Saw a guy at a job site in Gary last week using a cutting torch on a 1/4" plate with no respirator

He was maybe 50 feet from me and I could smell the zinc burning something fierce. I yelled over and he just shrugged and said "been doing this 30 years." Has anyone else run into guys who refuse to wear basic PPE?

2 comments

2 Comments

singh.blair19d ago

Yep, seen it. Zinc fumes are no joke, tell him lung cancer waits for no one.

the_drew19d ago

...and the thing is, I've been there too. Had a guy on my crew who thought the same way. I didn't yell at him though. I just walked over, handed him a respirator, and told him I'd rather have him alive and annoyed tomorrow than dead and right. He grumbled but put it on after I said I'd send him home for the day if he didn't. Turns out, making it their choice but with a clear consequence worked better than any lecture ever could.