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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 24th, 2023

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  • Two sets of lids were swapped. Those lids can be pretty heavy. Whats inside them usually are valves for plumbing.

    So after the 100th set of valves you’ve backflow tested that day and you’re resetting the lids in 100F+ degree heat and you turn around as you’re walking away with your gear that you swapped two lids?

    Well, having done this work at two different times in my life: the size of paycheck matters decidedly on whether that’s getting fixed.


  • I just installed Bazzite because my rig has been used for Steam 90% of the time and Firefox the other 10%.

    Now I laugh when it tells me where the steam deck buttons are supposed to be, reminding me to choose the non-deck version next time.

    But the ‘HAY LISTEN’ of Windows 10 dying and being forced to use Windows 11 at work was enough.





  • I get what you mean, and it’s a common thought and strategy. It just doesn’t work as well as one might think. Unless there is a union, employees are at a significant disadvantage. Forming a union would be FAR more effective than quoting OSHA regs.

    The main thing is regulatory violations aren’t (usually) criminal so there’s a long administrative process to most enforcement actions. Companies overwhelmingly have the resources to litigate beyond their employees means. So if they have the resources to have legal council or a compliance officer, there likely needs to be a well documented paper trail of concealment or otherwise flagrant disregard or denial of improved conditions.

    There not being A/C isn’t enough. Refusing requests to install A/C is better. The company removing workers fans to make a point goes further in a case. Then putting out an internal memo requiring zero ventilation and to lie to investigators is a strong case.


  • The fear of god isn’t enforceable. The main thing you do in referencing OSHA is to demonstrate a level of knowledge, commitment, or at least interest in the issue. And most of the time it is the appearance of concealing a condition that is the enforced violation. This is usually what companies are actually sensitive to.

    So while an OSHA violation is a serious thing, the conditions in question here (heat) are not a regulation that can be violated and therefore enforced in the same way.



  • The OSHA recommendation is 68-76F, which isn’t a direct link to ‘reasonable’ but provides a suitable context to frame workplace conditions.

    If people’s body temperatures can be measured exceeding 100F a link to heat stress and increasing risk of injury in the workplace can also be drawn as it’s generally the equivalent of working with a fever.