Safety at Work: a Boot on a String
posted on 8 January 2012 | posted in
Construction and Industrial
During the 1960s I worked in a "protective coating" plant in Houston Texas. Workers had to cross from one side to the other of tracks that transported huge pipes that had just been spray painted at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and had to wear ppe clothing. The hot pipes, four or five feet in diameter, were transported via chains that ran along next to what looked like railroad tracks, and the workers ran back and forth along those tracks to check the temperatures. A worker across from me slipped as he ran his foot was trapped between the chains and the rails, and he was twirled around and around until someone pushed the emergency button, stopping the machinery. When they got him off the track, his bare toe bones were sticking out of the boot, which was torn to shreds. The next day when we reported for work, I saw that his empty, torn boot was hanging from a string with a warning note to workers to be careful. That was this Texas plant's safety program I guess. I resigned at the end of that day.
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