“Nobody uses water,” one man in a Dodgers cap said in Spanish when Maria Cabrera approached, holding flyers about silicosis, an incurable and suffocating disease that has devastated dozens of workers across the state and killed men who have barely reached middle age.
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The disease dates back centuries, but researchers say the booming popularity of countertops made of engineered stone, which has much higher concentrations of silica than many kinds of natural stone, has driven a new epidemic of an accelerated form of the suffocating illness. As the dangerous dust builds up and scars the lungs, the disease can leave workers short of breath, weakened and ultimately suffering from lung failure.
“You can get a transplant,” Cabrera told the man in Spanish, “but it won’t last.”
In California, it has begun to debilitate young workers, largely Latino immigrants who cut and polish slabs of engineered stone. Instead of cropping up in people in their 60s or 70s after decades of exposure, it is now afflicting men in their 20s, 30s or 40s, said Dr. Jane Fazio, a pulmonary critical care physician who became alarmed by cases she saw at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Some California patients have died in their 30s.
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There are a lot of workers in different industries that are at risk of silicosis and don’t know it. The mentality of “it’s just dust, don’t be afraid to get a little dirty” will end up killing people.
You’re absolutely right, all this old timer “Kids these days are so soft…” B. S. When in reality the young just don’t wanna die or be maimed at 30.
Take care of your bodies, kids, it’s the only one you get. Don’t let corporations run you into the ground and then throw you in the trash. We need to demand better working conditions from our bosses and our elected officials.
“The only one looking out for #1 is you.” - My section chief when I was in the Army.
I’ll never forget it and I pass it on every chance I get. I’ve gone as far as shaming some people into wearing knee braces and the like because “what the fuck are you doing, you’re gonna fuck it up even worse”
I try anyways… doesn’t always work…
Keep up the good work, it might not always work, but the times that it does are priceless.
There are a decent amount of teenagers where I work and I try to pass that idea on to as many as I can. Adults too, of course, but it’s really satisfying to be able to catch people while they’re young and still have loads of time to protect themselves… From a lot of things.
When running a fireworks show, safety is by far the most important part of the job.
In the safety briefing before we start working in the morning, the one before we load shells, AND the one before we fire the show we remind them that the person most responsible for their safety is themselves. If they do not feel safe about something, anything, do not do it and come to me. I will never shame someone for wearing PPE. I will always be inspired from whatever device or tool they come up with to make the job safer or more comfortable.
Everything can wait while we sort out safety issues.
This reminded me of a guy I knew. He was the safety guy for large events such as concerts or conventions, lots of electrical work and heavy loads, hoisting and such. Said this stuff to others, but also tried to put it all on himself, sort of like you, “always come to me.” Dude made sure he was there for every important or possibly dangerous step, sometimes not very busy but then when a big event was coming up, very very busy for a few weeks. Fell asleep at the wheel. Gotta delegate.
It’s not so much of a “I’ll do it.” It’s a “get me and we’ll find a way to do it safe.”
If I have to get more PPE, if we need to change our layout, if we need to cancel parts of the show, we’ll do what we need to to make it safe.
I try to point out to my coworkers that part of what they’re trading for wages is wear and tear on their bodies. Using provided PPE is like getting a raise because you’re giving the company less.
My doctor told me recently I should wear a mask everytime I mow the lawn. I was like fuckkkk. It’s true though.
Just you? Or people in general? And, what does the mask block or protect against?
Everyone.
Lung burden. When you breathe in particles, a few of them never come out. It’s cumulative. I’m a non smoker, way worse for smokers.
The fucked up part of this is how preventable it is. Very few folks will take to wearing a mask though, when that’s all they need.
Here’s the full set of measures recommended:
Workplace safety regulators have recommended a suite of measures including water spraying systems, ventilation and vacuum systems to clear dust, in addition to protective respirators for workers — ones covering the entire face if silica levels in the air are high.
Considering these are likely illegal immigrants working on these countertops, I wouldn’t be shocked if their employers refused to supply masks.
or charged them for the basic safety gear out of their already low wage.
Both of which are very illegal
False, read the article?
Its more than just masks that are needed and the article makes that very clear.
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They weren’t exactly rude and it is irritating when people comment on things in the article incorrectly.
Also it’s not just respirators that are needed.
Plus they are essentially blaming the workers claiming they won’t wear masks.
No, respirator is a type of mask, thats not what I was referring to.
The article mentions multiple times that masks are just one piece of the puzzle, and goes into a fair bit of detail about how its way more than that, that is needed.
Read the article, it’s gone over in detail multiple times.
Right, it’s the ventilation hose built into every piece of cutting equipment ever made that they neglected to use.
Thats another one, but not the hose itself.
Read the article perhaps.
I absolutely love the enthusiasm for required regulations in this thread but everyone is missing one critical aspect… illegal workers are probably a huge part of those impacted by this. Many of these “companies” who cut counters work through subcontractors and I bet the majority of these are just a guy with an LLC. I would love to see more numbers on the type of worker/businesses being hit with this illness.
So much victim blaming in this thread.
Depends on what you’re used to. Some people fight using PPE when they really shouldn’t be fighting it. It’s a difficult nut to crack since too much force from corporate over stupid safety shit fatigues workers to that kind of shit. Finding the right balance isn’t easy.
If you improperly use a knife and cut your finger off, is it the knife’s fault? Improperly using a tool or process can and will cause problems.
And yet if you cut your finger off at work the employer is still liable for workers’ compensation.
If they aren’t using a mask at home when they are making countertops as a hobby, fine, that’s on them. But they are at work.
An employee-employer relationship is born of a contract, a bargained-for exchange of labor for money, and with it an employer has a right to control. If the employer fails to exercise that right in order to protect its workers, such as by failing to compel PPE, the employer is more culpable than the employee. The employer could have taken the step of firing an employee who won’t comply with PPE in order to protect the worker, such an employer is therefore doubly culpable, in my view. It’s that element of compulsory control over the means and manner of work, including the employer’s right to terminate an employee who won’t use PPE, which excuses the employee from responsibility for resulting injuries.
The knowledge is out there and common, the machines come built in with hoses to damper the material. Run the hose. Wear a damn mask. It’s not hard.
I’m not going to feel especially sorry for folks who choose to not use safety equipment.
Exactly. It is funny that the same people here who make fun of people who died of COVID because they willfully didn’t wear a mask, wash their hands, and get the vaccine. Well this ain’t that different. The process is there. The tools exist. Do the job right. You aren’t smarter than the engineers and scientists who developed these processes and wrote the safety instructions. Your stubbornness is not an excuse.
That’s not wrong, but you missed the part where the workers are employees.
They have sold the right to control the means and manner of their labor to their employer. It is the employer’s job to demand compliance, and the employer’s right to fire employees who do not comply for their own good. When a worker doesn’t comply and ends up sick, the employer has thus failed twice, the worker only once.
If the employer was not responsible, the employer could acquiesce to unsafe work, reap the financial benefits of the workers’ negligence, and then disclaim the damage caused just blaming the worker.
The employer has the right to control the means and manner of an employee’s work, it must exercise that right in a way that isn’t knowingly harmful to the worker. To do otherwise would be a bad faith breach of the employer-employee contract of hire.
Hide behind whatever bullshit you want, these workers knew the proper way to do things and didn’t do it. They fucked around and found out.
Per the article, the workers didn’t know. The employers didn’t tell them of the dangers or provide the necessary safety training/equipment. From the article:
“Dust was everywhere, he said, and he was given only a dust mask — one he said was inadequate for the job — to protect himself. Sometimes he brought a hose and tried to attach it to the machine to reduce dust, but there were no machines dispensing water as they were cutting, he said.”
“Segura Meza had never heard of silicosis before he was diagnosed.”
All these products have MSDS available. Every last one of them. And because of stupid “machismo” bullshit, the vast majority of these dopes wouldn’t use safety equipment whether it was provided or not.
It isn’t enough to have an available MSDS. I’ve just watched some mandated training videos on this actually. OSHA requires the following (in addition to other unlisted things):
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Workplace hazards need to be clearly communicated. This includes a translation into the language that the workers generally speak, if necessary.
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MSDS don’t just need to be regularly available, the workers also have to be trained in reading them and where they are.
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The employer must provide PPE that is in working order and fit to use. Workers need to be trained in how to use these as well.
It isn’t enough to say that the workers should have known. The employer has significant responsibilities above and beyond that. Even if the workers don’t know about the PPE or don’t want it, the company has to still provide it. The workers have to know that PPE is required for the work, why it’s required, and what could happen without wearing it. Most places I’ve worked wouldn’t even let you into the field nor a lab unless you met the requirements. It’s hard to say what’s company culture vs legally mandated however here – everywhere I’ve worked, someone would blanche and yell at you if you walked in with just your plain clothes. Even if the employees scoff at safety, the law doesn’t change. I suspect this is why employers typically make it company policy to wear the proper PPE – that, and the heightened scrutiny if something does actually happen.
Funny enough, almost all of this is based on those required trainings I mentioned. Part of the training is informing workers of all this.
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You know for a fact each and every machine is hooked up to water at all times? And every one of them runs perfectly or use of the machine is discontinued until it does? Every time without fail?
The hoses and proper masks need to be mandated as official PPE so that companies are required by law provide them.
We hear about machines replacing jobs all the time. Why can’t they replace cutting fucking countertops so people don’t die in their fucking 20s?
This isn’t happening in factories. This is happening in situations where someone is remodeling so none of those guys can afford fancy machinery. They usually cut/fit/sand on site.
I’ve been to a place that does this. Everything was covered in water. It prevents any dust getting in the air. The slab and blades have water spraying over it. I don’t think a mask was even necessary. But without water I assume it would be awful.
Oh dear God I remember being warned about this in a chem lab because we were using some silica.
Dust/particulates are always bad for the lungs. I don’t think there’s any exception. Masks with a fitness test need to be provided and specified as PPE for this kind of work, at the very least. The company is unlikely to do so themselves unless legally pressured to.
Edit from my double comment: employers are required to provide functioning, proper PPE to employees per OSHA, and also train them on properly using it. If masks and water hoses aren’t already considered required, we need to make sure that gets updated. Force the companies to comply or be sued.
I very recently watched a safety module thing about this for work actually as part of the training requirement.
to debilitate young workers, largely Latino immigrants
in an industry where immigrant workers typically labor in small shops and are often paid in cash
made their rounds at the parking lot of the Home Depot in San Fernando, where laborers in long-sleeve shirts waited for people to drive up and offer them work.
In the effort to be politically correct and not say “illegal immigrants”, they prevent the reader from knowing the true extent of the problem.
When an employer is willing to break employment laws related to immigration, they may also be more likely to break other laws, like workplace safety laws. When the employees are illegal immigrants, they’re not as able to complain to authorities when their employers are breaking safety laws.
If these workers were actual legal immigrants, they could blow the whistle on their employers. If they were unionized their union could shut down the business until their bosses took their safety seriously. But, because they’re illegal immigrants an unethical employer can treat them as disposable – and, pretty much by definition, anybody who is hiring illegal immigrants is an unethical employer.
The people affected here are largely stone workers. Stone workers used to be extremely powerful. The Freemason fraternal organization started as stone workers who held the secrets of the profession, supervised stoneworker qualifications, controlled their interactions with clients, regulated their interactions with the state, etc. Now, because of the widespread acceptance of illegal immigration, not only are stoneworkers not powerful, they’re disposable.
You make a good point about how workers have been played against each other to the disadvantage of all. However, there is a lot of area between illegal immigrants and full citizens who are comfortable bringing their employers to court. Many legal immigrants spend years in situations where being fired or quitting would mean having to leave the country. Depending on what they’d be going back to or what family and life they have built here in the meantime, they may be less free to rock the boat even if they felt confident in the legal system. Even citizens would be unlikely to take a stand without the support of some larger group.
Sand belongs on the ground and in our chips, not in our lungs.
And a little bit in our burritos.
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Wear a mask and run the damn safety equipment.
Ah yes because it’s the worker’s responsibility to ensure that they are aware of all safety issues and health hazards and all safety equipment first, exists period, and second, works perfectly at all times.
It’s actually an OSHA violation if the employers don’t make the workers aware of all that. All hazards have to be clearly communicated to the workers. If they don’t know the safety issues and necessary safety equipment, the employer fucked up. There’s practically no way for the worker to ever be at fault here unless they are willfully disobeying the employer to do something they know is unsafe.
Even then you could argue the employer should’ve known better than to hire them lmao
