Comment on U.S. Secretary of Commerce says the ‘new model’ is factory jobs for life—for you, your kids, and your grandkids

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shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

Is OSHA really enforced? My only dealing with them was 20-years ago somewhere in Chicagoland. We were new there and I went to the office to ask what job safety requirements looked like for us cable guys. They stared at me like I was an alien. (And BTW, encounters like that are why conservatives are all, “hell yeah! slash them jobs! fuck the gubermint!” The older you get, the most BS stories ya got. I have some positive ones from my local redneck city!)

The main safety driver, from my experience and current POV, is worker’s comp insurance. Employers do not fuck around with rising insurance rates, or getting sued. A worker’s comp investigation can be expensive, then come the higher rates. Employers want to show every way they’ve trained you, given you safety gear and trained you some more.

If you blatantly ignore the training and procedures, and get hurt, no comp for you. Perfect example is Lowe’s “safety knife”. Nope, can’t possibly hurt yourself with it, but you can barely do your job. They turn a blind eye to those of use who bring our own box cutters, but insurance ain’t paying if I split my finger open. (Well, they might, but if it came to litigation, they wouldn’t have to. And shouldn’t have to.)

tl:dr; Worked in the payroll industry. Worker’s comp insurance is a way bigger deal than most know.

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