Oh Really? Would You Like To Take That Back?
Lance Johnson runs a foundry in Wisconsin. He, of course, hates OSHA and said that workplace safety inspectors were “burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape.”
In fact, he said it real loud. In the Wall Street Journal right before the 2012 election. He wanted President Obama whipped at the polls for “burdening” his company with inspections.
Not so fast, Big Boy.
A “catastrophic failure” of machinery Monday inside the Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry spilled molten metal and injured eight workers, officials said Tuesday.
Four workers remained hospitalized Tuesday, their condition not made public, while three others had been treated and released, police Sgt. Robert Ramthun said in a news release.
Lance Johnson, president of Johnson Brass, said Tuesday the four hospitalized workers did not have life-threatening injuries.
The machine failure occurred around 4 p.m. Monday, causing molten brass to spray inside a room of the sprawling foundry complex, burning the workers and starting a small fire inside the plant …
This is the only picture I could find of Lance Johnson (which really sounds more like a porn star’s name than a fourth generation wealthy industrialist.
So maybe what we need is more inspections, guys, not less.
Remember, Republicans: they’re the molten lava on your back party.
Thanks to Brian for the heads up.
More brass than brains.
1By killing jobs did he mean because the workers can’t do their jobs? Due to a recovery period from exposure to spraying, burning, molten metals? That does sound like a job killer to me.
2Read several articles about libertarianism vs progressivism last night. Concluded that libertarians either live in a dream world where heads of companies are always thinking of the public good, or they’re selfish SOBs who don’t care a frack for anyone but themselves. I’m leaning toward the latter.
3Ain’t it always the way! You would think that these cheese brained loud mouths would learn to throw in the clutch before they say something stupid and then prove they really are!
4OSHA doesn’t do enough inspections. As a result of all the union busting, the plants that most need them don’t have the good on site shop stewards to keep production safe. So, if Lance doesn’t like OSHA have your workers unionize.
5I’m sure Mr. Johnson will gladly cover all medical & living expenses for his injured employees and their families until they get back to work, just because he’s such a great human being, amirite?
6Sigh, this dirt wad will probabally blame the lazy workers for not paying attention. And he’ll whine about a meaningless fine.
GAHHHHHH!
7I bet Lance never did an honest day’s work in his own foundry. I’ll bet he never did an honest hour’s work in his own foundry or anywhere else.
8We don’t need no stinkin’ inspections or regulations! Right, Lance?
9The local hotel offered the families, are you listening? I thought he’d offer them free rooms while they were in town. He offered them a free meal. Well, that’s something. And after all, Lance said he was sorry and it was an accident, just like any self respecting twelve year old would do.
10Besides, he’s in Wisconsin where the guvner and Koch bros. took down the unions.
11Sadly, it has to come to injuries and pain for the workers to prove the value of REGULATIONS. Bring back the unions. Nobody else will have your back.
12That is comforting to know the injuries were not “life threatening”. I would like to know how he is doing on his Workers Compensation.
13Is this guy related to that skeevy Teabagging Senator Ron Johnson?
14OK, I’m old and i remember a lot. Some years ago the oldest factory building owned by the Ford Motor Company at their Rouge Plant (River Rouge, MI) blew up. It wasn’t out of spite. It was just a museum piece. Some people were killed and a whole bunch massively inured. The president of Ford at the time immediately got on the air and told the world that Ford was paying to airlift everyone to the best burn centers in the country and would pay every penny for their care and even help out if they were too disabled to return to work. Yup. The plant was unionized and inspected, but like I say, it has just reached its expiration date. What the president of Ford did just blew everybody’s mind, but it was so typical of the company. No one could imagine GM or Chrysler ever doing anything similar. Lance “Jackwagon” Johnson has a helluva lot to learn – if he is capable.
15Let’s see-they’re injured and can’t work,therefore they are slackers and of no use to a productive workplace. Guess he’d better fire them before anyone finds out what happened. Betcha worker error gets credit for the explosion.
16I’m sure there will be a member of the republic party stepping up soon to apologize for the bad press this idiot is getting.
17Maggie, what a wonderful reminder of how things used to be and could be again.
18The injuries may or may not be life threatening, but they are sure to be livelihood threatening. The way that both parties have allowed workers compensation to become pittance penance for maimings and killings, and a get out of jail free card for business, we need to go back to the old lawsuits for an unsafe workplace and jury verdicts.
19If it weren’t for owners like this jackwagon, OSHA and unions wouldn’t be needed.
20Gotta say, these Hate-mongering Children of the Rethug Party Have lost their pea-brained Minds. I just made a comment on Wendy’s FB page under the post about how she, and the Texas Dems would fight back this against this Rovian whisper campaign. The Comment section was so over the top bombed by what are obviously paid Social Media Hacks, and so full of hate it’s terrifying. and yes, Just because I posted as supporter, I have now been getting hate mail, reply’s to comment that are outrageous. Frankly, if I was within 2K miles of Texas, I would worry for my safety. My hear hurts for our country and my home state.
21Sorry Folks, that previous Comment was for the preceding Article about Barbie….Somehow my typing jumped stories on me…..More coffee required…
22This incident tends to remind one of when railroads resisted the innovation of the Westinghouse compressed air braking system in favor of the old system which required a brakeman to apply the brakes by turning a handwheel. The system was resisted because, among other things, it cost an extra $50 per car and brakemen were cheaper. No one is ever going to convince these sorts of people that all the regulatory inconvenience and cost is worth the life and limb of one human being. To be fair the brakemen themselves were at the forefront of resistance but it’s hard to know how much this was due to economic blackmail in the form of reduced numbers of jobs predicated by the railroads.
23Wisconsin has truly gone to hell since we moved away in the 70’s. I don’t even want to drive THROUGH there anymore.
24@Maggie: One of the great stories in ‘Cradle to Cradle’ by William McDonough and Michael Braungart is about remaking the River Rouge plant. It was turned into one of the greenest, most sustainable factories on the planet; to the point where water leaving the plant was cleaner than water coming in.
My dad was poisoned by working in plastics/paint/chemical factories before there was an OSHA. He was a member of several unions and professional societies. We NEED OSHA. We NEED federal regulations. We need unions, too, in the private as well as the public sector. We don’t need any more Lance Johnsons.
25Zyxomamma! Right there with you! Solidarity forever!
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