Hand Injuries at Work

Where I work, we deal with several different pinch points and constrained spaces. We also deal with a lot of moving equipment, so the dangers exist in regards to potential injuries. I was standing above this rather large bin into which a conveyor belt drops material into. The conveyor stopped because a roller which has a sensor on it stopped moving. A bunch of dirt had built up around it, so I had to take a hose and spray water around the roller to remove the dirt build-up to get the conveyor going again. In front of this roller, a spray bar had been installed, but it wasn't doing a very good job in keeping the dirt build-up at bay (a spray bar is basically a pipe with nozzles installed on it to keep a conveyor pan free of dirt and mud). So I went to temporarily remove the spray bar, but it was stuck in the mud. I quickly yanked up on the spray bar when I caught by thumb on some metal that was sticking out. Instant pain. The white part of my thumbnail has a rather large blue spot on it and its still quite sore. I imagine it will be sore for a few days if not longer. But I can guarantee its not broken, otherwise I know it'd be in excruciating pain. Still, it's no fun to have a hand injury.

This isn't the first time I've gotten fingers bruised. It seems like it was only three or four months ago when I suffered a similar injury with the middle finger on my right hand. I've pinched fingers against a bar and a wall while trying to unclog a feeder and I've even jammed a thumb while yanking on a chain valve to open it. Finger and hand injuries are common in the line of work that I do. Luckily and thankfully, I have yet to break a finger - and its not something I'd want. Hopefully I can keep these injuries to a minimum and try to be more careful on the job.

Our department has a nice streak going for it, though. We are currently three years and two months since we've last experienced a lost-time accident. A lost-time accident consists of an employee being injured on the job and being out of work for a day or more because of that injury. The last time it happened was when an individual fell through an opening in the floor. Luckily he survived but was severely injured and missed quite a bit of time from work. He's back to work but he still experiences discomfort from the injuries he suffered in the fall. The sad part about that particular incident was that this employee basically fell right into a trap. The area around the hole in the floor had not been barricaded off. A maintenance employee lifted a covering off the hole and had left the area. Thus, leading to the individual in our department falling about ten feet to the level below. Certainly a scary situation and hopefully one that none of us will have to encounter in the future.

So it's easy to see how a person can get hurt while working at a mine. After all, we do wear hardhats in case falling objects hit us in the head. But they're mainly there in case we bump our heads into anything, because we certainly do have our fair share of constrained areas. Mining is not for everyone. It's hot, dirty, there's a potential for injury, and there's often a lot of heavy lifting. It's not glamorous that's for sure. At least it pays well; or I should say, it better pay well, anyways.

Employment Opportunities in the Upper Peninsula

Frequent commenter to Luke's Ponderings, B., prompted me to discuss a very important subject when it comes to living in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. So, to start off the very first U.P. Monday blog, I'll be discussing employment opportunities in the U.P. I believe I discussed it before briefly when talking to those individuals who may be interested in moving to the Upper Peninsula to enjoy nature at its best. Let's be honest right from the start - finding good paying jobs that your entire family can live off of is difficult, to say the least. However, it's not totally impossible. And I know that more people are moving to the U.P. who can work at home via the internet. So that definitely makes it nice in today's technological era.

The good paying jobs are found in the following areas: mining, logging, paper mills, criminal justice and heathcare. The Upper Peninsula's founding was based on the rich iron and copper deposits that existed in the region. Currently, no active copper mines are in operation in the U.P., but that could be changing very soon as new companies are exploring the possibility of mining copper again - all thanks to the rise in copper prices. As for the iron ore industry, it's not as vibrant as it once was, however, it still does well in western Marquette county where the two remaining iron mines in the Upper Peninsula crank out iron ore pellets for shipment to steel mills. There's no question the U.P. will always have mining. Even if it's diminished compared to the mining heydays. And who knows; there very well could be a new mining boom of sorts in the years to come.

The Upper Peninsula is also known for its large abundance of trees and forestland. So, it's easy to see why both logging and paper production is big here. However, in recent years, paper mills have started to struggle. A few have closed up here and more may be on the way. The paper industry is having to compete with foreign entities who are able to produce paper products at a cheaper cost. So, it's easy to see why the paper producing industry will face a variety of challenges in the near future. As for the logging industry, it remains quite strong. Every place on this earth needs wood in order to build things. And as long as the forests keep growing, the U.P. will continue to be a powerhouse in the logging industry.

As for the final two higher paying income sources, it's probably typical to every other location in the United States. Heathcare is big region-wide. With the baby-boomer generation reaching retirement age, the need for healthcare in our country increases even more. The healthcare industry will remain very strong as long as an individual majors in a specific field in the medical industry. The Upper Peninsula also has several state prisons located within it - some of them are maximum security prisons. And that doesn't even include the local jails located in each county. Just as with healthcare, there will always be the need for prisons and jails, unfortunately.

And as I mentioned before, if you're able to work from home via the internet and still make an honest earning, then you're doing great. Also, if a person has a specific craft, such as carpentry or painting, then you'll probably do pretty well up here. People always need remodeling done to their homes. Still, it's quite common to see both adults in a household working in order to support a family these days - and that's not only here in the U.P. but nation wide. That's just the way things are these days, unfortunately. With the constant rise in cost of living, it's easy to see why more people need to work.

So that's answers the employment question here in the Upper Peninsula. But it's definitely a multi-faceted topic that'll continue into another day. The U.P. is certainly not immune to the unemployment struggles that have hit our nation in recent years. People are being forced to cut back in these tough times, regardless of the kind of jobs they have. What's important these days is if a person has a job. That certainly makes all the difference.

Layoffs Begin

It's hard to believe that it's January already - almost 60 days have passed since I informed you that layoffs would take place where I work, affecting some 350 employees. I am relieved to say that I am not one of those individuals being laid off. But there are a lot of co-workers that are, people I work with day in and day out and for them, I feel very sorry for. Many of them have families and are raising young kids, even. They can't afford to be laid off. There's unemployment - but that's nowhere close to a regular week's pay. You just have to hope that for everyone involved, the economy will make a quick turn around and we'll be producing iron ore pellets just like we've been able to do for the past few years.

The problem is, nobody seems to know how long this economic downturn will last. The best predictions seem to say at least a year, if not longer. But like I said, that's not even set in stone. Additionally, another 75 people will be laid off beginning in March. People with more seniority than me are being laid off in the next round. Now I have a job that has pretty good job security which is why I shouldn't get affected with the newest round of layoffs. But who's to say they don't need as many people with the same job classification as me? Maybe they only need half as many people that's required to run the place right now. That could mean I'd be laid off as well. You just never know how things can turn up. And with the amount of rumors that have been going wild at that place for the last month, you can't really pay much attention to it. All you can do is stay vigilant and hope for the best and to not let all the rumors get to your head.

So it's official; the layoffs will begin starting this Sunday and another round comes in March. The full listing of names on the new list have not been revealed, but I am expecting not to be laid off then. But I'm not counting my chickens before they're hatched, because anything can happen. I don't want to get my hopes up too high that'll I'll be safe, otherwise I might be in for a big fall. Our production has been cut back to 2.7 million tons of pellets for the year, compared to the 5 million we produced last year. So as you can see, it's a big drop off which is why we won't need near as many people running the plant as in the past few years. From one end of the plant to the other, it's 0.75 of a mile long. I would say only 0.25 of it will be running this year. And until the global economy picks up and there's more of a demand for steel, that's probably where it'll stay.

A Year of Rumors

As I said in one of my earlier blogs, 2008 could be a very interesting year for me. Probably the biggest wildcard for me this year would be at work, where a number of things may or may not happen. Our union's contract with the company expires on September 1, 2008. I experienced the company's last contract negotiations back in 2004 when I was a summer student and I can tell you, it was something I'll never forget. At that time, the company "threatened" to hire replacement workers to run the mine - so the word "scab" became a frequently used word throughout the mill; written on bathroom stalls and basically anything that could be written on. There were many rumors flying around about bringing in immigrants to run the plant. The company even planned to house the replacement workers on mine property as they started bringing trailers on company property a week prior to the strike deadline. Needless to say, the union never did strike as a contract was approved three days prior and ratified a week later. But, who's to say that'll happen this year.

The mine that I work at is on its last legs; I guess you could say. It has been in operation since the late 1960's and has mined millions of tons of iron ore from its large open pit. The ore reserves are expected to be exhausted by the year 2010, meaning the mine would be subject to closure if back-up plans weren't in place. Probably the biggest news that breathed new life into the old mine was the annoucement of a nugget plant that would be built near the old mine facility. It would create a ton of new construction jobs and would produce about 500,000 tons of nuggets a year. The nuggets are different from the pellets that we currently make. It's a completely different process used to create the nuggets; one that I am still quite fuzzy on. It basically re-invigorates the process used to create iron ore by incorporating new technology and equipment into the mix. This was all great news to those that work at the mine and was something that really rose the spirits of not only the employees, but for community members as well. But eventually we found out about the company's true intentions of the nugget plant and soon the picture wasn't as rosy as we invisioned.

The nugget plant would basically operate as its own company and be managed by the current company that operates the current mine. None of us that are employed with the mine would be eligible to work unless we quit first and then tried applying at the new plant. And what exactly are the chances that any of us would get hired at this new plant? The control room operator of the plant would be a salaried position and there would be no retirement plan in place. So for those of us that are currently employed with the existing mine, this really doesn't not sound all that appealing; not as great as it earlier seemed. I guess many of the details are still being worked out and many things are subject to change. Hopefully there is a better outcome to this than there is at this moment.

So the mine is running out of ore reserves in its pit, which would mean the possible closing of the facility by 2010. It has already been annouced earlier this month that the mine will be cutting back on its production; going from a 5.0 million ton operation to 2.8 million tons. Currently the mine is operated into four sections; one section being the original plant and the three other sections being additions made to the original structure. We only run one grinding line in the original plant, while section number two, three, and four have many grinding lines running. After June 2008, only the grinding lines in the fourth section of the plant will be running, with a few limited mills running in the third section. This is a dramatic cutback to how things are running now. With that news comes the likelyhood of cutbacks in staffing at the plant. It has already been rumored that 20% of operating (the department I am in) will be eliminated by the second half of the year. So as you can see, this could be a very tumultuous time for many people that work at the mine. But honestly, a lot of things could change between then and now.

There are some people who believe every little thing that comes out of the mouth of the company and there are those who choose to be resilient in these times of adversity. There are a lot of "positive" rumors out there including that we'll continue to maintain our current production levels throughout all of 2008. But then there are also other rumors that include us running more than one flux mill (flux stone is used in the production of iron ore pellets), which will help to supply our mill, the neighboring mine, and the new nugget plant with flux. There is also talk that additional ore reserves have been found and they are in the initial testing stages to see whether our facility can create pellets from these ore bodies. The point of all of this is that rumors are flying rampant all of the time regarding the mine's future. You just don't know what to believe until something really happens. I remember when I was a summer student in 2003 and they only gave the mine five more years in which we could process iron ore. It's five years later now and we anticipate running until 2010 at least; except at reduced capacity. So needless to say, things can change in a hurry. I am not going to worry about the impending doom and gloom. I'll believe it when it actually happens. When you work in the steel industry, you always experience your ups and downs. That's how it's been for my dad during his 35 years of employment. There were a couple of different times where he thought he'd never go back to the mine. But things change and the industry changes. Right now the price of metal is incredibly high. As long as this trend continues, the company is going to find any little way in which they can produce ore at our facility, whether it'll be using our current methods or implementing new technological advances. Time will tell what actually happens at our facility. Right now, all we can do is take it one day at a time.