Roof Work Research Articles

Preserving a Healthy Home

About 5.5 million Americans own and live in houses that are deteriorating. They do not choose to live this way. They simply cannot afford to fix what is wrong. Unfortunately economic realities demand that people sometimes must choose between purchasing life-sustaining medicine and fixing a rotting roof. As the housing stock and population age, the need for programs such as Christmas in April increases. Christmas in April is a solution to many who have nowhere else to turn because services are provided at no cost to those being helped. The mission of Christmas in April is to rehabilitate the houses of low-income homeowners, typically people who have worked hard for their piece of the American dream and are now watching it fall apart around them. Christmas in April was borne out of the fundamental belief that all people deserve to live in decent housing, as well as recognition of the need across the nation for such rehabilitation services. In particular our work targets the elderly and disabled so they can continue to live in warmth, safety, and independence. This is all done in partnership with the community. Our work is volunteerdriven and is provided free of charge. In the 10 years of its existence, Christmas in April (USA), the national organization, nonsectarian and nonprofit, has grown from 13 to 225 affiliates, with a presence in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The work of these affiliates impacts not only on individual homeowners, but also provides substantial community revitalization and preservation. Christmas in April has multiplied in size more than 17 times since 1988 because the need for services continues to grow and because Christmas in April is an idea that works. Since its origin, more than one million Christmas in April volunteers have rehabilitated 37,000 homes and nonprofit facilities, accounting for $479 million in improvements. And while Christmas in April's greatest impact has been on substandard houses, more than 700 schools, nonprofit facilities, and day care centers have also been rehabilitated, enriching entire communities. This neighbor-helping-neighbor effort brings together people from across all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic communities. In the process, it preserves and revitalizes neighborhoods. Christmas in April connects people and communities in energizing ways. Our force of one million volunteers makes Christmas in April the leading national volunteer home-rehabilitation organization. Our work is an ongoing 12-month effort. It takes an entire year of fund-raising, planning, and organizing to prepare for the annual Christmas in April workdays. Each local affiliate is an independent 501-(c)-(3) corporation with its own Board of Directors. These boards have a major job, for this work is serious and labor intensive. Each Christmas in April affiliate is basically running a home improvement company, but these companieswork for people who have lost hope, not an easy clientele. While they still may have their dignity, their homes are without warmth, comfort, and safety. Christmas inApril relies on skilled trades people to do the roofing, carpentry, plumbing, and electric work, but asks them to do their work as volunteers, without pay. Then unskilled folks are recruited and the skilled folks are asked to lead them. Finally, we ask everyone to do his or her work in a compressed time frame. It's not easy but it works! THE BIG PICTURE This society, in 2000, faces a bad time, in many ways. We witness the collapse of values and commitment. It occurs at the top-but it also takes place in our communities. Obligation and commitment seem to be out. One reason for the decline in ethical values is that the very soil in which they are nurtured, the family and the neighborhood, is being eroded. Individuals without a context of community and shared values lose the conviction that they can influence the events and circumstances of their lives or the world around them, and the obvious consequences are apathy, frustration, and even anger. …

Occupational burns in Washington State, 1989-1993.

Occupational burns cause significant morbidity in the United States each year; however, there are few studies that report industries or workplaces where workers are at an increased risk of burn injuries. Washington State's Department of Labor and Industries (L and I) computerized workers' compensation database was used to describe work-related burns over 5 years. From 1989 to 1993, L and I accepted 27,323 claims for occupational burns, 71.4% of them thermal burns and 26.8% chemical burns. The most common sources of injury were cooking oils (14%) and hot water/steam (13%). Workers involved in food preparation or food handling accounted for the highest proportion of injured workers (30%). Industries involved in the smelting, sintering, or refining of ore had the highest rate for thermal burns, with a rate of 15.0 burn injuries per 100 full-time equivalent workers per year, followed by paper, pulp, or wood fiber manufacturing, with a rate of 5.8, then roof work, with a rate of 4.3. Industries involved in hazardous waste landfill clean-up had the highest rate for chemical burns, with a rate of 4.9, followed by portable cleaning and washing, with a rate of 3.5, and paper, pulp, and wood fiber manufacturing, with a rate of 2.6. Further study is needed to identify work practices that result in burn injuries in order to decrease the incidence of this preventable occupational injury.

Federico Borromeo and the Ambrosiana: Art Patronage and Reform in Seventeenth-Century Milan by Pamela M. Jones

Federico Borromeo and Ambrosiana: Art Patronage and Reform tn Seventeenth-Century Milan. By Pamela M. Jones. (New York: Cambridge University Press. 1993. Pp. xiv, 386, 100 plates. $95.00). Pamela Jones has written a splendid scholarly study of Federico Borromeo (1564-1631), cardinal-archbishop of Milan and younger cousin of Saint Carlo Borromeo, who during his archiepiscopate (1595-1631) established Ambrosiana, an museum, library, and studio for aspiring artists of diocese of Milan. Borromeo's institution was unique in bringing together under one roof artists and work for reforming religious scholarship and figurative arts in response to decrees of Council of Trent (p. 2). Jones's purpose is to analyze and interpret Federico's program for arts so as to enhance our understanding of post-Tridentine attitudes toward style, subject matter, and functions of sacred in Italy circa 1590 to 1630 (p. 19). She focuses on Borromeo's activities and ideas in a way that embraces both his historical and his art-historical interests. Her investigations look at the way and religious thought come together in Borromeo's or,What did Borromeo want out of sacred art, that is, what was his conception of its efficacy? (p. 2). Jones's subject is a significant one, for Borromeo is first prelate in Christian tradition to conceive of creating an entire institution-not just specific works of art-to reform art and make it serve a specific objective. Her method, too, allows us to follow Borromeo in implementing his vision. Jones's work falls into two parts: Part I deals comprehensively with Borromeo's life and background, writings, and foundation of Ambrosian Library, Academy, and Museum; next three chapters offer an enlightening interpretation of this material focusing on tripartite spiritual role-devotional, didactic, and documentary (p. 11)-that was to play. In Borromeo's spiritual conception, each aspect related closely to others in its appeal to full human personality. Part II is a richly detailed catalogue with appendices to supplement Part I. Important here is chronology of Borromeo's acquisitions for Ambrosian Museum. Catalogue I lists entirety of pieces of in original Ambrosian Museum, and Catalogue II includes Borromeo's collection of portraits of famous persons.The work also includes two appendices that include official codicils of 1607 and 1611 to Borromeo's will, listing works of donated to Ambrosiana; Appendix III gives 1618 donation. Readers will appreciate Jones's approach,which goes beyond traditional judgment that artistic production of post-Tridentine era is essentially restrictive and did little more than merely respond to ecclesiastical directives for clarity and simplicity. Jones recognizes that much more was in play: reformers, and their artists as well, pursued richer, less monolithic, and more threedimensional (p. 7) goals than earlier generations of critics have acknowledged. She goes beyond monolithic model of Catholic reformer directing artist's representation of each iconographic detail (much like traditional view of biblical inspiration). …

Switching Close to Home: Volatility or Coherence in Protestant Affiliation Patterns?

Switching Close to Home: Volatility or Coherence in Protestant Affiliation Patterns?