Watch your heads! That was the only warning for me and my fellow subway riders at 96th street on a Monday morning rush hour as construction workers used a mobile crane to hoist a very large bag of sand over us.
For the past few years the New York Metropolitan Transport Authority has been building a spanking new station literally around the thousands of men, women and schoolchildren who use the station every day.
This has involved closing off skanky but safe access points that run under busy Broadway and forcing commuters over the main road. That Monday, the suspended sand bag merely added excitement to the day as we dodged mammoth delivery trucks and badly driven taxis with tonnes of No 1 grade hanging over our heads. It’s a bit like being in the midst of a reality TV show: I’m not a construction worker, get me outta here!
In what other advanced nation would such blatant disregard for the public’s safety be tolerated? The grubbiness of the construction workers’ “safety” jackets reflects the deeply conflicted attitude the US appears to demonstrate to safety: plenty of jackets but no reflection.
The Gulf explosion and loss of 11 lives on the Transocean rig that led to the ghastly BP spill came shortly after the loss of 29 coalminers in West Virginia when safety systems clearly failed. Only in China, it seems, do these big industrial accidents happen with greater regularity.
Read this article in full at Ethical Corporation
Thursday, 8 July 2010
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