Occupational hazards

I grew up the son of an automotive mechanic, an occupation known for its hazards. It was a regular occurrence to see my Father's bleeding knuckles at the dinner table, a sliver of steel (grinding wheel) gave him a blind spot in his left eye (which allowed me to beat him at ping pong once in awhile), he had his hernia many years before mine was even a remote possibility. I will never forget when a bare wire on the garage floor electrified the entire area under the car he was working on, and he bounced up and down on the floor yelling for us to pull the plug, banging into the undercarriageas he yelled. His face was mashed in at the dinner table that evening. OSHA did not get started until December, 1970, Nixon signed the bill; I remember hearing a joke about it in the shop when I visited there in the early seventies.

Undoubtedly OSHA inspectors are experts, occupation by occupations, of the hazards. In fact, it seems to me that I saw an OSHA manual some time back listing those hazards, occupation by occupation. Also, I recently read an excellent book on loggers ("Brush Cats"?) considered to be the most hazardous of all our occupations; and the work that my wife I do is not far back down the list, farming. Driving the tractor recently a common hazard occurred when I reacted a little slowly to having hit a deep rut in the ice, which spun the steering wheel and I could have had a broken or severely bruised hand. Luckily my reaction was quick. Years ago for my wife and partner on a farm in Maryland, a very warm afternoon and a little sleepiness caused a broken hand for her in a similar circumstance.

Now the forces that be in government cost cutting and tax abatement are sword rattling about cutting oversight of all kinds, and with the powers that be in our dwindling manufacturing and work place leadership, plus the strong anti labor attitudes of the Republicans (& Democrats for that matter) it isn't hard to imagine that OSHA and like activity will be at stake. I wonder how many of the potential legislators have had experience in shops, especially in ones known for dangers? I look at people like our new Governor, Walker, and shake my head. He may have had some farm experience. If so I hope he hasn't forgotten it.