"William Wixon" wrote in message
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"Existential Angst" wrote in message
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"Tim Wescott" wrote in message
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Randy wrote:
On Tue, 4 May 2010 06:50:28 -0700 (PDT), rangerssuck
wrote:
Quick question -
What companies are regulated by OSHA? I'm sitting here watching John's
Landscaping Contracting, Inc. do my neighbors yard. Forget for the
moment that they are using five people with five leaf blowers to chase
a few leaves off a 50' x 100' plot (that's total size, including the
house). These people have no ear protection, no eye protection, no
dust masks, no gloves. They are using leaf blowers, chain saws, weed
whackers, a lawn mower big enough to do Giants Stadium and a chipper,
all without the benefit of any of the aforementioned safety equipment.
If it's noisy enough in my office, with the windows and doors closed
that I won't be able to have a phone conversation until they're done,
it's just common sense that these people's hearing is in danger, not
to mention their eyes, lungs and hands.
Now, I know that most of them (though probably not John himself) are
probably illegal aliens, and many of you think they should be used up
and then thrown away, but in general, are there ANY laws concerning
worker safety that apply to such an operation?
I beleive OSHA laws kick in fully if you have 50 or more employees.
Less than 50 and OSHA will only respond to complaints against an
employer.
Not to mention that getting employees to actually _use_ their safety
equipment can be a battle in itself. Ear muffs and goggles are
uncomfortable and unmanly. It's much better to be blind and deaf when
you're old -- then you can't notice what your more able age-mates are
doing with your wife while you're boasting about your youthful exploits.
Or you don't care. 
Rubber ear plugs are very good, not so uncomfortable in the heat.
I use them at work, where they stay in for an hour at a time, and use
good muffs in my shop, where they come on and off.
I gotta remember to carry plugs wherever I go, cuz in NYC, between the
subways and construction, you can go deaf just being a mass transit
pedestrian. Also filters out some of the rap music.
Incredible that we have to listen to that ****.....
I think the thing that scares me the most, eye-wise, is the wire wheel.
Strange, tho, I've never been pierced by a hurtling wire. They must make
them really well.
--
EA
huh! on numerous occasions i've plucked wire out of my clothes and/or
embedded in my skin after using a cup brush on a angle grinder. that was
an eye opener, so to speak. and finding stuff (twigs, straw, etc.)
embedded in my clothes and/or skin flung from a weed whacker. i ALWAYS
wear eye protection when using a cup brush or a weed whacker. i am
flabbergasted when i see guys using a weed whacker without eye protection.
jeez, story, something i feel/felt AWFUL about. i put a carbide saw blade
on my weed whacker, works great on saplings. participated in a road side
clean up. *I* had eye protection on, one of the guys who was working 15/20
feet away didn't. i hit a rock and something (maybe a carbide saw tip)
hit him in the lip, cut open his lip. i mean, it wasn't BAD but he was
bleeding. i felt AWFUL. (he did too.) i set out to do a good deed and
ended up nearly possibly blinding someone(!).
Someone said that a carbide tooth knocked off a sawblade can travel at the
speed of a bullet.
Just calc'd this out:
On a 4600 rpm saw (my Skil), a tooth off a 7 1/4" blade will fly off at 1746
fps.
A 3450 rpm RAS with a 10" blade is going at 1806 fps.
Sheeit, you'll need goggles made out of Kevlar!!
Yeah, I think bench-grinder wire wheels are made a little better than
portable wheels.
I have 3 craftsman wire wheels on a arbor to give some width/beef, and they
just seem to last forever -- 10 years now, but with far from constant use.
My portable wire wheels indeed wind up as nubs!! I guress the wires have to
be going somewhere, eh??
Even a lawnmower without eye protection as asking for trouble. The wife is
always picking grass/bark chips out of my eye....
--
EA
b.w.