“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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The answer here is simple- regulations with teeth.
Every saw uses water. Every worker wears a mask. Random inspections.
Inspector sees one person without a mask? $1000 fine. One machine with no water hooked up? $5000 fine. 10 people with no masks and 3 machines with no water hooked up? $25,000 fine. Make it clear that there is no fucking around here.
Job site like described in the article? Shut down until problems fixed.
I’d further add personally liability of all supervisors, managers and executives. You run such an operation and cannot prove without a doubt that you instructed for safety, provided the necessary tools and materials and did regulary inspections yourself? You pay for everyones treatment and damages.
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.
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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.
I worked for a few spray-foam insulation companies in my early 20’s. I’m just waiting to hear the same thing from spray foam. Half the guys I worked with didn’t wear masks most of the time and were just covered in foam all day breathing in the off gassing of fire retardents and blowing agents and other nasty chemicals. I quit because I saw the writing on the wall and my boss hated me for quitting before training my replacement. I told him it wasn’t worth my health.
The EPA/OSHA cut hexavalent chromium exposure limits by 100. Aircraft workers have been spraying, painting and airbrushing that shit for fucking ever. It’s uniquely good at its task (anti-corrosion) so there’s no making it go away any time soon.
I have had countertops put in two different times. The first time the crew had a water saw and masks. The second time I was horrified to see the guys cutting the stuff raw without even a paper mask on.
