“…one family would give all of the time and money in the world”
July 11th, 2004 by Hal
Work Injury Free
Billings Gazette, Voice of the Reader,
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Golden Pen Award: Thanks to Shawn Elvsaas for a worker's perspective on road construction safety.
Night Construction Hazardous WorkThe death of Richard Dean Roebling on the morning of June 30, was a tragic event. It was also a totally preventable one. I have been paving streets and highways in the state for over 15 years and have seen the number of close calls increase with each year. It was only a matter of time before something as tragic as this occurred.
In the construction industry, we are constantly being told to do things as safely as possible, yet job planners are doing the exact opposite. Traffic control is set up for the benefit of the motorist, not for the safety of the people in the work zone. More and more jobs are done at night, when the number of drunken drivers increases substantially. All of this is done so somebody can get home, to work or to the store a few minutes earlier. As a result, some construction workers don't make it home at all.
Accidents and deaths will only continue to increase until city and state planners decide to consider the safety of the people working in the construction zone, not the inconvenience of those driving through them. Work needs to be done during the daylight hours, traffic needs to be detoured when possible, and police officers and highway patrol need to be on duty in construction zones whenever traffic is allowed to drive through. These things may cost a little more money and take a little more time, but what's time and money when you are talking about someone's life. I can think of one family that would give all of the time and money in the world.
Shawn Elvsaas
Billings
Thank you Shawn for putting it so well. Readers, please share this with others.
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July 12th, 2004 at 12:05 pm
A reader wrote me asking how I get the stories so quickly? I use Google’s News Alerts. I set up a few different keyword searches. I get email notices throughout the day when a new story hits using those keywords.