Corners cut and beers downed at Fed-run OSHA classes

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/01/31/2009-01-31_corners_cut_and_beers_downed_at_fedrun_o.html

BY BRIAN KATES, JOE KEMP and GREG B. SMITH
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Sunday, February 1st 2009, 3:15 AM

Safety is for sale in the dimly lit Aqueduct North bar in the far reaches of the Bronx.

Last Sunday, a group of hardhats hunkered down for what was supposed to be 10 hours of crucial construction safety training.


Theodorakis/News

OSHA trainer Darrel Innis conceded the construction safety course had problems.

One of the "hardhats" was an undercover Daily News reporter. What he found was that the $125 course took just over two hours, factoring in time spent waiting for the instructor to show and breaks to grab a beer.

The course was the OSHA 10, a 10-hour lesson created by the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration that's supposed to teach the basics of job safety and reduce dangerous conditions at job sites.

It is designed to combat the record number of construction deaths (19) and injuries (181) in the city in the last year.

Many of the injuries and deaths occurred when workers ignored safety rules like wearing harnesses, properly assembling scaffolding or handling equipment safely.

FULL story at link.

[panader0]

1. When I was a foreman for a union masonry company

I had to take the course. Damn, it took eight hours and there was no beer. There was pizza, but as a guy who doesn't eat cheese (okay, it's my only weirdness, he he), I got screwed all the way around.