Where are the Safety Glasses?

[dArsonval]

The opening scenes in this CBS Sunday morning program caught my eye right away. No one is wearing Safety Glasses.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/04/sunday/main20101490.shtml?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel

Anyone here no the reason? Do tell!

John

 

[dArsonval]

ooops! I spelled "know" wrong.

 

[MikeHalloran]

Professional photographers often request that subjects remove their eyeglasses so the photo doesn't include distracting reflections.

Since going bare-faced is a severe infraction in auto plants, we can assume that the sequences there were staged, and perhaps even populated by actors.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[drawoh]

Is the Chevrolet Sonic really the only sub-compact built in America?

The Honda Civic has ceased to be a sub-compact, and they don't make the Fit over here. What is Toyota building?

JHG

 

[jmw]

It had that look of a Sunday volunteer meet.

It could be that in order to compete with Chinese and Mexican labour the $16 an hour rate wasn't the only concession; they also had to accept other working conditions which includes no safety equipment?

Now to sell it with a "Made in America" advertising campaign and see how it does. Chances are Joe Public will still buy cheaper imports.
It requires some collective will to pay more to and encourage jobs at home.


JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Have to agree with MikeHo.....

I have seen way too many photos where "safety" items like glasses, gloves, fire suits, etc are omitted. I know many of these companies - including ours - where this would be immediate grounds for suspension or even dismissal.

So for 10 minutes while they photograph and guys/gals aren't really doing anything - they allow it.

Probably not the best idea - but advertising sells.

 

[jmw]

Yes it did look staged.

Yet on the other hand you can't have a picture of an "engineer" without the clichéd safety glasses, white lab coat, yellow helmet, clipboard and pen bucket... or workers except in jeans and work boots safety helmet etc.

This looked like a bunch of people brought in off the street.
Most car plants I've been round the workers wear overalls, (British Leyland in dirty baggy blue boiler suits Nissan clean colour coded overalls and so on.
But that wasn't in the USA so I stand advised on that.

SO it may well be that the photographers staged it this way, but they are usually pretty savvy at filming even with safety glass, ear defenders, high vis clothes and any other necessary safety equipment and in this case, if staged, it wasn't done very professionally.

JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[LadaTrouble]

But a lot of them are wearing gloves - so they must be actors,more concerned about chipping a nail than a hole in the head.

 

[SomptingGuy]

I went to my dentist yesterday. He wanted me to wear safety glasses during a routine polish job. Very odd.

- Steve

 

[patprimmer]

Well they say going to the dentist is worse than being poked in the eye with blunt stick, so at least he is protecting you from the second worst option whilst inflicting the worst. It might be Dental Surgeon Double Jeopardy policy.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376 for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm

for site rules

 

[cloa]

The guy with safety glasses is a foreman. It doesn't make sense for him to wear glasses for photography- its potentially the worst shot so the workers really aren't wearing glasses. Actors wouldn't be able to do real looking work.

Thank god a US car giant is finally improving- it took long enough.

 

[rmw]

I'm not so sure. Safety glasses in particular are normally required in areas where there is a danger from flying projectiles created by machining, grinding, welding, etc. type operations. While the robots were certainly wearing their PPE because of the welding sparks they create, in the assembly area there is none of that type of hazard created. In fact the last thing they want there is flying projectiles that can get into the new cars and create problems.

So you may have specific areas of the plant where specific PPE is require - masks in the paint area, glasses in robotic welding areass, hearing protection in a loud area, but not all of it in all areas.

As to attire, I have only been in auto plants in the south of the USA and there everyone was dressed as if they had just come from (or were about to go to) the bar. JMW, the 'mono azuls' or blue coverhauls normally seen in European manufacturing floors is not widely common here.

Notwithstanding that, that did look staged, but they would have done that if filming right in the middle of their shift. Doubtful that this was done during a regular shift because they wouldn't stop the line to set up some the camera shots that were taken.

rmw