Winner winner chicken dinner.
6 Likes
JFC. Dick-nosing a respirator???
7 Likes
Dicknosing a respirator in toxic conditions telegraphs a lot of information. Especially to me.
I wear a NIOSH respirator for various projects/jobs.
For sure, how he’s wearing it is not how to wear one correctly.
I looked at this tired, zoned-out dude with that sad sad hat on, bearing the slogan of the twice-impeached 
.
I tried to go to my place of compassion: here is a human, in the hot zone, probably not thinking straight previously (e.g. that hat) or at the moment the picture is taken, probably feeling ill. Maybe his health wasn’t that great to begin with.
How can we reach him and others like him, to get him to understand that the MAGAs in governmental positions (at all levels) mean him no good? They shafted us getting PPE during the pandemic, downplayed death tolls and infection rates (even suppressing, and firing people who had information). They are poisoning are water, and our air: they will extract every last penny from The Commons, monetizing everything because grifting is the MAGA modus vivendi. (If you call that living.)
How can we reach these folks, to get them to not vote in more MAGAs?
How can we get the horse not to run back into the burning barn, having pulled it out of the barn to try to rescue it?
Are humans really such creatures of habit?
10 Likes
It’s more difficult with folks who won’t take basic steps for themselves. The lesson that it’s ok to be wrong and learn from mistakes comes first. If someone points out to the almost-masked man that he needs to adjust it, will he do so or continue doing it his own way? If he chooses the latter, complaints from him that masks don’t really work are likely to follow. 
People have to be open and willing to learn, but that’s not something that can be forced. There have been articles about people who managed to spark some empathy for others in members of the MAGA faithful. However, that doesn’t mean they’ll stop voting for GOP candidates out of habit or loyalty. Maybe if they watch enough Rep. Katie Porter and Lincoln Project videos on a loop that sense of loyalty might fade.
8 Likes
Good news, everyone! No toxic chemicals involved in today’s Norfolk Southern derailment.
11 Likes
[… potentially pending further updates.] Oh heck, it’s probably not toxic. This time.
I mean, it’s not that I’m not grateful for the apparent (if not 100% actual) lack of poisons in this newer incident. I just have trust issues re Norfolk Southern corporate, and the Ohio EPA.
9 Likes
I would expect several more Norfolk Southern trains to fail in the coming weeks. It’s not as if the derailed trains were unusually long for NS trains. Maybe unusually long in the eyes of the original engineers…
4 Likes
9 Likes
INHALING THE FUMES TO OWN THE LIBS 
10 Likes
More toxic junk.
9 Likes
“No one is coming to save us” is a refrain that we will hear more and more. A huge chunk of why I endeavor to disaster-proof my own family (insofar as that is possible) without relying on government intervention for the immediate aftermath. The derecho of 2012 cemented that in my mind. 3-5 days of no power, no access to stores (they couldn’t run credit cards or cash registers), gas stations, etc. At least it happened in the summer, so there was no issue with heat. Yeah, know your neighbors, help where you can, be prepared and able to go it alone for a few weeks if necessary.
11 Likes
NTSB to Open a Special Investigation into Norfolk Southern Railway’s Safety Practices and Culture
3/7/2023WASHINGTON (March 7, 2023) — The National Transportation Safety Board announced today a special investigation of Norfolk Southern Railway’s organization and safety culture.
Given the number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents, the NTSB also urges the company to take immediate action today to review and assess its safety practices, with the input of employees and others, and implement necessary changes to improve safety.
Since December 2021, NTSB has launched investigation teams to five significant accidents involving Norfolk Southern.
On Dec. 8, 2021, an employee for National Salvage and Service Corporation assigned to work with a Norfolk Southern work team replacing track was killed when the operator of a spike machine reversed direction and struck the employee in Reed, Pennsylvania.
On Dec. 13, 2022, a Norfolk Southern trainee conductor was killed, and another conductor was injured, when the lead locomotive of a Norfolk Southern freight train struck a steel angle iron protruding from a gondola car on another Norfolk Southern freight train that was stopped on an adjacent track in Bessemer, Alabama.
On Feb. 3, a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The derailment resulted in a significant fire and hazardous materials release.
On March 4, a 2.55-mile-long Norfolk Southern freight train derailed near Springfield, Ohio.
On March 7, a Norfolk Southern employee was killed during a movement in Cleveland, Ohio.
As part of the special investigation, the NTSB will also review the Oct. 8, 2022, Norfolk Southern derailment in Sandusky, Ohio.
The continued safe operations of Norfolk Southern is vital to the United States. The NTSB is concerned that several organizational factors may be involved in the accidents, including safety culture. The NTSB will conduct an in-depth investigation into the safety practices and culture of the company. At the same time, the company should not wait to improve safety and the NTSB urges it to do so immediately.
ETA: A post on RailUK Forums:
Unfortunately I think part of the reason for the poor safety culture of American railroads is the NTSB itself - half the time they write employee deaths off with a “should have followed the rules”.
Nor, of course, do I think any problems they will find with Norfolk Southern will be unique to it.
7 Likes
The railroads in particular get away with an amazing amount of shit even today in the US, because of the legacy of regulatory and legislative capture going back 200 years. Railroad barons in the 1800s carved out so many exceptions for themselves that it’s difficult to hold them accountable for anything, even now that they represent a fraction of freight and a negligible amount of people transport.
10 Likes
Two hundred years is a long time.
I agree about the regulatory and legislative capture.
I realize what you said is accurate but it’s depressing AF.
8 Likes
Yes it is.
My interactions with railroads have been trivial compared to the victims of the derailment explosion (I won’t call negligence an “accident”) but it adds up to the same thing. Railroads don’t operate within the same legal system as we do.
8 Likes
Thank you. In the corners of industrial health & safety I’ve worked, “accident” is a term strictly reserved for toilet training toddlers.
9 Likes
9 Likes
7 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
