The Journal clocktower is behind him in the photo for a reason: he climbed it so that he could take panoramic views of the city from it (photography was his hobby). The article reveals much more about him, including his long career at the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel, his deep religious faith and his opinions about what was going on in the country at that time.
In the years following the publication of the "Scrivo" profile, Mr. Wade contributed the occasional Letter to the Editor or question for the Hot Line column. The letters were always interesting and always reflected his keen interest in the subject at hand.
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| Feb. 12, 1979 |
He passed away in September 1992.
5 comments:
Those guys were tough Pre-OSHA will no real fall protection.
Anonymous: Agreed. Anybody working in industry, Pre-OSHA and -MSHA, had to be smart, observant, and lucky not to be injured or killed. Happens far too often now, even with all the rules.
I can't imagine doing the work he did. I am afraid of heights.
People still don't follow all the safety regulations today,even with OSHA.I worked in a UAW assembly plant back in the mid 2000's.When a carrier would get stuck on the line,the supervisor would call a millwright to come and free the carrier.Usually with a pry bar or just sheer brute physical force as most of the millwrights were big guys.Well one of the millwrights decided to get between two of the carriers to be the "hero" and get them unlodged quickly in order to get the line running but more specifically to score brownie points with the boss.Only instead one of the unstuck carriers smashed the millwrights hand and he had to have a couple fingers amputated.
People could hear the guy yelling,thinking that he was talking to his fellow millwright buddy loudly,over the noisy,clinking assembly line.But the guy was yelling in pain instead.
All of the trades persons at the plant even knew how much money they were to receive if they were to lose a "digit" due to an industrial workplace accident.Like they might recieve $1,000 for a pinkie.Maybe $2,000 for an index finger.$2,500 for a thumb,etc.Those might not have been the actual numbers but you get the drift.One electrician I would talk to even felt a source of pride saying that his body was more valuable dead than alive and he too also had a tip of his finger missing.I think he said he got something like $500 for it.
I worked as a "safety coordinator" at a quarry for about a year. The MSHA guy was a pain in the neck and nobody liked him, including me, but he certainly worked hard to keep things as safe as they could be. The biggest problem I had wasn't with all the rules and regs, it was the guys in the pit who thought they were smarter than the people who wrote the rules. We didn't have anybody die on my watch, but there was a fractured skull, a severe spine injury, and a number of broken bones - all idiots not following procedure. One thing for sure... The rules of physics don't care who you are!
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