28th January 2008, 2:38 PM
DJ - The idea here is that so often people aren't given the necessary training and proper safety instructions, especially in industrial settings. Around here, the entire economy is driven by the oil industry, and there are literally thousands of cases of people losing fingers, arms, or otherwise getting badly injured on the rigs. I know several people missing fingers from completely preventable “accidents”, but so often they are brought into the workplace and are expected to just pick things up as they go along. In fact, often the only piece of safety advice young roughnecks get on the oilpatch is “don’t stick your finger anywhere you wouldn’t stick your penis”. Often times this sort of blue-collar logic is all there is to go by, and indeed in Alberta, many people live their life according to this line of thinking. Any accidents that occur are NEVER because the worker wasn’t given the proper training. It’s because he’s a goddamn idiot and should damn well know better! And when you’re fresh out of high school and on the workforce and getting $8,000/month, plus all fuel and vehicle expenses paid for, there’s really no option but to just go with the flow, lest you get shunned. When there is such a high demand for workers and product, there really isn’t much time to worry about expensive safety training, especially when you’ve got a job to do.
Of course, this is a bit different than cleaning up grease in a kitchen, but I guess proper training should be given everywhere.
Of course, this is a bit different than cleaning up grease in a kitchen, but I guess proper training should be given everywhere.