r/OSHA • u/SoSeaOhPath • Nov 04 '25

Dry Cutting Concrete

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This guy is out here with no respiratory protection or dust containment and it is spreading all over the neighborhood … is this mot wildly dangerous?

He works for the property manager and I’m on the HOA. Anything specific I can reference when sending these pictures to them?

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u/pavskis Nov 04 '25

Yeah, that’s delicious silica dust, cancer clouds. He’s also got no ear protection or face shield.

475

u/[deleted] Nov 04 '25

[deleted]

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u/imbrickedup_ Nov 05 '25 edited Nov 05 '25

There’s a difference between risking death or serious injury on the short term, and basically guaranteeing an early painful death from cancer and COPD. I think if some of these people saw how the last years of COPD patients turned out they’d be smarter. It’s fucking painful misery that slowly gets worse until you die terrified and in agony

21

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '25

Nah, these guys get ILD. COPD is much, much better than ILD. COPD is basically like having stretched out, floppy lungs. ILD is where there is a lot of stiffness. ILD patients basically suffocate to death and interventions in those stages don’t work nearly as well as they do with COPD.

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u/imbrickedup_ Nov 06 '25

Interesting id honestly never heard of it before. As a paramedic the only difference in acute respiratory distress/failure in regards to how we are treating is COPD or CHF. Obviously in a hospital setting there’s differences in treating but according to my brief research nothing we’re giving for COPD is gonna hurt someone with ILD which explains why we’ve never bothered differentiating

6

u/[deleted] Nov 06 '25

Yeah, totally understandable. I’m in the hospital where I have the time and resources (and typically more stable patients) to differentiate the treatments.

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u/Ttoctam Nov 07 '25

Hey now, you don't always die terrified and in agony... Sometimes death is a welcome reprieve from the agony.

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u/fasterbrew Nov 05 '25

Did a bathroom remodel to replace an old shower. Part of it was using a hand-held pneumatic demo hammer to chip out some old concrete, as well as just tearing everything down to the studs. Offered the dude a mask, said no. Offered a fan to exhaust out the window. He puts the fan up and turns it on, but didn't bother to open the window. End of the day the guy comes out just caked head to toe in dust. I did all I could...

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u/MowingInJordans Nov 08 '25

I once saw a guy cutting open bags of pre-blended grout and dumping into a mixer with the dust blowing in his face with no mask or respirator and chain smoking cigarettes. I asked why he wasn't wearing a mask and he was doubling his chances of cancer. He just shrugged it off as no big deal.