ASHLEY
FURNITURE…..BEAUTIFUL BUT DANGEROUS?
(FRAZER
CHRONICLE)
(All
the News That Nobody Else Will Print)
Believe it or not, when I
was younger, and working away from the safe confines of my man cave basement office, I never saw the need for the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, (OSHA). OSHA was formed back in April of 1971;
some would call that April 28th date a “victory for the working class of the United States.” I don’t
remember OSHA coming into existence, but I do remember my first brush with two
of their agents.
It was in the summer of
1972, I was working on carpenter job for my father and another fellow…..we were
framing a house, when, just before lunch two guys came along wanting to know
who was in charge. My dad, all 5’-5” of him stepped forward and said that he
was, to which the bigger of the two said “that we’d have to have hard hats on
before another nail could be nailed”. My dad, all 5’-5” of him told the two
guys to get the hell off his job.
Of course they came back
that very afternoon with two cops, and that was that, we’d get hard hats or the
job for us would be finished. Well my dad, all 5’-5” of him told the two agents
and the cops where they could get off, and told us that “the job was done”. And
with little exception for the rest of my dad’s life he only did little
carpenter jobs “on the side”.
That was my introduction to
the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration, however over the years I
came to understand that there was a place for OSHA in the work place, and as I
got older I also became aware of how intricate OSHA and workplace safety was indelibly
linked to the worker safety and the administration.
Since I began writing about
labor, management and basically the powers-that-be in the work place, and how
many, many businesses work on a bottom line mentality, I came to the
realization that there was a silent war that was going on between the worker,
management, and ownership.
I have read about hundreds
of workplace injuries, mutilation and death, and almost without exception, at
least during the latter part of the 20th century, there would be
some bozo who was the director of Human Resource, or some safety officer who
all said basically the same thing, “employee
safety and wellbeing is an absolute priority”. Wow, what I surprise, I’m shell shocked…..never
before heard that old refrain!
Back in the early days of
enlightenment, when companies saw the hand writing on the wall, they decided
that something had to be done to keep the government off their collective
backs. You see during the first decade of the 20th century more than
10,000 metal and non-metal mining personal in the United States lost their
lives either in the mines or directly around the mines.
Through the 20th
century the working man and women struggled for safety in the workplace, while
management and business struggled just as hard to keep the statuesque intact.
Do not believe all of the platitudes that management and business have in
unison have babbled over the years…..they’re not true.
The history books are full
of all sorts of business and management atrocities wrought upon their workers.
Without any stretch of the imagination America’s business owners have been
responsible for the cold blooded killing of thousands of their employees during
the 20th century, and it continues into the 21st century.
Fires, poor ventilation, inadequate
entry and exit access to buildings, no safety guards on belt or chain driven
machinery, an absolute disregard workplace conditions with regards to worker
safety, poor training, plus a whole bunch more have contributed to what the
Federal Government has been pushed into enacting with regards to safety and
operating regulations.
Remember every worker safety
rule, every safety regulation that comes into effect costs the company money,
and in many cases cuts productivity. Businesses in the 20th and 21st
century absolutely operate on worker production per every eight hour shift.
Safety meetings, training innovation, work place improvement all affect the
bottom line…$$$$$$$$$$$
THE
CURIOUS CASE OF ASHLEY FURNITURE
OSHA is proposing that
Ashley Furniture must pay a staggering $1.76 million dollar fine for injured
workers, not just a few workers with stubbed toes, or hang-nails, but more than
1,000 work related injuries in the past three and a half years. Wow that’s 333
workers and more a year which would make working at Ashley’s, making furniture
a dangerous place to seek meaningful employment.
Now I’ve got to tell you
that I’ve worked around all kinds of saws in my time, driven a semi-trailer,
and dug a ditch or two in my time. And I understand that being around machinery
that cuts, drills or sands is in and of itself dangerous. I also understand
that some of those injuries that were suffered were totally the fault of the
operator…..I know, I’ve seen some of the stupid things that people will do
around a power hand tool.
But 1,000 injuries in 3.5
years, the number seems a bit high to me, and I think investigators would agree
with me. OSHA identified 12 willful, 12 repeat, and 14 serious safety
violations at the plant in Arcadia, Wisconsin.
In response Ashley said that
only 1 in 4 of the cases required any time away from work…..hummmmmmmmmm, that
doesn’t sound much like a good PR response. The “vast majority” of cases were
relatively minor, and that the most common injury was muscle strains and
sprains, which is the focus of Ashley Furniture’s ergonomics program.
Let me see, I get three
fingers sliced off because a saw starts while I’m changing a blade, Thank God
for ergonomics, they’ll really come into play when I need to do something that
requires finger dexterity. Ashley can appeal the fine, which in most cases is
the practice, and also it’s the practice for the fine to be hugely reduced for
a whole bunch of different reasons.
Workers unite, but keep your
finders in your pants pockets.
HAVE
A NICE DAY
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