A middle-aged industrial painter lives the doleful life of a sick old man because he sandblasted and used solvents. They build and rebuild highways, bridges, factories, houses and office towers. They install roofs and wiring, tear out insulation, weld beams, replace industrial pipes and valves, lay brick and carpet, clean up hazardous waste. Dusts constrict the lungs. Vapors attack the central nervous system.
Gases kill instantly.
Scaffolds collapse and plants explode. But a nine-month investigation by the Houston Chronicle found that some, and perhaps many, of the deaths, illnesses and injuries in the construction industry are preventable. It found that workers in the building trades often are abandoned, even betrayed, by industry, government, medicine and the legal system. Mounting scientific evidence indicates that construction workers develop disabling and life-shortening diseases more frequently, and at younger ages, than workers in other fields. In many cases employers know, or should know, about the insidious hazards that cause these ailments, as well as the more obvious sources of traumatic injury.