Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

news.yahoo.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–469 of 469 posts

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#461

Post by kwhitefoot »

nikolay wrote: post #457
kwhitefoot wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If workers refuse to wear masks, then whose fault is this?! It doesn't matter whose fault it is; it remains the employers responsibility to ensure that it does not happen, if necessary by dismissing the worker concerned.

Just saw today a worker in a cloud of soil dust with a machine that, I guess, breaks the hardened soil - right next to a busy road. Anyway, next article would be about these workers getting Candida auris. Anyway, do you expect their employer to watch them all the time when they work? If they have passed instruction and cannot be supervised all the time, then it's employees fault.

Of course the employee is at fault but the employer also has a responsibility to ensure that such employees do not repeat such behaviour. I expect employers to be aware of how well their employees do the job and to take appropriate action when the behaviour fails to meet the relevant standards.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#462

Post by 1letterunixname »

1-more wrote: post #314
1letterunixname wrote: post #279

A lot of tradespeople refuse or ignore PPE. It's mostly macho men, the kind who don't go to the doctor, and smoke and believe it won't cause them cancer. Another fact: scant few men who work outside wear sunscreen. There were multiple generations of these kind of people on my mom's side of the family, and they inevitably died prematurely of preventable conditions. A modern example: I've seen gravestone engravers comp…

During the peak of covid, the NY Times made a video showing hospital workers loading dead bodies into the refrigerated trucks that served as expanded morgues for Brooklyn Hospital Center (by Fort Greene). Online skeptics pointed out that it must be crisis actors, for one of the workers was wearing his mask below his nose. Only thing I could think of was "have you never been to a jobsite?" I got called a pussy for wan…

Always look out for #1 because it is unlikely no one else will.

If that means steel-toed shoes, a jock cup, thick gloves, shooting glasses, amplifying mickey mouse muffs, sunscreen, bottled water, and a P100 respirator, so be it.

Safety regs are written in blood. And it only takes an instant or a culture of disregard to lead to later cancer, permanent disfigurement, or death. There are no old bold pilots or construction workers.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#463

Post by nikolay »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #461
nikolay wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just saw today a worker in a cloud of soil dust with a machine that, I guess, breaks the hardened soil - right next to a busy road. Anyway, next article would be about these workers getting Candida auris. Anyway, do you expect their employer to watch them all the time when they work? If they have passed instruction and cannot be supervised all the time, then it's employees fault.

Of course the employee is at fault but the employer also has a responsibility to ensure that such employees do not repeat such behaviour. I expect employers to be aware of how well their employees do the job and to take appropriate action when the behaviour fails to meet the relevant standards.

We can't put all the burden on the employer. At the end of the day, nobody could possibly care more about your health than you yourself. If people ignore risks knowingly, then it's their own personal fault.

American Standard has a large factory in my homeland Bulgaria and people from my hometown commute more than an hour and such commute in Bulgaria is rare, but they do it for the good salary. Although the factory passes EU regulations, which I honestly doubt due to the huge level of corruption and widespread respiratory health issues of workers.

So, everybody knows that they will get sick if they work there long enough, yet, they do it, because of the money and job security!

So, sometimes, even when people know the risks, they still harm themselves for money!

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#464

Post by mfitton »

WalterBright wrote: post #454
mfitton wrote: post #415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few cents a cup?! Where do you buy your coffee? I buy coffee at about 12 bucks a pound. A pound makes about ten carafes of 4 cups (tbh, I use the term cup loosely, because a mug for me is more like 1.5 to 2 actual measuring cups) each. I get to more like 30 to 40 cents a cup. It seems like there might be potential for major cost savings.

I buy 12 oz bags of ground coffee for $7.99 last time I bought it, which is up from $5.99 it used to be. That'll last for a couple weeks, at 12 cups (actual cups) a day. Coffee is my cheapest vices. I love coffee. When the pandemic hit, I stocked up on coffee.

Aha, maybe I'm putting dramatically too many grounds into my coffee, haha.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#465

Post by kwhitefoot »

nikolay wrote: post #463
kwhitefoot wrote: post #461

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course the employee is at fault but the employer also has a responsibility to ensure that such employees do not repeat such behaviour. I expect employers to be aware of how well their employees do the job and to take appropriate action when the behaviour fails to meet the relevant standards.

We can't put all the burden on the employer. At the end of the day, nobody could possibly care more about your health than you yourself. If people ignore risks knowingly, then it's their own personal fault. American Standard has a large factory in my homeland Bulgaria and people from my hometown commute more than an hour and such commute in Bulgaria is rare, but they do it for the good salary. Although the factory pa…

I'm pretty sure that the employer would, or at least could, be held liable here in Norway and in the UK.

> So, sometimes, even when people know the risks, they still harm themselves for money!

In many places this is not really a free choice because alternatives that do not harm one's health do not exist or demand qualifications that the prospective employee does not have. Requiring the employer to police this raises the standard everywhere and the employees would no longer have to make that trade off.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#466

Post by tempsy »

Kirby64 wrote: post #368
tempsy wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

quartz countertops are popular because they are cheaper than other types of countertops while looking expensive. this is like the Shein of counters. wealthy people probably use natural stone.

Quartz countertops are more expensive than natural granite. They're only cheaper than something like Marble. Quartz is also strictly a better material: it's not as porous as granite, much much harder than marble (marble can be scratched so easily), and can be made into almost any color or pattern. Super rich folks may prefer natural stone, but not because it's a better material... it may be preferred because it's a w…

it's more stain resistant but it's an unnatural engineered material.

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#467

Post by AnthonyMouse »

pydry wrote: post #459
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think the chances are "quite high" of all other countries doing this? There are several countries that inherently have to import food because they don't have enough arable land to feed their population.

Yeah, and they already buy plenty of shit food from America. They aren't going to buy more oreos to these countries just because America can't sell them to America any more.

But of course they are, because the price of that food would go down. If it's still being produced because it's still being subsidized but Americans stop buying it because it's punitively taxed, where do you think it goes?

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#468

Post by bafe »

mjh2539 wrote: post #389
bafe wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't soapstone closely related to asbestos? I'd expect it to produce the same type of powder that makes asbestos so dangerous (and on top of silicosis it can give you mesothelioma)

Soapstone is primarily composed of talc. Talc deposits sometimes have asbestos minerals included in them. Pretty much any aerosolized mineral is going to wreak havoc on your lungs.

True, but it seems asbestos because of the particular shape of the fiber is particularly nasty and more likely to cause mesothelioma

Re: Workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

#469

Post by Kirby64 »

tempsy wrote: post #466
Kirby64 wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quartz countertops are more expensive than natural granite. They're only cheaper than something like Marble. Quartz is also strictly a better material: it's not as porous as granite, much much harder than marble (marble can be scratched so easily), and can be made into almost any color or pattern. Super rich folks may prefer natural stone, but not because it's a better material... it may be preferred because it's a w…

it's more stain resistant but it's an unnatural engineered material.

What does that have to do with anything? It's a better material. Many materials are engineered to make them better. Steel isn't 'natural' either in that regard.
Post reply on HN