• Definitely with you here. There’s no legitimate excuse for it but mechanics as a cohort aren’t organised or savvy enough to demand better, and businesses are happy to let them poison themselves if the timeline is long enough. -even park tool and other manufacturers are guilty of ignoring H&S, with instructional videos showing mechanics using their bare fingers to apply grease (contact dermatitis is a thing).

    (Removed rant)

    If you’re a fan of fighting sports, you’ll have heard the referee instruct fighters before the match to “protect yourself at all times”. It’s a rule that applies to most other areas of life, and even if it’s someone else’s job to look after your well-being, ultimately it’s up to each of us to protect ourselves first and foremost.

  • Not sure why any mechanic in their right mind would want aerosol greases around bikes. ‘Banned’ them (by not ordering any) when I was managing a workshop :)

  • My answer: they’ve never been properly educated on workplace health and safety, and no one stops them from breaking themselves. I’m no longer surprised by the numbers I see of bad backs from awkward work stands, bad knees from bare concrete workshop floors, chronic tendinitis from overworking with improper tools (aka, use the mini multitool to undo everything while the longer Allen keys gather dust)… no doubt there will be more sad stories in a few decades about people getting allergies or worse from daily exposure to chemicals they were told were safe (if it dissolves thick muck off a bike in seconds, it’s probably not something you want on your skin/eyes/lungs).

    It shouldn’t be an individual burden to carry, but it is. Hopefully one day it will change.

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