a powder mill. Explosives squad was called in, and they found 200kg of explosoves in his closet at work.
Heffalump 2 years ago
If your workplace would do badly in an OHSA inspection, it is absolutely incumbent on you to report them and make that inspection happen. No excuses. It's on YOU.
XenoMurph 2 years ago
Easy to say. But if there is a shortage of jobs in that area, and you are living hand to mouth, you really don't want your kids to go hungry tomorrow because you got the factory shut down.
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DE Ray 2 years ago
Bad wiring has to ground somewhere. Probably a bare wire touching the metal water pipes, or possibly the metal frame of the building.
Load More Replies... David Paterson 2 years ago (edited)
"Tens of unreported accidents a year". This should not happen. 200 kg of filched explosives. This should not happen either.
Amused panda 2 years ago
So the explosives squad are called in because of unsafe actions in the workplace, and it doesn't land up in OSHA's list for inspection and monitoring?
#13
I'll share late, because I have a good one. I used to work in a factory that was insanely breaking the rules to "speed up the process" of making the materials they sell. Here's a couple: 1: Acid line running through the inside of the building from source to vats dripped in a doorway when running. 2: a catwalk above gigantic vats of hot nitric acid with no railing that workers went on to dump reagents into the vats, better just wear your respirator! (They never did) 3: the chemical procedure causes a nox gas to spew out and if something goes wrong the entire building can fill with this hazardous gas and you can even see it in the office area spewing across the ceiling; a thick orange/red cloud. No one except me ever left the building. Someone was fired for smoking pot on the job (almost half of them did) and they notified OSHA of all the violations they could think of. OSHA came in and left without talking to anyone except higher up office staff. A couple days later we had to "sign" a change agreement to "be up to code." The sheet literally had 8 things written on it with a title at the top and crew name signature lists at the bottom. None of it included the most dangerous issues and that was the last I heard of any of it. I left that job shortly after.
Iron Penguin 2 years ago
Item 2: Tell me you live in Gotham City without telling me you live in Gotham City.
Tabitha 2 years ago
So palms were greased. OSHA inspectors——all inspectors, tbh—-should ALWAYS go out on the floor and talk to employees directly. They should never stop at talking to upper management. First the floor, then on to giving management an a*s whipping for all the violations. Also, every inspection for health and safety should be a surprise inspection, never ever pre-announced. Never give s****y companies a chance to clean up for that one day. You have to catch them unaware so you can see the truth.
David Paterson 2 years ago
1, 2 & 3 are seriously terrible. I have no love of OHS people (who stop you from changing a lgihtbulb and consider working overtime to be a mortal sin) but it sure was needed here, and failed.
#14
Not OSHA but UK equivalent surveying pressure equipment under PSSR and HSE. This was at an older factory that we'd just taken the insurance contract over. The stupidest thing I've seen was on a steam boiler that had recently had the burner swapped out for a newer model. Said newer model hadn't been set up correctly in relation to the operating pressure and kept lifting the safety valves. The boiler was rated to 14barg, operated at around 10.5barg, and the valves lifted around 11barg. Any normal engineer would think to tune the burner properly or get the original unit refitted. What they decided to do, in their infinite wisdom, was to blank off the safety valve outlets, meaning they couldn't discharge to atmosphere. Effectively, they had created a massive bomb. I only found it after seeing it go through a burn cycle, and watching the pressure shoot past the safety valve opening pressure and hit the SWL (even after the burner had stopped firing) without hearing the thunder and racketing of the safeties lifting. That was a fun phone call to our technical superintendent, and one of the longer reports I'd written (though not the longest).
María Hermida 2 years ago
I saw a normal, domestic pressure cooker explode once. Well, I didn't actually see the explosion. I heard the noise and saw the aftermath (a neighbour's kitchen). Same story with one of those Italian-style coffeepots (my own kitchen). I totally agree with you. Never, ever, ever, ever.
Load More Replies... Dr Robert Neville 2 years ago
I have a friend who's a sparky (electrician), back when he was an apprentice his boss was removing a plate on a steel conduit, not sure if was supposed to be pressurised but it was, split and blew up in his face, tore it to pieces, my friend is holding this guy's face together, raises the alarm, goes to hospital with him, holding his hand, telling him it's fine. They're still great mates but f**k, I'm not sure how I'd react.
#15
Not an inspector, but was working on a job where some ceiling installer was on a scissor lift, bunch of guys underneath him, some working with water. Guy had a spotter who wasn't paying attention, as the lift operator was raising the platform, it caught onto a spider box cable (large electrical line) and was about to pull way too much tension. I ran over and yelled to get the operators attention, then was forced to hit the E shut off switch on the ground. He yelled at me, the spotter yelled at me, everyone looked at me wondering what I was doing. I pointed at the cable and asked him what he thought of it, operator saw the cable, and turned white as a ghost as he realized he almost cooked himself and others.
Bonus: I watched from the 5th floor as some gate installers almost killed themselves. They were installed a huge side slider gate to a concrete wall, gate popped loose and hit the ground, then fell over and nearly missed a guy by literal inches, the guy body slammed a porta potty to get out of the way.
Joshua Macdonald 2 years ago
Every one of these starts with.. I'm not an inspector but... misleading article title
Astrophile 2 years ago
They’re still OSHA/dangerous workplace stories. If every single poster in this list was actually an OSHA inspector, the stories would still be very similar. You’re not missing out on anything, don’t worry :)
Load More Replies... #16
I’m not an OSHA inspector but I am a lawyer that works for a very large company. We had a department team building playing laser tag on company premises and 4(!) separate attorneys ended up tripping over decor that had been put up and spraining their ankles. A week later the company president came to meet with the general counsel and saw a bunch of attorneys with matching boots on and freaked out.
Mechanician 2 years ago
Four lawyers with lasers. There has to be a great joke here. Let's try. What do you call four lawyers with laser tag guns? Prize for best punchline....
Michael Largey 2 years ago
Whenever I got the boot at work, I didn't get to come back the next day. Those security people were very clear about it.
Isaac Nemo 2 years ago
I'm not sure what the joke is here. If I were in charge of a company where four lawyers got hurt, I'd defecate a brick too!
#17
I was the UK equivalent (Health and Safety Executive Inspector). I was inspecting and oil and gas production facility owned by one of the super majors.
In one of the pump rooms there was an eye wash station. On top of the eye wash station someone had left a bottle of acid.
It still makes me laugh (as no one was hurt) imagining a scenario like that from a third rate comedy movie where some poor soul got something in their eye, stumbles blindly to the eye wash station, and proceeds to squeeze a load of acid into their face.
Fluffy mommy panda 2 years ago
I really don't think that is funny at all. Do you know how bad that burn and that they will most likely be blind for the rest of there life! Wth. This is what I'm talking about. Right here.
Alethea Fletcher 2 years ago
Gallows humour is a needed thing in jobs like that. It's a far healthier coping mechanism than the alternative.
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David Paterson 2 years ago
It's pleasant for a health and safety inspector to find a major infringement _before_ anyone gets hurt.
Leviathan 2 years ago
As a Joke, I would put a fake bottle that says ACID in the wash area, {OOOH STORY TIME!} I have a blind eye, I just remember I did this when I was younger! I had eye drops for my blind eye, and my sister and I slapped a FAKE ACID label on it, So when I was in school I would use it, yell and then act like nothing was wrong, cause clearly it was just eyedrops but looked like I just put Acid in my eye lol
Coyote Osborne 2 years ago
Ha ha, and then they're disfigured and blind on top of whatever already happened. Yeah. Great. Hilarious.
#18
Not an inspector, but at my previous job we'd had a bad accident in the factory (someone died) so OSHA came through for an inspection. The bosses had taken us all and said hey make sure you follow all the rules to the letter and be smart about this. I was walking the factory floor when the inspector showed up. He held up his clipboard and clicked a pen and said "ok let's see what we have here", and looked immediately to his left where a guy was pouring paint thinner into a 55 gallon drum from a 5 gallon bucket while having a lit cigarette in his mouth. I knew it was going to be good when the OSHA inspector had a wtf look on his face 5 seconds into the inspection.
#19
I worked as an art fabricator. A client wanted us to spray oil paint with automotive sprayguns. The paint pigments are full of cadmium, cobalt, titanium, etc and it literally said "do not spray" on the side of the paint tubes. The safety "precautions"? My boss gave us dust masks and stuck a fan in the window. I was in my early 20s and just thankful to be out of food service. But the client showed up and flipped out when he saw how little protection we were given. Thankfully he made sure we all had proper respirators, tyvek suits, and colossal automotive down-draft air cleaners....3 months into the project. Anyway...be nice to your wait staff bc heavy metal poisoning was preferable to getting screamed at over a burger.
Mechanician 2 years ago
Are you following up with doctors from time to time? Please get blood drawn, etc., because heavy metal poisoning can become a serious problem decades after exposure. I am sorry that happened to you and hope you can stay well anyway.
Seadog 2 years ago
Reminds me of a building inspector (not local) who began to chew me out for removing plaster in a 1920 house (possible asbestos and lead content) I had to stop him and inform him we're wearing respirators and using a vac system. He assumed we were wearing those leaf masks that everyone wore to stop COVID. I told him we're not stupid, we know about asbestos etc and how to deal with it. He admitted that he almost never comes across people handling that stuff correctly.
#20
Not OSHA cause not USA, but internal company safety inspector:
Guy broke a few bones after doing unsafe stuff without proper equipment.
Guy and his buddies knew the guy would get treated at the plant but would get a written warning for not following protocol (enought of those result in termination). So they hid the guy in a shipping container until end of shift (something like 3 hours) and carried him to the free hospital afterwards.
Michael Braisher 2 years ago
Well you d what you must. Would have thought the consequences were punishment enough.
Hey! 2 years ago
Can you imagine suffering for a few hours, nothing being done while you have several broken bones? Reminds me of my late father who slipped in the staircase where he lived, broken his hip, had to wait for someone to help him, in the cold. Students coming out of school called an ambulance for him, 4 hours later.
Seadog 2 years ago
And then the container gets loaded and shipped somewhere..... That happened where I live. Guy bought a new pickup and just kept on and on about it. His buddies stuck it in a semi trailer that had been sitting out back for months to see him panic when he came in and truck was gone. Yeah, joke was on them, that was the very day that trailer got picked up. They had to take him 3 hours down the road to get it. Imagine the surprise on the faces of the guys on the receiving end when they opened the doors and there sits a new truck.
#21
Not OSHA inspector, but was something similar. Rooftop flooded for leak test, in sections. Mostly dry, one wet area. Guy took off his boots and socks and walked across 2 inches of murky water filled with nails, screws, jagged shards of cut sheet metal and so on. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was a little off. On a similar note, I was shocked by a 220v cable submerged in water in a similar situation. I was wearing boots. Shocked, but was insulated enough that there was no damage. Regular commercial jobsites are extremely dangerous. Everyone I know who does anything interesting has been dinged up severely, and I've witnessed people falling from ladders, drunk at work, stoned at work, drunk AND stoned at work, on c*ke, MDMA, speed, PCP, people having heat strokes, fainting, breaking their legs and hands, saw a lift (temporary elevator) drop out of control, rocks and pavers fall from a crane, more than once saw someone almost get crushed between a swinging crane load of over a ton....twice there was a major gas line break so big that it would have destroyed more than a city block if it had been ignited. The second gas line was high capacity and was hissing loudly even from a distance. Everyone was yelling "no fuego! NO FUEGO!" I've never seen people run down stairs so quickly. It felt like the building was going up. One time an actual OSHA guy showed up to the job site (never seems to happen) and his only complain, despite all the obvious hazards, was that people having unlabeled water bottles might result in contamination...
David Paterson 2 years ago
Do you think the OHSA guy was being bribed? An earlier post suggested that too. And I've had a personal experience with a building inspector who I suspect was bribed.
My O My 2 years ago
I think they often are. That and quite a few of them don't care all that much
Load More Replies... Seadog 2 years ago
Falling from a crane. A friend is a tower crane operator. Was lifting the concrete bucket on a site. Anyone who knows anything about working that bucket knows why there's often a rope hanging from the dump bar, it's so you can pull the rope and dump the load before the bucket sets down. Speeds thing up, keeps the crane moving. Yeah, rope caught a girder as he was coming round and 8 yards of concrete dumped in the middle of an intersection. I think he said 3 cars were totaled and 4 more severely damaged. One driver got out and climbed under his SUV because he thought the rocks hitting his car were gunshots.
Donna Sempek 2 years ago
I’m a retired nurse and years ago I worked as a work comp case manager. I went to a home of a young woman who had inhaled Cobalt dust for a period of time. I can’t recall now what her job was but the employees were not provided with appropriate face coverings or respirator masks. It was tragic to see a woman in her thirties unable to walk more than a few feet without sitting and required continuous supplemental oxygen. I evaluated what assistance she would require such as meal prep, house work, personal care assistance.. I had to research vans equipped to transport her via wheelchair. Of course the insurance company provided this lifetime care but nothing could repair the damage to her lungs.
Mandy Delaforce (PC Girl) 1 year ago
Australia - Holdens plant at Elizabeth. One of the forklift drivers was a known alcoholic. You NEVER walked near him if you didn't have to and watched him like a hawk. Left when he won some money as part of a syndicate then promptly drank it all in a short time. Went back to work for Holdens afterwards. He'd be dead by now, as that was 30 years ago and he was in his 60's.
#22
It was actually before I moved into health and safety (not American).
I worked for an industrial demolition company and I witnessed two premature collapses where people in the vicinity almost died and two failed collapses which are arguably scarier because people have to go back into an already weakened structure.
We’re talking like 10,000 tonnes of steel coming down unexpectedly and only missing people by a few meters.
I, unfortunately, was on of those people on one occasion. It was my final day in the industry.
David Paterson 2 years ago
Whew. Premature collapses. Failed collapses. Demolition is a deadly business. I also worry about handling that much high explosive.
XenoMurph 2 years ago
From what I hear, high explosive is really safe. Ironically.
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Deep One 2 years ago
Didn't see it but there was a construction collapse in town I lived in. They had poured a bunch of floors and I think somehow jacked the up into position. (It didn't really make much sense to me. ) Anyway something happened to one of the upper floors and it pancaked to the floor below it and so on all the way to the ground. A bunch of workers were crushed beyond all recognition. FUBARed for real.
Mechanician 2 years ago
What induces people to agree to go back into a building that failed demolition? There could not possibly be that much money in it.
DarkViolet 2 years ago
What are the procedures to ensure that there is no one occupying the building, or if there are hazardous materials that could harm people if jolted?
#23
An engineer friend of mine was consulting with the USPS on safety and efficiency at a major sorting hub. This facility had overhead conveyor belts carrying packages across the whole building, often over the heads of the workers on the floor. At the tail end of one belt was a spiral chute so packages could slide down to floor level onto another belt. He was standing with a group of USPS employees discussing ergonomics or something when they heard a low rumble overhead, followed by an awful clanging as an oversized package banged its way down the chute and deposited itself onto the bottom belt. It was an engine block from an automobile. Someone was mailing an engine block and somehow it ended up on the high conveyor belt where it definitely wasn’t supposed to be. One of the workers said, “That happens sometimes.”
Mark 2 years ago
I sort of want to know who mails a literal engine block and how it does not get sorted into a unique system. It’s not like a postman would just pick up an engine block and walk to the house
jdtimid123 2 years ago
Probably sold it on eBay to make some money off an older car or something.
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DarkViolet 2 years ago
That being the case, how did a 300-lb. engine block slip past the supervisor?
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Stymied Egan 1 year ago
My first day working for the post office they gave a safety talk. The man giving the talk brought out what we called a cage (it had other names in other shops). These were folding metal shelves on wheels. Think of a tall, 6' cage like box. in the center is a sturdy metal shelf that lifts and "latches" so you can load the bottom. The man told us that we should all remember that our equipment was always bought from the lowest bidder. The shelves he told us had crushed and removed fingers on several employees. Then he demonstrated how the whole cage could be folded to take up less space. He then showed us how top heavy and unstable they were when they were folded. He'd seen them tumble like dominoes. I worked in several different PO's and every one used those cages.
#24
I was the plant safety guy in a small factory. I learned fire safety, tried to follow OSHA rules, met hazardous material rules, etc. We weren't that bad, all the workers cared about their health. I was on my way to a sawmill in Vermont to buy some wood one morning. I drove by a ramshackle auto repair shop. It was tall, a single truck bay, with sheds, lean toos, a mobile home, a big pile of horror. I thought, "That place looks like it could go up any minute". I was headed back with a load of lumber, and the place was on fire. The fire was up under the roof, smoke was gushing out all the soffits and the gable ends. I stopped. Some guys were pulling a burning Volvo out of the truck bay. They had called the fire dept. I had a premonition that the place could blow up. I got into my truck and left. I met a fire truck down by the road. Then the place blew up. It put the guys through a fence. No one died. Edit: It made the TV News. [Fire in Guilford VT](https://www.mynbc5.com/article/guilford-vermont-fire-garage-update-december-2021/38531660#)
Seadog 2 years ago
Early 90's. Two guys were burning down an old barn. Either they didn't check it or they missed it but there was some kind of ordinance in there. Old WW2 stuff according to investigators. It blew, leveled the place. The guys were killed instantly. You just never know what's in a building, if you're not a responder, it's best to keep your distance.
#25
2m deep trench with no shoring
Working at heights and on construction sites wearing flipflops
Working on live electrical wires with no electric insulation
Used condoms in the middle of the factory
And so on and so forth
David Paterson 2 years ago
Two metres isn't that deep, depending on the soil and rainfall. Yes I know it's illegal. I have seen miners working next to a 6 metre high unsupported vertical sand bank, which caused me to shudder. The rest, definite nopes.
Norm Gilmore 2 years ago
Two metres of soil coming down on top of you IS deep. That's a lot of weight for lungs to work against.. weight-655...47-png.jpg 
#26
Guys working in a 25 foot deep trench with oil contamination all around them with no ventilation and shoring that didn’t reach the top of grade.
#27
I work in underground mining in Western Australia, some of the s**t I have seen is unreal.
My favourite is a guy stripping off his hard hat, overalls, gumboots and safety glasses to jump into a 1000L IBC full of the saltiest water known to mankind to cool himself down. This was a severely overweight guy as well.
I’m confident he no longer has a job in mining after the incident.
Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
As a young guy in 1970 I worked at a copper mine in their mill. The process of extracting copper from the pulverized ore in the flotation tanks requires your water to be alkaline. If the water in the pond became too acidic over time it needed to be treated to make it alkaline again. Enter drums of cyanide tablets that were dropped into the pond to perform that trick while we ran like scalded cats in the opposite direction with no respirators.
DarkViolet 2 years ago
Why? Just......why? Why do foremen and supervisors insist upon taking shortcuts that could end up taking someone's life and limb? I should think that the cost of proper PPE's and rigid procedures would be far more cost-efficient, as compared to the cost of penalties, injuries, and wrongful death suits. Then again, I could be wrong........
Load More Replies... Mechanician 2 years ago
This one baffles me. He certainly wouldn't have gone under. He would have floated extremely well. Was the problem something other than high salinity? I would guess this exposed him to chemicals other than NaCl, but this is unclear. I know little about mining.
Mechanician 2 years ago
Mechanician may know...I am M's spouse. I know other things!
Load More Replies... Rostit. . 2 years ago
you dont see the problem? here is my shocked face :|
Load More Replies... #28
Not as an OSHA inspector but I’ll share my story. At the time I was working for a testing laboratory tat tested products for safety in potentially explosive atmospheres where flammable gas mixtures might be present. This customer was relatively new and a bit over their head so they had a number of non conformances. Which required repeat testing. The proper way to test products like this is to build a representative circuit and run the 2 ends of that circuit into a small chamber that is filled with an explosive gas mixture. There are rotating disks inside the chamber with small filaments that simulate the opening and closing of a switch over and over again. If the circuit has enough energy you get an explosion that is vented outside. This one customer was attempting to replicate the failure I advised them of and then work on a solution. The customer called me and said he couldn’t replicate the failure. I asked him how he was testing it and he said his other engineer was out in the parking lot and had a large trash bag with the product inside of the bag and they were pumping hydrogen inside the bag while the engineer was reaching into the bag activating the stitches. I told my customer to immediately go outside and tell his engineer to stop as he had created a hydrogen bomb that could explode. He protested a bit not believing me and wanted me to explain why what he was doing was dangerous.
Norm Gilmore 2 years ago (edited)
Wouldn't be allowed to do it now of course but the science teacher I had in High School used to fill a balloon with hydrogen and then with the class hiding behind the benches would pull the balloon tied to a small trolley with a string towards a bunsen burner...🎈 He made science FUN!!🤣
Lady Lava 2 years ago (edited)
My high school chemistry teacher took us outside, where he tossed a block of sodium in a bucket filled with water. That gave a great explosion that reached 10 meters high! This was a yearly tradition for all classes that were new to chemistry. This was is in the 90's, I don't know it's still allowed to do such things, but I found it fun at the time!
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#29
Summer Student, 1984, Mississauga Stamping Plant, Electric Arc Welders. My partner inserted the part into the welder, added 3 metal plates, pushed 2 buttons and "ZAP" 8 Electrodes welded the pieces together. Repeat, 1000 parts per day. The problem was that the plumbing hoses providing water to cool the Electrodes were leaking everywhere. Water was running all over the welder. My partner Nick was standing in a puddle of water 2 inches deep, on a concrete floor operating and Electric Arc Welder. Sparks were flying everywhere. I repeatedly tried to get Nick to stop working and contact the supervisor. I told him that "When He Got Electrocuted" I would refuse to perform Mouth to Mouth Resuscitation. Finally he stopped work and contacted maintenance.
Michael Braisher 2 years ago
No old man's profits are worth having yourself killed. Even if you like him.
Rostit. . 2 years ago
the voltage is really low on a spot welder. like less than 5 volts. the current is really high but the resistance of the water will basically dissipate the voltage. not that its "safe" or ideal but its not the same level of danger as if a line voltage cord was in the water(120/240v).
Mechanician 2 years ago
The spot welder was probably not the only electrical gadget in use there. I know of a commercial laundry that regularly floods, and the employees just stand there in the water loading and unloading hospital and oilfield laundry. I don’t recall the voltage involved but it's a lot more than 5v!
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#30
Health and safety inspector here. There are so many good stories. A septic tank made out of metal Amaco signs (metal in earth = corrosion). The septic guy was jumping on the top of the signs, and they started crumbling... so he got a poop bath. Owner of a company crawling inside a 90 foot long oven to look at grease build up, in front of the whole crew, immediately after a safety meeting with said owner and crew discussing how this is a confined space and it cannot be safely entered without safeguard in place. Finger pie when we had an amputation and a temp lost their ring finger dye to an irising hopper... we got to the pie before it made it to the oven. What else... forklift undocking where the truck left with our operator and forklift still inside. Got 1/2 mile before the forklift and operator fell out the back onto the city road. Guy who got covered in hypochlorite, ph 14 stuff, all in his eyes and face and all over his body, and miraculously escaped with a 2x2 inch patch of discoloration instead of having his eyes melted out of his head. So many fun stories.
Javelina Poppers 2 years ago
Worked at an aerospace manufacturer and we had large Ipsen heat treat and braze furnaces. The furnaces were purged of oxygen using argon to prevent discoloration of the exotic alloys in the parts. During preventive maintenance a maintenance man walked inside to inspect it and collapsed, a second man rushed to help and promptly collapsed, guy #3 was on his way in before everyone screamed to stop. Seems the argon was turned on and no one had checked. Argon displaces all the oxygen especially in confined spaces.
Will J Dochartaigh 2 years ago
That is sadly common in Fire Dep’t responses, three down in a hazardous atmosphere. Seems like the third victim finally tells everyone else ‘do not enter’.
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Upstaged75 2 years ago
A coworker of mine's father was killed in a forklift accident at his job. I was there when she got notified. It was horrible. Ever since then I've had way more respect for forklifts!!
Mark Trombley 2 years ago
What does "lost their ring finger dye" mean? The word "dye" doesn't make sense to me.
Isaac Nemo 2 years ago
for a second I forgot the PH scale doesn't go 1 to 10 and my jaw dropped lol
#31
I worked with a guy who wanted to collect our lock out tag out keys for "safety." Not so exciting, but bizarre and kind of scary.
For those who don't know, every contractor on site has a key to lock machinery that need maintenance out of their functions. So, in theory, the machine doesn't function until the locks from every worker are personly removed when work is finished, and everyone is a safe distance away.
These things would have smeared my mascerated body all over the place. I trust the locks a little more in my own hands.
Tim Fawcett 2 years ago
Nope - the only way you get my lock out key is when you prise it from my cold, dead hand!
#32
Not OSHA, but I worked in the printing industry and the thing that gave me anxiety every time was our paper delivery. We'd order a pallett of A4 80 gram paper. 80 boxes in total at a weight of 1,000 kg/2205 pounds/1 ton. The pallett had to be moved by a hydraulic paper trolley. The truck itself had a tail lift but we didn't have a proper loading bay, so they had to lower it on to the floor. Problem is, the tail lift wasn't big enough for the trolley, which would slightly hang over the edge of the lift, leaving no space for the operator to safely ride the lift down. What they had to do was, load the pallett on to the paper trolley as normal inside the truck and then pull it out on to the tail lift, but because the trolley wouldn't fit on the tail lift with the operator, the operator had to jump off the lift, but timing it in such a way that he'd activate the locking mechanism of the hydraulic trolley so it wouldn't follow him off the tail lift. I also need to add that the weight of this would make the tail lift slope toward the ground. When standing on the ground, the tail lift was just below head height, so the trolley operator was in a situation where the slightest miscalculation would send 1 ton of paper + momentum + gravity crashing on to him. My heart rate would accelerate every time I watched this.
DarkViolet 2 years ago
People have no concept of why paper is designated by weight. 100 sheets of 17"×22" paper is a full sheet. 100 of those sheets determines the weight on the package (20-lb., 24-lb., 60-lb., 80-lb.) Even when cut into reams, I was well aware that even paper can pose a safety issue. I can't imagine what it must be like to deal with an actual TON of paper.
#33
I worked at an onion warehouse place in 2017, a guy came methed out to work, everyone knew he’d do it often but no one said anything cuz he still did his job. That’s until we were all at lunch and came back him running literally on the onion belt on full speed like a treadmill and just running without a care as if he was working out at home. We slowed it down, turned it off & fired his a*s. Then we had to sanitize the whole belt for HOURS. By we, i mean my sister and I cuz the sanitation crew was apparently also high.
Mechanician 2 years ago
I thought an onion belt was a fashion statement and claim to seniority. I also never regarded the outside layer of an onion as being sanitized.
Will J Dochartaigh 2 years ago (edited)
Everything’s gotta get shipped - they’re collected, packaged & loaded on big onion trucks
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Biytemii 2 years ago
This has nothing to do with weed. Meth is a crazy drug that makes u do crazy sht. If the dude was smoking weed he def wouldn't have been running on some big a*s treadmill thing lol
Load More Replies... #34
Does food standards count? Cos you have all the general mankiness, infestations and whopping hygiene breaches. But the ones that really stick out to me in the year and a half I was tangentially involved were the ones where they just carried on as if nothing was wrong for something that normal folks just stared open mouthed at. Two ones I particularly recall: 1) a mince mixing machine that had black machine oil dripping down in directly into the mixing bowl. 2) the shelf with bottles that went: mayo, barbecue sauce, bleach, ketchup...
DarkViolet 2 years ago (edited)
A McDonald's in our area had a serious issue with sanitary procedures. The toilets had backed up into the kitchen, but cardboard was laid down so the employees could keep working. Someone saw this and called the health department. An agent came, saw the disgusting situation, and told the owner to shut down NOW, who kept on serving food. That was at 11:30 am on a Sunday. When the agent returned at 11:55 am and saw that the kitchen was still preparing food, he officially shut down the restaurant. People who were served in that 25-minute period were awarded $200. The restaurant went under new management.
Nae Nae BB 2 years ago
I'd like some mayo, bbq sauce, ketchup and well hey why not, throw some bleach on my burger too
#35
Oh hey, a question that actually applies to me! Too bad I got here a bit late. The worst thing i've seen on this job is someone who was digging a trench, with completely unsecured shoring, about 10 feet deep, with wall width of approximately 4 feet, part of it being UNDER concrete. Trenching is one of the #1 causes of workplace fatalities. If we get a call of trenching with no shoring, we get sent out IMMEDIATELY, one of 4 things that get us sent out like that. The old guy that's been in the office 15 some years looked at it, said it was the worst trenching he's ever seen. and he very often does trenching. it was to the point he was surprised it didn't collapse. That and one time a dude actually was in a trench collapse. He was buried up to his neck, and while he was trying to be rescued, his wife cam and told him that she was pregnant! Luckily the dude survived. News put it as a real heartwarming moment, but the whole situations was super easily avoidable. Remember folks, OSHA has very few inspectors. We likely won't go to a place unless we receive a complaint, but if we receive a valid formal online complaint from a current employee and they request an inspection, we're required to go out on it.
Binky Melnik 2 years ago
Why are people commenting about the weather? I see not reference to it in this entry. What am I not understanding?
Scott 2 years ago
I believe that they're more commenting that with the recent storms, construction workers (specifically roofers) were out completing repairs with no safety equipment and in high winds, which is on theme for the post...
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Annik Perrot 2 years ago
We've had a string of nasty storms in France in the last month, with the usual results: floods, fallen trees, electricity failing... and quite a lot of roofs to repair. And a lot of roofers working up there with flimsy ladders and no safety equipment, while the wind was still 80kmh...
My O My 2 years ago
I sometimes think that roofers hate safety gear. For every 10 non secured roof building sites you see one with secured roofers
Load More Replies... #36
(Not OSHA inspector but...) I was visiting a new Oil and Gas site in Russia to resolve some issues with equipment our company had supplied. My contact was responsible for that whole area of the site, so I used to accompany him on walks round in the morning to check on the status of things. One morning we rounded a corner to be confronted by a paint team working on the side of a large square metal structure (Large like four or five stories high) The paint team, like a lot of the other assembly crews, were predominantly from Asia, where Health and Safety is rather more lax than it should be. Their painting method consisted of a guy on a "trapeze" with a bucket of paint and a roller, being lowered of the side of the building on a rope, and moving from side to side applying the paint with his roller, while his mates held on to the other end of the rope. My contact screamed at them to stop, and I witnessed a massive dressing down of the entire paint team. (fully justified as he would have been within his rights to have the entire team fired on the spot) He explained that this technique was not acceptable, and the proper way to paint the building was to contact the scaffold team, and have them erect scaffold, and then paint the wall, while wearing harnesses, etc, etc. The team lead nodded and said he understood, stood his team down, and we continued our walk around the site. The next day, we were doing the same walk, and approached the same structure, expecting to see that the scaffold team had started work, as it would take a couple of days to erect the scaffold , before the painting could be started. The whole building was finished, immaculately painted, and no sign of the team, or evidence of scaffold being there!! We tracked down the team lead who swore on his mothers life that the scaffold had been erected, the painting done, and the scaffold removed, within the space of about 23 hours. It transpired that this was the last job the team had to complete before their contract finished, so no doubt they were keen to get paid and begin the long journey home, and no further action was taken. But looking at the dried paint in the sunlight a few days later, you could clearly see roller marks in a gently arc over the entire surface!!
Michael Braisher 2 years ago
Those poor Asian workers, doubtless dumbfoundedly experiencing some jumped up arsehole bellowing at them just for behaving normally.
Upstaged75 2 years ago
Seriously? The guy was trying to keep them from dying or being badly injured!
Load More Replies... Laura Williams 2 years ago
Apparently the people who are from Asia have been taught their lives are worth very little.
Mechanician 2 years ago
This reminds me of scary stories told by the campfire at summer camp. We just have a scaffolding crew that wasn't real, instead of an amputated arm crawling to find the rest of its body. Scarier, if that's possible.
#37
I'm a safety guy for a construction company, craziest thing I saw was a guy dislocated both his shoulders while pushing a mobile scaffold. It had too much momentum, and when he tried stopping it, both arms popped out of the socket. We are talking about hundreds of pounds of steel going a few inches further than he wanted. The funniest thing I saw was a guy walking right into a beam. Somehow, I was the only person to see him do it. Everyone else just saw him getting up off the floor after I lost my s**t laughing.
Rebelliousslug 2 years ago
I bet the guy that had his shoulders dislocated was very wary of safety protocols moving forward; what a painful lesson to learn
Binky Melnik 2 years ago
Wary? Why do you think that? I would imagine he was AWARE OF and grateful for ‘em, not wary. (Unless I’m just not understanding this story, but it seems straightforward.)
Load More Replies... Seadog 2 years ago
Friend is a tower crane operator. One site, a guy kept having him lower the hook block so he could lean against it while talking to the guys. He was told repeatedly to stop. So one day he's doing it and the wind blows just enough to move the block away from him. He didn't notice because he wasn't leaning against it at that exact moment. So when physics took over and the black comes back it knocks him about 50 feet. Next thing friend hears in his headset is a week, "cable up". He didn't lean on the hook block after that.
#38
Mandatory not inspector, but I've spent some time the last few months reading safety regulations. So having just familarised with the regulations on working at heights I see on my way home two guys on the roof of the building they're constructing next door assembling a non sufficient railing along the edge of the roof without any additional safety measures. Only half the building had a roof on at the time and they were standing at the end of the part that had a roof. So in one direction they had the insufficient railing they were assembling, which may or may not have stopped a fall, and in the other they had a 7-8m drop without anything to protect them (where they hadn't placed the roof yet). It wasn't a flat roof either, some rain and it would have been really, really dangerous. It was just interesting walking home, seeing this and thinking "I just read about this, that is definitely not allowed".
Stephanie Barr 2 years ago
Safety engineer here. I've had solar panels installed on two different roofs, one a two story with a super steep roof. You can bet they were using safety harnesses up there because I made sure they did.
Barbara Skolly 2 years ago
I was driving home about a year ago. Toronto area, two guys on the roof of a warehouse, approximately 4 stories, no harness just screwing a sign to the from. Literally bent down and over with the drill.
#39
Not an inspector, but if you are have a look at basically any tree work site (Ive worked for several arborist gigs and 100% of them have had something). I've seen things as simple as refusing to wear seatbelts or not quite up to code equipment, or working in very rapidly fading light. All the way to "non-safety" around high voltage lines (one of which caused damage shall we say to more than one person luckily no deaths), outright refusal to wear critical safety gear, or extremely lucky "I can't believe nobody's dead" instances. There are times when the entire month/year is just one long OSHA violation. Granted "not all tree work companies" and I have seen safe ones, I'm just not lucky enough to have worked at one that is willing to slow down for .000002 seconds in the name of profits. In fact I've been yelled at on numerous occasions to just hurry up and do "X" because we have 3 more jobs to do.
DarkViolet 2 years ago
Wow. I guess they could afford the penalties and the ensuing lawsuits, should anyone is injured or killed.
#40
I was inspecting a salad bar and saw rat s**t at the bottom. I then went to the back room where and saw something horrific.
A guy sitting at his desk doing payrole nude. As I leaned in to tell him about the rat s**t salad toppings, I almost had a heart attack at the sight before my virgin eyes that no human should ever whitness…..
In the back ground, I noticed he was NOT SEEDING HIS TORRENTS!
Amy Dunaway 2 years ago
Once you get the file, seeding lets others do the same thing. It's being polite to not do it is very rude and kind of tacky.
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What do you think ?
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
As a company safety manager, you really learn that “virtue is its own reward,” because precious little else will be coming your way. Your bosses will often treat you like an impediment to profit, and the workers (and I have to single out the males especially) give the strongest push-back. The only times I had any opportunity to feel vindicated was when I took injured workers; old-timers who’d fought me at every turn on PPE, lock-out, etc., in the ER bloody and crying like little kids. I just felt too sorry for them to gloat.
Papa 2 years ago
I did stupid stuff when I was young and thought I was bullet proof. One that comes to mind was feeding cows square bales of hay with a tractor and trailer. I'd get the tractor going in a direction with a lot of open space, tie the steering wheel so it wouldn't turn, step off the tractor and jump on the trailer, feed the bales one at a time, jump off the trailer, climb back on the tractor, move to the next pasture, and repeat the process.
Mechanician 2 years ago
This has been completely out of my wheelhouse and despite that, I really enjoyed it. More like this, less bridezilla, please!
Jared Robinson 2 years ago
Call me a little b***h if you want to, I don't think I'll be taking anymore sketchy a*s jobs.
Dr Robert Neville 2 years ago
My dad got early retirement due to his own stupidity. Worked as a heating engineer for a bank, climbed up a ladder, fell off, landed on a smaller ladder, got sent to hospital who diagnosed bruised kidneys, signed him off for 6 weeks, went back for sign off and they realised they hadn't x-rayed him, broken back in 2 places, his work gave him industrial comp and early retirement which was just as well as he found out a few years later he had asbestosis (because he was "a bit wheezy" after a triple heart bypass). I still talk to him and it's been 13 years since he went, "never forget the face of your father".
Isaac Nemo 2 years ago
I'm so tired of BP/Reddit posts starting "I'm not an (...), but...". Look, either accept the prompt and keep it to yourself, or just tell the story and don't call attention to it. It feels like some weird entitled c**p. No grief to the people who do OSHA work under a different name, though, that's fair.
Chich 2 years ago
Not an inspector but... worked one place where they were coming up for an award for being accident free for a certain amount of time. Guy broke his ankle a week before the magic date and mgmt convinced him to not report it or go to the hospital until they made it past and got the award.
Jeff Jones 2 years ago
I was a paramedic for 20 yrs. Human stupidity equals job security for police, fire and medical fields
sofacushionfort 2 years ago
As a company safety manager, you really learn that “virtue is its own reward,” because precious little else will be coming your way. Your bosses will often treat you like an impediment to profit, and the workers (and I have to single out the males especially) give the strongest push-back. The only times I had any opportunity to feel vindicated was when I took injured workers; old-timers who’d fought me at every turn on PPE, lock-out, etc., in the ER bloody and crying like little kids. I just felt too sorry for them to gloat.
Papa 2 years ago
I did stupid stuff when I was young and thought I was bullet proof. One that comes to mind was feeding cows square bales of hay with a tractor and trailer. I'd get the tractor going in a direction with a lot of open space, tie the steering wheel so it wouldn't turn, step off the tractor and jump on the trailer, feed the bales one at a time, jump off the trailer, climb back on the tractor, move to the next pasture, and repeat the process.
Mechanician 2 years ago
This has been completely out of my wheelhouse and despite that, I really enjoyed it. More like this, less bridezilla, please!
Jared Robinson 2 years ago
Call me a little b***h if you want to, I don't think I'll be taking anymore sketchy a*s jobs.
Dr Robert Neville 2 years ago
My dad got early retirement due to his own stupidity. Worked as a heating engineer for a bank, climbed up a ladder, fell off, landed on a smaller ladder, got sent to hospital who diagnosed bruised kidneys, signed him off for 6 weeks, went back for sign off and they realised they hadn't x-rayed him, broken back in 2 places, his work gave him industrial comp and early retirement which was just as well as he found out a few years later he had asbestosis (because he was "a bit wheezy" after a triple heart bypass). I still talk to him and it's been 13 years since he went, "never forget the face of your father".
Isaac Nemo 2 years ago
I'm so tired of BP/Reddit posts starting "I'm not an (...), but...". Look, either accept the prompt and keep it to yourself, or just tell the story and don't call attention to it. It feels like some weird entitled c**p. No grief to the people who do OSHA work under a different name, though, that's fair.
Chich 2 years ago
Not an inspector but... worked one place where they were coming up for an award for being accident free for a certain amount of time. Guy broke his ankle a week before the magic date and mgmt convinced him to not report it or go to the hospital until they made it past and got the award.
Jeff Jones 2 years ago
I was a paramedic for 20 yrs. Human stupidity equals job security for police, fire and medical fields
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