Way OT, Big brothers lack of morals for the blue colar man

[cdeal28078]

In my work history at a major Power Company I have worked in re-winding Generators in the hydro and steam plants before OSHA got hot about Asbestos. Been times I couldn't see the hand in front of my face when stripping the windings out of the generators. Sprayed Penelene a heavy duty degreaser from a 1" aspirator from station air supply until I couldn't see or hardly stand up. It is a major cancer agent and was outlawed until a Nuclear Generator was flooding with Turbine oil and all of a sudden 20 barrels were waiting for us when we got there to clean the oil out. Stuff was heavier than air so a respirator did little good. You basically suffocated until you couldn't stand it and another guy got in there and took your place. Red-Wing work boots lasted about 4 months. It was bad stuff.
Now I was laid off in 2001. Couldn't find another job in the company because of a bad back. Mostly from moving cribbing timbers around for the 1st 10 years of the job. Everything I did there was heavy work. Ruined my back.
Now I am 48 and scared to get a chest xray for fear of what it'll show. Luckily the last one was still clear. Cancer is a real fear as well believe me.
It was a great paying job and I would have never made that money anywhere else but I am not working there anymore also. The company will not and does not care about you personally. You are an asset and that is all UNLESS it is a very small company if so it might be a different story.
I fear about all of the Asbestos I brought home on my clothes. We didn't get time to shower before jumping in the truck for the ride home or motel.
If you are a young man and have a long life ahead of you hopefully I say think about 20-30 years from now and what shape you want to be in. Confined spaces are very, very dangerous as your training taught you. A respirator might not do anything for you if the gases are heavier than air. Only thing that will help then is force feed air from an outside source as you know.
Jobs might be hard to come by but so is your health once it is ruined it is ruined. Believe me.
Best wishes.
clint

[71 LONG BED]

Jobs are hard to find these days, but fathers are irreplaceable...
Your a selfish fool if you do it.

[MaxKlinger]

Jeff how did you make out with this? Is this still an issue?

I've done some dangerous work myself in the railroad industry. The bottom line is never to do anything that you don't feel safe doing. If you need safety equipment or training, bring that up to your management, or their managers above them. And if all else fails, call OSHA. In the meantime, I'd start looking for another job. I won't work for someone who is okay with taking safety risks.

It baffles my mind that some managers are so short sighted that they want to cut corners on safety. The last thing any company needs is to have someone get hurt. At the very least, that costs them a lot of money, time, morale, and skilled people. It is always in the best interest of a company to have a safe workplace.

[cdeal28078]

If there is an accident OSHA will be all over that company. I also don't see why companies do that BUT it was said that in the late 60's to early 70's Duke Power and other companies plus the military all knew asbestos was a very bad thing. Some say that Duke among other larger companies decided to put money in escrow to cover the lawsuits later instead of putting forth the money at the time to remove all of the asbestos. Greed in a company will make them do some very bad things.
clint

[basketcase0302]

MaxKlinger on Fri Oct 07, 2011 10:04 am
Jeff how did you make out with this? Is this still an issue?

They yielded on the side of caution this time, thank God, (Thursday)! I did also find the source of this deadly gas / documented how severe it actually was / and have hopefully put this issue to rest.
Thank you all for your comments and concern.

[FLATBEDFORD]

Good news Jeff. I hope the problem is solved.

[Bumpside Collector]

Thanks for the update. Hopefully they will take the necessary steps to make the job safer.

[sargentrs]

So what did you find out it was originally coming from?

[basketcase0302]

Thanks guys as I'd done a lot of prayin' lately that I'd still have a job this time-this week!
Randy, I'm afraid to elaborate on the source exactly just in case it ever came back up that i was asked to do it again, (which is slightly possible-but not likely).