geosocoSep 25, 2023

California workers who cut countertops are dying of an incurable disease

“Nobody uses water,” one man in a Dodgers cap said in Spanish when Maria Cabrera approached, holding flyers about silicosis, an incurable and suffocating disease that has devastated dozens of workers across the state and killed men who have barely reached middle age....

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-09-24/silicosis-countertop-workers-engineered-stone

California workers who cut countertops are dying of silicosis

The booming popularity of countertops made of engineered stone has driven a new epidemic of silicosis, an incurable lung disease, researchers have found.

Los Angeles Times
Show threadmctoastersonSep 25, 2023
Ironically the virus scare made N95s unobtanium or very expensive for several years there. Gonna guess that didn’t help with safety compliance amongst the mostly low-income people doing this kind of work.
Show threadCat
That is sad to hear. I live in an area where almost no one wore masks. Even at the hight of the pandemic. Our local pharmacies got a bunch of N95s for free to give away free. There was supposed to be a limit but since no one was using them they would give me a lot of extra. I'm guessing they still have boxes stacked up somewhere.
Sep 25, 2023 at 12:12pmWeb
Show threadmctoastersonSep 25, 2023
What always slays me is you seldom see pro contractors wearing eye protection or gloves either. Depending on the job I wouldn’t recommend going without.