Narcissistic Sundays #11: My Time With The Feds

My New Job

My job with Federal OSHA was in West Covina. I of course had no car and lived in Upland which is about 16 miles to the east of West Covina. I chose an apartment in Upland because the office was supposed to move to Upland shortly.

To get to work, I rode my bike down Mountain Ave (downhill) to the bus station. I took the bus to West Covina. The bus stopped a convenient 2 blocks away from my office. Other than the rainy days (which were few), it wasn’t bad. At least the uphill ride was on my way home, and it didn’t matter if I got all sweaty.

The first day, at work, after I was “sworn in”, I was handed a check for $2000, keys to a G-car (federally owned car) and sent to Long Beach for 3 weeks for training. I thought this was great! To me, this was almost like being sent on vacation.

There were 28 of us “new guys” going through this initial training. The training was pretty intense. I was overwhelmed. There was so much to know. As with any government job, there were a ton of forms. Seemed to me that every breath we took, there was a form we needed to be filled out to document what we did, where we went, what we saw, what we sampled, who we spoke to, records to be take of time spent on inspections, driving, researching and time to fill out forms. It was crazy.

Then just how to go about the inspection. All the items that needed to be discussed during the “opening conference”, “exit conference” and “closing conference”, how to involve unions, what to do if we are refused entry, what to do if an employee refused to talk to us.

All of this, without even getting into details of the regulations. Oh, those regulations. Some are easy to understand, but then others are far from it. A 20 page regulation on the requirements on lead or asbestos, or even confined space is enough for anyone to tear their hair out. Even if you could somewhat understand what was being discussed, it is quite a different thing to go out and recognize the hazards. It’s kinda like learning to ride a horse just by reading about it. You can study it all day long. You think you have a good idea of what to do, but once you get on that horse, you discover everything you read makes no sense.

After the 3 week training, we all went back to our respective offices. All of us were more than a little overwhelmed. Luckily, we would have a short time to be partnered up with an experienced investigator. I went out in the field with several of my office mates. Each time, I was amazed at how they handled themselves and what they knew. I wondered if I would ever become as “Smart” as they were.

No where was I ever as impressed as when I tagged along on a 3 week long inspection that involved a business that recycled vehicle batteries. All I could think of when I was at this place was “Dante’s Inferno”. It was a HUGE place

Batteries from cars and trucks were unloaded onto a conveyor belt and then smashed. They then traveled through a water bath so that the plastic parts would float and could be skimmed off. Then through a series of refining processes, the lead was reclaimed.

In one area of the plant, there were 3 large circular vats, about 12 ft across holding molten lead. This was near the final stages of the lead refining. The lead in them was a silvery gray, except for the top, where the impurities would rise and appear as grey-black lumps (think of lava flows and you might get an idea of what this looks like). The guys working in this area were called “Slag pickers”. It was their job to scrape off all this gunk into barrels. Imagine the heat, these guys dressed in Tyvek suits (ever seen pictures of hazardous waste workers, in white suits head to toe…same thing) and in respirators. Tyvek suits don’t “breathe” so you create your own sauna. I have worn them enough to know, they are not fun to wear. The respirator is a pain too. It gets hot and sweaty under the part of the face they cover. It is a bit harder to breath since you are breathing through filters. It also limits your vision because the filters stick out, or if it is a full face respirator as these guys were using, you have the mask covering some of your field of vision.

Other areas had glowing molten metals that were part of the metal reclamation that this company did. Glowing and HOT! To me, if I had to work here, I would be working in HELL. I really felt sorry for the workers.

I asked one of the guys, “How much do you earn?”.

“$7.50 per hour.”  (This was in 1988).

So this poor schmuck, was driving from Redlands Ca to Vernon CA every day in LA traffic (probably about 2 hours), to work in this hell-hole for peanuts. Not only that, the job was very dangerous, most workers having elevated levels of lead in their blood. Who would want to work at a place like this for those wages. I think the poor guys would have been better off working slinging burgers.

I learned a lot at my job with Federal OSHA. But alas…the good thing was not to last. When I took the job, I knew that on the ballot, the voters of the State of CA were going to vote on whether or not to bring CAL/OSHA back. The governor had lined out the program several years ago, and let the Feds take over the program.

During my phone interview for the job, I did ask…”What if CAL/OSHA returns?” The answer was, that it was doubtful that the voters would vote them back in, since the Feds were doing the job free to the state, and were doing a great job of it too boot. And IF CAL/OSHA were to be voted back in, it would take 2 years to get their program approved and they would be up and running again.

That answer was in August. By November, we were in trouble. CAL/OSHA was voted back in. By December, all of us were looking for other opportunities as CAL/OSHA would be fully functioning by May or June.

I panicked. Here I was AGAIN seeking employment. I could not simply slip over to CAL/OSHA like some of my coworkers. There was an agreement between the Feds and the State that inspectors could, with a simple interview (not even a civil service exam) be taken into the State’s Program. This agreement did not include someone like me. I did not have the required 2 years experience with working for the Feds.

I could stay with the Feds and be transferred. There was an opening for my level (entry) in Boise Idaho. I did not want to go. I had left snow country and did not want to go back to it. But if that was my only choice….then I guess I would have.

As luck would have it, a job opening announcement came across my desk for the City of Phoenix, AZ. It sounded great! My salary would jump from $15, 800 to $23, 000. I would be in a warm climate (understatement). So I applied.

They interviewed me via phone. I got the job!! I was to start on Feb 15, 1989.

Once again, I made arrangements to rent a vehicle, this time a bit bigger, from the “Adventures in Moving” company.