OSHA?

Quick question -

What companies are regulated by OSHA? I'm sitting here watching John's Landscaping Contracting, Inc. do my neighbors yard. Forget for the moment that they are using five people with five leaf blowers to chase a few leaves off a 50' x 100' plot (that's total size, including the house). These people have no ear protection, no eye protection, no dust masks, no gloves. They are using leaf blowers, chain saws, weed whackers, a lawn mower big enough to do Giants Stadium and a chipper, all without the benefit of any of the aforementioned safety equipment.

If it's noisy enough in my office, with the windows and doors closed that I won't be able to have a phone conversation until they're done, it's just common sense that these people's hearing is in danger, not to mention their eyes, lungs and hands.

Now, I know that most of them (though probably not John himself) are probably illegal aliens, and many of you think they should be used up and then thrown away, but in general, are there ANY laws concerning worker safety that apply to such an operation?

Reply to
rangerssuck
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If no one answers this with updated information, I can tell you how it was

10 years ago, which is roughly the last time I had to research and write about OSHA and small business.

Unless it's changed, though, nothing is likely to happen unless someone complains. Technically, all businesses are (or were) subject to the "General Duty Clause" (you can Google that up, with quotes), but there isn't much of a compliance requirement for small business.

Clearly those are "recognized hazards." In general, OSHA is very easy on small business. They updated their compliance approach in the mid-'90s, and it depended mostly upon cooperation between OSHA and employers, and mostly voluntary compliance.

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Bet they got done, (and quiet) in no time flat.

Thank You, Randy

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Reply to
Randy

I beleive OSHA laws kick in fully if you have 50 or more employees. Less than 50 and OSHA will only respond to complaints against an employer.

Thank You, Randy

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Reply to
Randy

Bet they didn't. At LEAST a half hour of that racket. I know, because I put off a customer phone call as it was just too damned noisy in here. Seriously - these guys came in two dump trucks with trailers and a pickup truck, You'd think they could have finished in 15 seconds. But you'd be wrong. They spend the time chasing single leaves and a couple of blades of grass.

The bitch of it is that there's nothing they accomplished that couldn't have been done at least as well with a rake and a broom.

Mind you, this was not an isolated incident - it's just the one that occurred yesterday morning, and the first time THIS neighbor used THIS landscaper. All spring, summer and fall, I'll be treated to this cacaphony. Pretty much every day.

Reply to
rangerssuck

Not to mention that getting employees to actually _use_ their safety equipment can be a battle in itself. Ear muffs and goggles are uncomfortable and unmanly. It's much better to be blind and deaf when you're old -- then you can't notice what your more able age-mates are doing with your wife while you're boasting about your youthful exploits.

Reply to
Tim Wescott

Or you don't care. :)

Rubber ear plugs are very good, not so uncomfortable in the heat. I use them at work, where they stay in for an hour at a time, and use good muffs in my shop, where they come on and off. I gotta remember to carry plugs wherever I go, cuz in NYC, between the subways and construction, you can go deaf just being a mass transit pedestrian. Also filters out some of the rap music. Incredible that we have to listen to that shit.....

I think the thing that scares me the most, eye-wise, is the wire wheel. Strange, tho, I've never been pierced by a hurtling wire. They must make them really well.

Reply to
Existential Angst

huh! on numerous occasions i've plucked wire out of my clothes and/or embedded in my skin after using a cup brush on a angle grinder. that was an eye opener, so to speak. and finding stuff (twigs, straw, etc.) embedded in my clothes and/or skin flung from a weed whacker. i ALWAYS wear eye protection when using a cup brush or a weed whacker. i am flabbergasted when i see guys using a weed whacker without eye protection. jeez, story, something i feel/felt AWFUL about. i put a carbide saw blade on my weed whacker, works great on saplings. participated in a road side clean up.

*I* had eye protection on, one of the guys who was working 15/20 feet away didn't. i hit a rock and something (maybe a carbide saw tip) hit him in the lip, cut open his lip. i mean, it wasn't BAD but he was bleeding. i felt AWFUL. (he did too.) i set out to do a good deed and ended up nearly possibly blinding someone(!).

b.w.

Reply to
William Wixon

Someone said that a carbide tooth knocked off a sawblade can travel at the speed of a bullet. Just calc'd this out:

On a 4600 rpm saw (my Skil), a tooth off a 7 1/4" blade will fly off at 1746 fps. A 3450 rpm RAS with a 10" blade is going at 1806 fps.

Sheeit, you'll need goggles made out of Kevlar!!

Yeah, I think bench-grinder wire wheels are made a little better than portable wheels. I have 3 craftsman wire wheels on a arbor to give some width/beef, and they just seem to last forever -- 10 years now, but with far from constant use.

My portable wire wheels indeed wind up as nubs!! I guress the wires have to be going somewhere, eh??

Even a lawnmower without eye protection as asking for trouble. The wife is always picking grass/bark chips out of my eye....

Reply to
Existential Angst

yeah, that too. two or three years ago i started wearing safety glasses while on the riding lawnmower (up till then i thought there was no danger). was mowing the grass, mower kicked up a hull from a hickory nut, bounced off the tree and hit me in the eye. ouch. i thought it had popped my eye out, didn't. i think that one had my eye all red (burst blood vessels) for days. learned my lesson. after that i read somewhere the most common injury from mowing the lawn is getting hit in the eye with objects hurled from the mower.

b.w.

Reply to
William Wixon

Reminds me of when I stabbed myself in the eye with a plant, moving it for the wife. I was at the ophthalmologist every day at 9 am, for a week, cryin like a baby. He says, goddamm, I just can't seem to fix you up!! Turns out that organic scrapes can leave compounds in the eye, which just drive you crazy.

He finally put in an "eye bandaid", which was simply a very thin clear contact, actually imperceptible.

My effing cat came close to hooking my eyelid right offa my face!! goodgawd....

I'm thinking walking around not in goggles, but a full-face motorcycle helmet, with a lexan shield.

Reply to
Existential Angst

Whacking weeds one day I got into some moss, nice little droplet of juice hit my right eye. Burned like the devil for about two weeks. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

HEY, don't you all check people's calculations????

BottleBob emailed me, pointed out that I forgot to divide by 12. Goodgawd....

So those fps numbers should be reduced be a factor of 12, which puts them in the 100 mph range -- fast, but not deadly, unless it's in yer eye.

Altho, if the edge of the projectile was sharp, and hit the neck, might could nick the jugular vein, with some big problems. God would really have to be pissed off at you, tho.

OK, there goes the bullet theory.....

Reply to
Existential Angst

State laws vary, but the federal OSHA laws do apply to landscaping businesses -

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including "Occupational noise exposure". The feds don't really enforce it though - there were only 19 citations between Oct 08 and Sep 09 -
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Steve

Reply to
Steve Masta

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