Safety Last. 1/24/2006
On the weekend, I spent most of my time doing absolutely nothing, which is really the best kind of a weekend to have. After lunch, I was standing on the balcony, as is usual, having my after meal cigarette. I looked across at the condo units and noticed these guys working on the roof of the condo.
One of them was working on the sewage vent pipe on the roof, sealing the pipe where it exited the roof. The other had his head stuck out the roof like a jack-in-box, supervising the work and giving directions. And the thing that got me was that they didn’t have any safety equipment. No belts. No safety rope. No safety shoes with noon-slip soles. Nothing. Just a guy, on a roof, carrying a pail of sealant, working 4 stories up.
If the guy working on the roof slipped, what was the supervisor going to do? Watch with his jaw dropped while the worker fell off the roof and landed on a car parked below? This guy was probably a small time contractor, and the worker was probably daily paid casual labour. And somehow, I don’t think the supervisor carried adequate insurance coverage against work accidents. This rather casual attitude to safety, whether on an individual basis, like here, or on a larger scale, like 2 tons blocks of concrete falling from the sky, are all too prevalent here.
I’ve been witness to many industrial accidents. Some were the kind you could laugh about over a beer later. Others were significantly more serious. How much value do you place on a human life?
- Posted in : Views from the Balcony
- Author : thesnark
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