My personal safety project

[Maple Syrup Actual]

So as some of you may know, I can't pay my bills just by writing so I keep working on commercial telecom jobs because let's face it: private islands aren't cheap (nor are semi-private islands with a small group of co-islanders, which is what I have of course).

Anyway one of the nice things about having a job I actually care about, plus a bill-payer that I'll walk away from as soon as the writing balance tips a little more in my favour, is that I've become fairly detached from the telecom game. I don't really have any emotional investment in it anymore, which is a little sad in a way because I used to be really on the ball and one of those guys who's really going places career-wise. But now that my much more fun career is moving ahead smoothly and effectively, naturally I've stopped trying to get promoted etc etc etc.

But it turns out that I can't shut off the part of my brain that keeps telling me to accomplish things, no matter how little I have invested in a job or a contract or a company. So I volunteered to join the safety committee of this large telecom, because safety is something I actually care about, independent of the context.

I'm not really sure why I'm making a thread about this. Accountability, maybe? Anyway here's what I'm up to: I work with about a dozen guys on a rotating but regular basis. We all have to drill into walls in old commercial buildings and climb telephone poles and a whole bunch of potentially dangerous stuff.

My big accomplishment is as follows:

I got the company that pays me more than anybody else by a wide margin to adopt a foreign voltage testing program. This took four years and was a ton of work. Basically, I do a lot of aerial work and when I started working for these guys - a 15,000 employee company - their process for determining the safety of a telephone pole before climbing was as follows:



uh...ok



So that was pretty inadequate. The previous outfit I contracted for had a bunch of oilfield sites and they were SUPER tight on safety so I began trying to import a lot of the foreign voltage testing stuff to the new company. They were really resistant (voltage joke) but finally, at the end of 2016, they issued proper detection equipment to the guys that go aloft most. It's not the safety program they need, but it's a start. Out of the dozen guys on my crew, I do probably 95% of the aerial work, so we're pretty well taken care of now. Ridiculous that they still don't have a comprehensive training program for aerial work, but at least I have protected the guys on my crew, and given other teams the opportunity for testing stuff before going up.




This year, and I do expect to work in the field for at least another couple of years, my big goal is to get the guys thinking about masking up before drilling. Every week or so I get together with the crew and talk about asbestos exposure (which I've had, likely to a small degree, but I'm on the provincial registry now for a few different incidents which hopefully lead to nothing) and while we initially got big respirators (also since I insisted on proper air filtration) it turned out nobody was using them.

So I convinced the guy above me to start supplying us with boxes of quality N95 masks, and everybody got a box of masks to keep in their truck. It's a stepping stone, but now I am trying to encourage the guys at every opportunity to keep a mask (which are individually packaged) in their pocket, and mask up before any dust exposure.

I guess the goal for this thread is to keep me thinking about staying on top of this, and trying to generate a culture shift amongst the guys I work with, getting them to start thinking that it's normal to mask up regularly and chuck out the masks afterwards. In general I'm trying to adopt a conscious and deliberate attitude of promoting safe work behaviours, ideally in a manner that keeps people feeling not chastised, but just encouraged to do the right thing. At the weekly meetings this company has, starting at the beginning of the year, I started asking "who masked up this week?" and then high-fiving guys. And by coincidence, it turns out that the guy above me has had to go in for some CT-type scans for a cough that won't go away, so he's suddenly gotten really sympathetic to the idea.


Anyway there you have it. I'm trying to initiate a greater awareness of safety with the guys I deal with on the grunt work, mortgage-payer job because although I don't really expect to do it forever, for most of these guys it's a full-on career. And frankly it's a pretty good career, with a mix of hands-on and brain work and a $75k paycheque, so really nothing to sneeze at. But it has its risks and my goal is to mitigate some of them for these guys before I bail out, and hopefully by talking about it here I'll maintain a bit of extra motivation.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Accomplishment One: one of the guys posted this on a group chat the crew uses.

Slowly but surely!

[OlongJohnson]

Good man.

I've been frustrated with the general attitude of many people who "work for a living" that if it hasn't killed them yet, everything's fine, and they refuse to use PPE. It's worse here in TX than it was in CA. It's almost like they think a person who prefers to use PPE is somehow less of a man, because he isn't strong enough to just suck it up and deal with whatever his job is to deal with. They haven't figured out that cancer and other nasty things that don't kick in for many years really don't care how mentally tough you are. Or they simply don't want to deal with the short-term inconvenience of creating a safer work environment.

[Lex Luthier]

Kudos.
I spent a while at a commercial cabinet shop here in Minnesota, doing a ton of restaurant and other commercial fixtures and cabinetry, and I was the only one wearing an N95 mask throughout the workday. Most of my other co-workers had 10-30 years more experience (and dust exposure) in the field.
But I came to my shop experience through lutherie, where repeated exposure to dust from tropical hardwoods like cocobolo or certain other Dalbergias can sicken or even kill you.
When I left, a few more of my other co-workers were wearing those masks, though management was bitching about the added costs. I hope those guys come out ok.

[peterb]

From my safety experience you have to make it as easy as possible for folks to do the right thing. If you want them to wear PPE, it has to be comfortable, clean, and available where needed -- not back in the truck or the other end of the shop. Bringing in samples and letting them choose can help with buy-in. As for "why do I have to wear this crap?", creative demonstrations can help. First-person testimony from injured cowworkers is a lot more effective than orders from HR. There are some good training videos that use that perspective.

You can also get more cooperation if you show that you're also working on reducing the harm at the source --- making equipment quieter and cleaner instead of relying entirely on personal PPE.

But yes, some guys are just too cool to wear PPE or check grounds or take other basic safety precautions. I've been in machine shops where squinting was the preferred method of dealing with flying chips. Not for me.

If you ever need to step up from N95 masks, the 3M 7500 series half-mask cartridge respirators are reasonably comfortable.

[Welder]

As a welder, I have a fair amount of exposure to respiratory and other hazards on a daily basis. Luckily, my self-employed status allows me to draw my own PPE requirements and stick to them. I first became aware of P100 respirators that would fit under welding shields nearly a decade ago. Specifically, 3M's 7500 series which exhaust downward, keeping the shield free of fog. Thus ended the daily process of blowing black snot out of my nose every night in the shower.

Most welders in my area still wear zero respiratory protection, but the climate has begun improving. Ten years ago, I had to order my respirators and filters online because the local welding suppliers didn't stock them...now they can be found on the shelf most places.

Misanthropist, I assume you're aware that those glorified dust masks your guy is wearing in the picture are better than nothing, but considerably more likely to leak around the edges than a true respirator. Just getting this out there for others who might not be aware. Respirators used in OSHA-covered workplaces need to be fit-tested to the individual wearer and there is a semi-involved process for this which, among other things, includes testing lung capacity to be sure your lungs are strong enough to let you breathe through a respirator safely in the first place. Many smokers do not possess enough remaining lung capacity to pass this test. Also, any facial hair where the respirator seals to your face effectively destroys the seal. Most companies have rules requiring a clean-shaven face for those who will be wearing respirators.

I don't mean to be preaching, just passing on some 'best practices' I've picked up along the way to whomever may be interested.

Finally, I applaud your efforts to keep your guys safe. There are a lot of companies who pay lip service only to even the most basic safety rules. You'd never catch me getting three guys together so I could 'safely' change a light bulb from a stepladder, but there's a lot of common-sense info out there that still isn't being employed effectively. Small businesses are generally the worst for this; I turned in my 2-week notice to my last employer 10 years ago over confined-space entry safety violations. For those who don't know, this is some of the most dangerous work out there, and is heavily regulated for a very good reason. The almighty dollar has killed and maimed a lot of guys over the years, and despite the fact that there are a lot of nanny regulations out there that we all roll our eyes at, there is also some pretty important stuff that we need to hold our employers' noses to.

[TGS]

As a welder, I have a fair amount of exposure to respiratory and other hazards on a daily basis. Luckily, my self-employed status allows me to draw my own PPE requirements and stick to them. I first became aware of P100 respirators that would fit under welding shields nearly a decade ago. Specifically, 3M's 7500 series which exhaust downward, keeping the shield free of fog. Thus ended the daily process of blowing black snot out of my nose every night in the shower.

Most welders in my area still wear zero respiratory protection, but the climate has begun improving. Ten years ago, I had to order my respirators and filters online because the local welding suppliers didn't stock them...now they can be found on the shelf most places.

Misanthropist, I assume you're aware that those glorified dust masks your guy is wearing in the picture are better than nothing, but considerably more likely to leak around the edges than a true respirator. Just getting this out there for others who might not be aware. Respirators used in OSHA-covered workplaces need to be fit-tested to the individual wearer and there is a semi-involved process for this which, among other things, includes testing lung capacity to be sure your lungs are strong enough to let you breathe through a respirator safely in the first place. Many smokers do not possess enough remaining lung capacity to pass this test. Also, any facial hair where the respirator seals to your face effectively destroys the seal. Most companies have rules requiring a clean-shaven face for those who will be wearing respirators.

I don't mean to be preaching, just passing on some 'best practices' I've picked up along the way to whomever may be interested.

Finally, I applaud your efforts to keep your guys safe. There are a lot of companies who pay lip service only to even the most basic safety rules. You'd never catch me getting three guys together so I could 'safely' change a light bulb from a stepladder, but there's a lot of common-sense info out there that still isn't being employed effectively. Small businesses are generally the worst for this; I turned in my 2-week notice to my last employer 10 years ago over confined-space entry safety violations. For those who don't know, this is some of the most dangerous work out there, and is heavily regulated for a very good reason. The almighty dollar has killed and maimed a lot of guys over the years, and despite the fact that there are a lot of nanny regulations out there that we all roll our eyes at, there is also some pretty important stuff that we need to hold our employers' noses to.

We never tested lung capacity for N95 fit tests. That's interesting.

We just did the hood with denatonium benzoate. Facial hair was allowed because we also had duckbills, but I've heard that they're not produced anymore and that some places are requiring beards be shaven down to a goatee using a template.

PAPRs were the best option. We trained on those and used'em for Ebola suspects. So much more comfortable than breathing through an N95 respirator, but obviously not very convenient for a craftsman or laborer.

[Welder]

PAPRs were the best option. We trained on those and used'em for Ebola suspects. So much more comfortable than wearing a respirator, but obviously not very convenient for a craftsman.

Absolutely on the PAPR, with the added benefit of cool air being blown on your face as opposed to hot air being drawn in with effort through a respirator. This time of year, I enjoy the respirator as it keeps me warmer on cold days in addition to keeping my shield from fogging up. I don't own a PAPR welding shield setup since much of my work takes place in areas where I don't have room for a supply hose and belt-mounted battery / filter. I'll eventually buy one when I find a decent deal on a used setup, though. They definitely deal effectively with the facial hair issue while also getting the air intake away from the smoke plume.

I've had limited training with SCBA systems, again for confined-space-entry uses, but thankfully never had to enter an environment that was bad enough to require one.

ETA Re: Lung capacity -- the lung capacity test was at least two-fold. From memory, they had a large straw that was in your mouth at one end and went into a machine via flexible hose at the other end. You would, three times, inhale as quickly and fully as possible, pausing between each try while the machine did its' measuring thing. Then, you'd do the same thing three times, exhaling as long and hard as possible, while the technician would keep telling you to exhale more while you knew darn good and well there was no air left in your lungs. One of our guys hadn't smoked for nearly 10 years but just barely passed this test.

I've never been tested for N95 so am unaware of the possibly differing requirements that may go along with that spec.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Yeah, I know the N95s are pretty minimal protection...I used to do 14 hour days in a 3M 6800 that we glued to my face with vaseline when I worked underground building a big rail tunnel so I'm moderately well-versed in serious exposure control.

And in fact most of these guys were issued a 7500. But nobody was wearing them. Over Christmas, in fact, I looked in a bunch of the trucks and most of the respirators were still untouched. That's part of what led to my "get them into N95s" project: I want to get the seed planted so they're thinking "where's my mask?" regularly.

At some point this year when the N95s are getting used a lot and people are attached to them, I'm going to start asking them about fit and leakage, and see if I can prompt the response "fuck this, I just want new cartridges for that big respirator we never use".

[Clobbersaurus]

True safety in the workplace has to be as much culture as it is protocol. You are starting to create that culture and I'm sure these guys will be thanking you for it when they get to the age when they are seriously considering retirement.

They all owe you a good bottle of rye for your efforts.