Hard Hats (Not) Required
There are safety regulations in every job, even an office job. Most of those regulations have been defined and put into practice by the European Union. That's good for Spanish workers, because otherwise there'd be more accidents on the job than there already are.
In 2008 there were almost nine hundred thousand accidents with a total of almost sixteen million workers. By 2013 the numbers had come down - almost five hundred thousand accidents with thirteen and a half million workers. Those are the official numbers. Then there are the clandestine workers who aren't declared and who suffer accidents. If they're lucky, the accidents aren't mortal. But those accidents that need medical attention are declared as having occurred at home or somewhere no job inspector goes. I know. I have neighbors who have had that happen to them. One neighbor, on unemployment, would sometimes do odd jobs and not declare the earnings. At one job he fell and thought he had broken his arm, the pain was so bad. So he went to the ER and said he had fallen while working on his house. If you were to add the unofficial accidents, the numbers would probably go up by half.
But, somehow, Spaniards have an innate faith in that nothing is going to happen. They put their lives in the hands of God and work on roofs without a harness, cut rocks without protective goggles, and handle chemicals without gloves and a charcoal mask. One of the favorite words is "Ojalá". It comes from the Arabic "Inshallah" and means may God will it. We're fatalists, accepting what will be and believing it will be nothing bad. One of my husband's pet peeves are the protective goggles. He claims that if he wears them for more than a few minutes they fog up and he can't see. So he doesn't wear them. And we've gotten a few scares with his eyes and foreign objects. Thankfully, they've been minor irritants so far. Ojalá that's what they remain.
By law, all workers must have safety gear for their job. In an office that's a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. On construction sites it's all kinds of things that can make it difficult to move and work. Necessary, but a bother. Most workers wear them when an inspector pops by. And inspectors tend to come by only after the workers have attended a compulsory safety course or after an accident. So, hard hats tend to come on when someone is watching. Otherwise they're carefully put away so nothing happens to them. What happens to the head is another story.
In 2008 there were almost nine hundred thousand accidents with a total of almost sixteen million workers. By 2013 the numbers had come down - almost five hundred thousand accidents with thirteen and a half million workers. Those are the official numbers. Then there are the clandestine workers who aren't declared and who suffer accidents. If they're lucky, the accidents aren't mortal. But those accidents that need medical attention are declared as having occurred at home or somewhere no job inspector goes. I know. I have neighbors who have had that happen to them. One neighbor, on unemployment, would sometimes do odd jobs and not declare the earnings. At one job he fell and thought he had broken his arm, the pain was so bad. So he went to the ER and said he had fallen while working on his house. If you were to add the unofficial accidents, the numbers would probably go up by half.
But, somehow, Spaniards have an innate faith in that nothing is going to happen. They put their lives in the hands of God and work on roofs without a harness, cut rocks without protective goggles, and handle chemicals without gloves and a charcoal mask. One of the favorite words is "Ojalá". It comes from the Arabic "Inshallah" and means may God will it. We're fatalists, accepting what will be and believing it will be nothing bad. One of my husband's pet peeves are the protective goggles. He claims that if he wears them for more than a few minutes they fog up and he can't see. So he doesn't wear them. And we've gotten a few scares with his eyes and foreign objects. Thankfully, they've been minor irritants so far. Ojalá that's what they remain.
By law, all workers must have safety gear for their job. In an office that's a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher. On construction sites it's all kinds of things that can make it difficult to move and work. Necessary, but a bother. Most workers wear them when an inspector pops by. And inspectors tend to come by only after the workers have attended a compulsory safety course or after an accident. So, hard hats tend to come on when someone is watching. Otherwise they're carefully put away so nothing happens to them. What happens to the head is another story.
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