Editor-in-Chief
- FMA
- The Fabricator
- FABTECH
- Canadian Metalworking
Categories
- Additive Manufacturing
- Aluminum Welding
- Arc Welding
- Assembly and Joining
- Automation and Robotics
- Bending and Forming
- Consumables
- Cutting and Weld Prep
- Electric Vehicles
- En Español
- Finishing
- Hydroforming
- Laser Cutting
- Laser Welding
- Machining
- Manufacturing Software
- Materials Handling
- Metals/Materials
- Oxyfuel Cutting
- Plasma Cutting
- Power Tools
- Punching and Other Holemaking
- Roll Forming
- Safety
- Sawing
- Shearing
- Shop Management
- Testing and Measuring
- Tube and Pipe Fabrication
- Tube and Pipe Production
- Waterjet Cutting
Industry Directory
Webcasts
Podcasts
FAB 40
Advertise
Subscribe
Account Login
Search
A mask provides more protection than a metal fabricator realizes
Even if company management doesn’t believe in the effectiveness of masks during this pandemic, a judge might
- By Dan Davis
- July 17, 2020
We’ve entered that phase of the American experience in which the wearing of medical masks in public is an affront to one’s personal liberty. I’m not sure what the Founding Fathers would think of this, but they might surprise some people. After all, men wore powdered wigs in those days.
This is my plug: If you want to reduce the chance of catching or transmitting the coronavirus, you’ll want to practice social distancing and wear a mask when in the presence of others who are not a part of your immediate family. Doctors wear masks for a reason.
Having said that, I understand that a large portion of employees in the metal fabricating community live and work in places that are sparsely populated and question the need for masks when COVID-19 cases are few and deaths from it nonexistent. Why worry about something that is not present? If people were prevented from attending parties in other cities, vacationing at lakes in nearby states, or just hitting the road in general, communities with no real evidence of COVID-19 infections likely would stay that way. Alas, freedom of movement allows for the freedom to pick up a virus somewhere else and take it back home. The coronavirus is not respectful of borders or even signage suggesting that it’s not welcome.
So it’s not completely surprising to hear reports of shops where masks are not being worn. Employees are probably local residents, and not a lot of people are doing long-distance traveling nowadays. Also, the metal fabricating shop floor accommodates social distancing because process areas don’t sit on top of each other, which means that ample space is available between people.
But operating without masks does introduce a risk that any business would be smart to recognize—a lawsuit. If you don’t believe it, spend some time watching daytime television. In the midst of the ads from lawyers asking television viewers if they suffer from mesothelioma or if they were injured in a car wreck, ads have a new question for viewers: “Did you contract the coronavirus while at work?”
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is well aware of what is happening. “Even as the entire country is rallying behind health care workers and small businesses, trial lawyers are already looking for ways to line their pockets by suing the very people we are bending over backwards to help,” he said in early May.
That fear of a tsunami of lawsuits has motivated McConnell and his like-minded colleagues to push for targeted liability reforms that will be limited to the scope of the current pandemic. Organizations such as the National Association of Manufacturers are asking Congress to create legislation that would protect those manufacturers that are trying to keep employees safe to the best of their ability and those companies that have completely retooled their operations to address critical supply chain shortages from lawsuits. But that won’t necessarily protect all manufacturers.
“We’re not interested in protecting bad actors, which is why we’re not looking for a blanket liability shield,” said Linda Kelly, general counsel for the National Association of Manufacturers, in a CNBC article published in late June. This would not be a “Get Out of Jail” card for manufacturers that are doing little to protect their workers.
Admittedly, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration hasn’t been aggressive in issuing official guidance on how to react to the pandemic. The agency has released nonbinding guidelines and seems comfortable with each state developing its own coronavirus response plans, which is in keeping with the administration’s general desire for deregulation at the federal level.
Metal fabricators could wait for Congress to pass legislation providing liability protections for manufacturers, but waiting on the government to do anything is never a good plan. State governments could step in and offer a similar type of protection, but the focus in these instances appears to be the health care sector. That leaves the metal fabricator in charge of its own destiny.
While a mask mandate inside the office and on the shop floor might not sit well, you should make the decision that is good for business. It’s not immunity from a lawsuit claiming that an employer was responsible for an employee being exposed to the coronavirus at work, but the wearing of masks inside the facility does indicate that company management was taking steps, no matter how small, to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. Evidence like that puts the business on the right side of the legal argument.
It’s an uphill battle for anyone to prove in court where they might have contracted the COVID-19 bug. A metal fabricating company shouldn’t make it any easier for a lawyer looking to make a quick score during this pandemic.
subscribe now
The Fabricator is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The Fabricator has served the industry since 1970.
start your free subscriptionAbout the Author
Dan Davis
2135 Point Blvd.
Elgin, IL 60123
815-227-8281
Dan Davis is editor-in-chief of The Fabricator, the industry's most widely circulated metal fabricating magazine, and its sister publications, The Tube & Pipe Journal and The Welder. He has been with the publications since April 2002.
- Stay connected from anywhere
Easily access valuable industry resources now with full access to the digital edition of The Fabricator.
Easily access valuable industry resources now with full access to the digital edition of The Welder.
Easily access valuable industry resources now with full access to the digital edition of The Tube and Pipe Journal.
Easily access valuable industry resources now with full access to the digital edition of The Fabricator en Español.
- Podcasting
- Podcast:
- The Fabricator Podcast
- Published:
- 04/30/2024
- Running Time:
- 53:00
Seth Feldman of Iowa-based Wertzbaugher Services joins The Fabricator Podcast to offer his take as a Gen Zer...
- Industry Events
Pipe and Tube Conference
- May 21 - 22, 2024
- Omaha, NE
World-Class Roll Forming Workshop
- June 5 - 6, 2024
- Louisville, KY
Advanced Laser Application Workshop
- June 25 - 27, 2024
- Novi, MI
Precision Press Brake Certificate Course
- July 31 - August 1, 2024
- Elgin,