Ahhhh, Employed Again.

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Pay is not as good as I would like, and I'm not impressed with the working conditions, but I have a job.


I am a maintenance tech with an automotive parts manufacturer. I am a temp for 90 days, but if I prove out I will become full time. I've pretty much decided after I become a full employee I will start another job search, but like the old saying says it is easier to find a job when you have a job.


The first day pretty much showed me what this job would be like. They had a enormous parts cleaner (the parts are small, but there are many of them). The cleaner is around 30 feet long, 15 feet tall, and 15 feet wide. The machine dumped several barrels of cleaner inside while we were looking though the pipes (most are over a foot in diameter) for a lost part. The part was not important, the fact it was floating inside the machine was. There wasn't much room inside, it is a good thing I lost a lot of weight. There is not room to wear a ventilator mask and crawl and climb around inside, and I do not think breathing these fumes are good at all. I drove home with an unpleasant buzz that was still there the next morning. So much for safety.


I just hope I can cut it though. They are promising 7 days a week (with OT rates). I think this is supposed to make up for the low pay. I will be a little more scarce, but it is for a good cause.
 

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Bill,

Wear your mask.
What mask?

I have worn them in previous jobs, if I were to wear it I couldn't do the job, and would not have a job soon thereafter.

If I complain publically I also wouldn't have a job soon thereafter.

Better to get a new job when I can later. It is not an everyday affair, they assure me, for whatever that is worth.
 

tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
I am happy that you found something, but I worry about your health. Hopefully, there won't be many days inside a parts washer!
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Ah the differences between people!

You are happy to get back to work and I am never happy to go back to work. I have a Job I like where I am appreciated and well paid for what little I feel I do yet all said and done I would still rather be home. :p

Well except when my wife is home. Then I would rather be at work. :rolleyes:
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
Congrats, on finding work...I am holding out for my plasma T.V. deal. I could have

started already....they want more units a day than one man can put out. If you don't

get off to a good start..you lose your word.
 

monster_catfish

Joined Mar 17, 2011
116
Bill congrats on landing the job, but I must confess I am relieved to hear that you regard this gig as a very temporary one, given the conditions there. Sending anyone into a gas-filled enclosure with NO breathing gear is just plain wrong in my view, regardless of the excuse proffered by the employer.

My concern is the effects of those fumes you described, and frankly I am surprised to hear that such hazardous working conditions are allowed to exist in the good old US of A, where lawsuits are routinely brought against employers that create dangerous working conditions.

Please forgive me for poking my nose here, Bill, but in your shoes I would quietly contact a good attorney about launching a robust claim the instant I so much as suspect that the fumes at work have been detrimental to my health. Most attorney's worth their salt would take on a case such as this with no up-front payment from the client, proceeding towards an assured resolution on the basis of a mutually agreed share of the ultimate settlement.
 

loosewire

Joined Apr 25, 2008
1,686
@ Monster catfish ,we have right to work laws in most states....a class action suit

gets you about $3.00.... ten years from now. The lawyer gets millions...go figure.
 

monster_catfish

Joined Mar 17, 2011
116
Loosie the class action suit you describe may have arisen from employer negligence or misconduct of a comparatively less brazen nature than the situation described by Bill here.

Feeling woozy from the effects of a gas inhaled at work is a BIG deal, as any medical doctor would attest, and I am only used to hearing of such working conditions out here in the Third World, but certainly not in the EU or USA.

For some reason my blood just boiled when Bill recounted being told that he would be exposed to that nausea-inducing gas on "rare" occasion. I found that explanation condescending and indicative of contempt for common sense industrial safety requirements. A seasoned attorney could take that company down in short order, and many would consider that a public service.

I hope time proves me wrong in this instance, but any place of employment, located within the United States of America, that deliberately subjects any member of its workforce to toxic gas as a condition of remaining employed, WILL be sued into bankruptcy at some point.

Apologies for the rant here. I'll get down off the table and stop stabbing the air with my index finger now that I've got all this off my chest.
 

bertus

Joined Apr 5, 2008
22,270
Hello Bill,

Its good to hear that you have a job again.
Its not good to hear that its was needed to inhale the fumes.
There should be either good ventilation or breath protection provided by the employer.

Bertus
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Loosie the class action suit you describe may have arisen from employer negligence or misconduct of a comparatively less brazen nature than the situation described by Bill here.

Feeling woozy from the effects of a gas inhaled at work is a BIG deal, as any medical doctor would attest, and I am only used to hearing of such working conditions out here in the Third World, but certainly not in the EU or USA.

For some reason my blood just boiled when Bill recounted being told that he would be exposed to that nausea-inducing gas on "rare" occasion. I found that explanation condescending and indicative of contempt for common sense industrial safety requirements. A seasoned attorney could take that company down in short order, and many would consider that a public service.

I hope time proves me wrong in this instance, but any place of employment, located within the United States of America, that deliberately subjects any member of its workforce to toxic gas as a condition of remaining employed, WILL be sued into bankruptcy at some point.

Apologies for the rant here. I'll get down off the table and stop stabbing the air with my index finger now that I've got all this off my chest.
Catfish,

I wrote a PM to Bill with similar advice but I am not sure it went through. I work in the chemical industry and, as a chemical manufacturer, we take chemical safety and all employee safety to levels that new-hires have trouble believing. Ultimately, our accident/injury rate is lower than the rate at an insurance agency (OSHA published rates).

What we have noticed, is that our customers that use our chemicals in applications (none chemical companies), they sometimes have terrible safety and industrial hygiene practices. We send someone in to advise how to handle chemicals or, if they refuse to change policies or processes, we will cut them off as a customer. The risk of a multimillion dollar lawsuit doesn't justify the little profit we get from them.
 

Thread Starter

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
Catfish,

I wrote a PM to Bill with similar advice but I am not sure it went through. I work in the chemical industry and, as a chemical manufacturer, we take chemical safety and all employee safety to levels that new-hires have trouble believing. Ultimately, our accident/injury rate is lower than the rate at an insurance agency (OSHA published rates).

What we have noticed, is that our customers that use our chemicals in applications (none chemical companies), they sometimes have terrible safety and industrial hygiene practices. We send someone in to advise how to handle chemicals or, if they refuse to change policies or processes, we will cut them off as a customer. The risk of a multimillion dollar lawsuit doesn't justify the little profit we get from them.
I do appreciated the advice. I've already decided to keep looking for another job, without being obvious about it.

If I complain I'm gone. I know this much, and I really need this job. So, I just keep my head down and do the best I can. For what it is worth, I did mention it to the safety person. I also looked it up, it is something called DowClean. It is pretty bad overall.

They (the employers) do this because they know they can. My Mom was killed by the lack of OSHA enforcement, she machined raw fiberglass without any respiratory protection in the 80s. 20 years later everyone who worked in that plant are gone, and the plant long since declared bankruptcy. Due to my Dad doting on her she was one of the last to die, he didn't last long after. Odd how that works.

So I focus one the good part (I have a job!) and will address the bad part as quietly as I can.
 

shortbus

Joined Sep 30, 2009
10,045
As Rick Perry, the esteemed governor of Texas tells business when trying to get them to his state,
"Safety regulations? We don't need no safety regulations." :)
 
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