skipper540

As a retired OSHA guy I can tell you that shingle mills are some of the most dangerous places there are to work. The operators work in very close proximity to the saw blades and most of them do piece meal work (they get paid by the shingle not by the hour) so the inceentive to work fast as opposed to safely is ever present. Amputations of fingers, hand and arms are common injuries in this industry. Many of the mills are so small they are under OSHA'S radar and if they are one man mills they are exemt from any inspections. There must be a an employer/employee relationship for OSHA to have any jurisdiction. In addition to the amputation exposure the workers breath in copious amounts of sawdust. If the saw blade doesn't get you in the near term the lungs eventually will do you in in the long term. We still have a long way to go in industrial safety and health.