Everywhere Nick DeJesse goes, he sees a problem.
So a nice stroll in South Philadelphia en route to a cup
of cappuccino Friday turns into an hour-long lecture on fall hazards, trench
hazards, and silica dust exposure, with the examples framed by scaffolding on
nearly every block.
"Whose mother, whose father, whose grandmother,
whose baby is breathing that dust?" asked DeJesse, the Philadelphia
director of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, as he
watched workers repairing bricks at a residential project near 25th and
Christian Streets.
"We're seeing an uptick in fatalities and
injuries," DeJesse said. He said there's about one workplace fatality a
month in the region. Of them, about half are construction-related falls.
Compliance officials from DeJesse's office found fall
violations in 120 of 240 inspections conducted since Oct. 1.
DeJesse said that speed seems to be a factor. The rush to
build may be pushing workers and supervisors to take chances. "There are a
lot of quick jobs, quick turnover."
Deaths in construction are on the rise, the most recent
federal statistics show.
Construction fatalities rose to 874 in 2014, up from 828
in 2013. The U.S. Labor Department said that was the highest reported total
since 2008.
Heading east on Christian Street on Friday, DeJesse
stopped at a two-house building project near 22nd Street.
Two houses had been demolished, leaving only basement
foundations. A crew of three or four workers was cleaning out the basement,
readying it for a rebuild.
To get into the basement from the front of the house,
workers had to balance on the cement walls, each no more than a foot thick,
heading to the back of the house. There they could hop down onto what was left
of a windowsill and move from there into the basement.
But, one misstep on those walls, and they could easily
tumble into the basement, a drop of at least eight feet.
"That's a fall hazard," DeJesse said, stopping
to talk to workers.
It would have been easy enough to fix - just use ladders.
In the back, something was being drilled and a cloud of
dust mushroomed from behind a cement wall.
"I would bet you cash money that none of these
workers have heard of silica" dust from concrete and stone, DeJesse said.
On Thursday, new federal rules involving exposure to
silica go into effect. Construction contractors have a year to comply with the
rules, which require them to use water or ventilation to control dust and to
provide respirators if levels are high.
Crystalline silica exposure can cause lung cancer,
silicosis, as well as chronic lung and kidney disease.
In the front, a narrow trench ran the width of the two
properties. No one was working in the trench, but it didn't have proper shoring
to keep it from collapsing, DeJesse said.
Fences that could have barricaded the trench to prevent
passersby from stumbling in were leaning against a truck.
Usually, DeJesse said, an unsafe condition for workers is
also an unsafe condition for the community. That's when a smartphone photo
emailed to OSHA can help the agency find and fix problems.
DeJesse's visit was informal - no one was immediately
cited. The agency plans to follow up with the contractor.
"To do this work," DeJesse said, "you have
to be a bricks-and-mortar kind of person. You have to hustle. You have to be
self-motivated. You are in a unique position to save someone's life."
Source: Philly.com
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