[ale] OT: Out in left field or in the sewers of The Big Apple

[Robert Reese]

Hello everyone,

Where to wade in here...?  Hmmm.... one spot pretty much smells like the next...

> Its not holding others responsible for your responsibilities.   Its
> holding them responsible for THEIR responsibilities if they didn't put
> up safety barricades around the manhole.

>> > Most OSHA requirements deal with setting up safety
>> environment first and
>> > then starting the work.  Attaching a tether on a high
>> rise after you've
>> > started your fall seldom works...

> It's too late for the safety glasses when the reaction  
> bumps and starts spewing caustic around, it's too late for  
> good footwear when you drop the brick over your foot, and  
> so forth. Open a man hole, a nice barricade in the way  
> first qualifies as a good idea.


Okay, nearly spewed caustic hazmat myself laughing at the tether comment.

This is right, and that's the only reason Smellarina is going to be able to find a lawyer and get a settlement: The workers failed to do TWO things to prevent this:

ONE, *LEAVE* a worker at the HOLE!!  How many NYC Roto-Rooter types are required to walk over get some cones??

TWO, Put the cones up FIRST!  Jeesh!


I think the lawsuit should ONLY pay for her ambulance ride.  The hospital bills should be on her parents.  The workers themselves, NOT the city NOR the union, should pay the lawsuit's ambulance fees out of their own pocket (albeit on a payment plan so their families aren't penalized too much).

The parents should foot the legal costs.  Indeed they ARE teaching her a lesson, just the WRONG lesson and diametrically opposite of what they should be teaching her.  I don't blame them for seeking _partial_ repayment for the medical and ambulance costs, since the workers and the city do bear some responsibility, and seeking it via the proper channels.  They should only sue after the city refuses to pay anything at all.  But at least half of the costs are the girl's and her parents' responsibilities.

BTW, any photo of the "victim" yet?  I've got some bloggin' to do about personal responsibility as well as texting-while-anything-else.

Cheers,
R~