The Truth of Safety

I'm briefly interrupting the A to Z Challenge to post a PSA as written by a dear friend of mine.

-~-

"My first automation project was a plastics plant.  They had someone standing on a catwalk using a dipper to make various mixes of plastic for an extruder.  The job was horrific.  The noxious fumes and particulate plastic in the air above the extruder was deadly.

My first day there [the owner] pointed to one of the workers and asked me how old he was.
I replied "60?"

He answered, "He's 27. This place does that to people. The expected lifespan is around 8 years."  By expected lifespan he meant exactly that. People typically died after 8 years. A minimum wage job which claimed your life one day at a time.

I asked him why they didn't use the proper masks. He took me to a locker and showed me dozens of them. "They don't use them. They think only pussies use masks."

I wore a double cartridge respirator the entire time I worked there. It bothered me for a very long time. How can anyone adopt a culture which is directly against their own best interest? Because I was wearing a mask they looked down on me. I never understood it.

Now, here we are.

Our [provincial] government introduced a story that somehow, against all logic, masks were dangerous. They did this because there was a shortage of a particular kind of mask needed by health care professionals and they didn't want people hoarding them or stealing them from the hospitals. What they should have done was be honest with what was happening.

Now people have decided it's politically incorrect to wear a mask. Any mask. They won't wear a proper mask out of fear of coming across as not one of the herd.

But.... now the government is realizing that the route to controlling this virus is for people to wear masks when they are in danger of contamination or being a source of infection.  They need to change the story 180 degrees.  Now people feel ashamed of getting a mask and are resisting it.  The government needs to restart the economy and wearing a mask is a reasonable part of that, but the herd doesn't change direction easily.  People continue to follow beliefs which are hazardous to their own health and will continue to propagate this disease.

Humans are a herd species but as individuals you need to open your eyes and look at the facts. There are many stories but only one truth."