Житель Бисмарка остановил опасную сухую резку бетона из-за угрозы здоровью детей и рабочих

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - A Bismarck resident noticed dust in the air after a construction company was seen dry-cutting concrete along Tyler Parkway and Canyon Drive. Bismarck resident Ryan Warner was out biking in his neighborhood when he noticed a cloud of dust collecting in the air. “There was a family that was out on their driveway playing, a couple small kids. When I walked by the second time, and the kids had their shirts over their noses,” said Warner. According to the City of Bismarck, Central Specialties Inc. is the company responsible for the city’s Tyler Parkway extension project. Your News Leader reached out to the project manager at Central Specialties Inc. and received no comment. Warner’s concern wasn’t just environmental. He was worried about the local plants, animals and his neighbors, but he was also concerned for the safety of the construction workers. “The worker had no protective equipment on. The dust was going right up into his face. He was the most in danger. So, yeah, I just asked them to stop, and to their credit, they knew what they were doing was wrong, so they stopped immediately and called their supervisor,” said Warner. According to Bismarck City Engineer Gabe Schell, the entity the city hired is responsible for safety on the job site. “The thing that we usually recommend that they do, with having some water adjacent to it, so as that saw is spinning around at a high rate and cutting into that concrete, there is a supply of water being supplied that does a couple of things,” said Schell. He said having water present keeps the saw cool and suppresses the dust, which can be agitated and kicked up into the air. “And I know this particular contractor has had other complaints for road projects. For example, last year, the Century Extension on East Century, they did the same thing. They cut some dry-cut cement, and then they blew the dust onto some neighbors’ properties,” said Warner. Your News Leader called the Bismarck OSHA office to confirm these violations and was redirected to a contact at the Department of Labor’s Chicago Office of Public Affairs, whose phone number and email were no longer active. Schell said the city is not responsible for any damages that were done by Tyler Parkway and Canyon Drive. “The city is the intermediary that helps connect the damaged party to the contractor, cause ultimately the contractor is doing the work. If they were at fault, then they would look to resolve that through insurance or through other financial mechanisms,” said Schell. Silica-Safe.org says that hundreds of workers die of lung disease caused by inhaling silica dust each year in the U.S. and hundreds more become disabled and are unable to take care of themselves and their families. According to the city engineering department, it is legal for contractors to cut cement without water in Bismarck, but OSHA states that extreme exposure to dust from dry cutting without protective equipment can cause serious health conditions like lung cancer and cardiovascular disorders.