Dennis Kaplan commented on Linked In about our Pedestal Grinder post from last week.
Like all critical thinkers, he reframed the question from “Why did it fail?” to “Why do we hold users accountable instead of certifying equipment like the Germans do?”
I have to admire his thinking- if the reason for OSHA is to make workplaces safer, why not start with a safe equipment certification program, rather than trying to ‘enforce’ compliance in hundreds of thousands of shops?
Thanks for sharing your thinking Dennis. Folks, here is Dennis’ response on PMPA LinkedIn group.
” Miles, I think it is even sadder that we can purchase items that are not OSHA safe to begin with.
Larger companies can afford to have a safety engineer.
“I think it isn’t fair to make a small machine shop responsible to keep up with all the regulations OSHA and other entities come up with. How do you expect a small shop with one owner and 1-2 employees to keep up with all the regulations. One day one solvent is okay next day it isn’t, but you can still purchase the stuff that isn’t okay to use. Even worst with equipment, you can buy a bench grinder, and then you still have to figure out how to make it OSHA safe. What’s up with that?
“The Germans have TÜV. Nothing can be sold in Germany that doesn’t pass TÜV. You buy something, you know it will pass all the regulations, all you have to do is keep the safety up.
“I have seen shops locked down because a manual milling machine didn’t have enough safety. Yet if you put all the safety they require on to the machine you wont be able to set the machine up, or make any parts. Who makes these rules anyway?
I think it is way more important to train the people in safety then making your machines idiot safe.”
Thanks again Dennis. We appreciate your sense making.