"They" want you to use a respirator and a hazmat suit to hang drywall or handle other inert items. You end up looking like a cowboy after OSHA. As a kid, I had to cut asbestos board with a skilsaw. I had to get in an attic filled with black mold, and knock down the plaster, lath, mold and all. I sprayed DDT, chlorinated hydrocarbon replacements for DDT, (much worse) and a myriad of other ag chem, including glyphosate. We used carbon tetrachloride to clean stuff, washed parts in gasoline, welded plastic with Methyl Ethyl Ketone. All without safety equipment. We rode in cars and trucks without seatbelts. We rode to town and back standing in the back of the truck. We sat 4 across the truck seats. We drove tricycle tractors in hilly country. Yes, I rolled one, with witnesses. Some folks flew airplanes. We swam in the muddy Mississippi and watched turds float by, and water moccasins in the trees. We hiked in hills where rattlesnakes were known to be. We burned leaves, trash, and used burning tires to fight frost damage. I had to drive trucks with sketchy single circuit brakes that you always had to pump before you'd get any brake. I hand cranked tractors and other engines. Somehow we survived. I have all my appendages and never had a broken bone.
The human animal is much more resilient than "experts" give us credit for being. Yes, if you do something all the time, use appropriate safety equipment. If you know you are particularly vulnerable to something, use the appropriate safety equipment. But use some of that now almost extinct commodity, common sense.
Yes, I am approaching geezerdom, but not there yet. I am not afraid to use an IBC, including cutting up the liner and sending it to recycle. But I will still be pitching firewood multiple times because I don't have equipment now to move an IBC or other container. Cutting and splitting and pitching, and stacking firewood is better exercise than any gym. Those of us who can are very lucky to be able to work out in the best gym there is. God's country.
