The Deadly Cost of Progress on County Projects
Working 85 feet above the ground with pile drivers, Everett laborers face life-threatening conditions daily.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Thompson is building a bridge for the county. It is a dangerous piece of work. Resting 85 feet from the ground is the pile driver. A slip of the foot means a terrible fall. Those men take their lives in their hands every morning, not knowing when a slip may send them hurling to their death, 85 feet below. Two men have already been severely injured, one last week and one this week. Tuesday of this week a workman fell 10 feet and his fellows marvel at his escape from instant death. Another man took his place and the work went on. The work is necessary and men must take their chance with death, but we want to put it square up to the contractors and to the people: if an eight-hour day is not long enough, is it right to ask men to work at such an occupation?
“Those men take their lives in their hands every morning, not knowing when a slip may send them hurling to their death.”
This 1910 labor critique regarding the inherent dangers of infrastructure projects mirrors contemporary debates surrounding worker safety in Washington’s construction industry, where rapid regional growth still puts immense pressure on those building our transit and housing.
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