Work place accidents

[ErnestTurnip]

As a young lad I was at the top of a long double extension ladder when it decided it would rather be somewhere else and took me with it. It's over in the blink of an eye but time seems to run very slowly when you realise what's going to happen and you're on the way down.

[boogs]

19 minutes ago, Casino said:

We once set up a pillar drill contraption to work as a milling machine, squaring off some 25kg plastic mouldings - drainage kerbs- with a 25mm cutter

Anyway, it clearly wasn't adequately guarded and one chap decided to knock some swarf off while it was slowing down

Made worse by the fact he was wearing a glove 

Goodbye 2 fingers, hello Trafford Magistrates Court for me

Used to work with a couple of old boys that had half and full digits missing. Used to wear it as some sort of badge of honour they did. I’d rather keep um thanks.

[Casino]

9 minutes ago, ErnestTurnip said:

As a young lad I was at the top of a long double extension ladder when it decided it would rather be somewhere else and took me with it. It's over in the blink of an eye but time seems to run very slowly when you realise what's going to happen and you're on the way down.

Only about 18 and working in a shed that was two floors on one side and full height on the other

There was a loading bay about 20 feet up

Pallet stuck on the edge and I tried to clear whatever the problem was and went straight off the edge

I remember where I was stood passing my eyes

Knees have never been the same since

3 hours later I was at Gigg watching us play Bury

 

Also, had many an electric shock, worst one was at home, ripping out the kitchen,  when my wedding ring touched a live wire that had previously had the extractor attached

nice blister

[fatolive]

2 hours ago, boogs said:

Only yesterday some pig shit thick wagon driver drove up the road at the back of our unit with the grab arm still fully extended upwards, I didn't even think that was possible. He's dragged down every wire up the street leaving about 8 businesses without any phones or Internet. Fuck knows what it'll cost his company but open reach/BT were already on the phone asking who is getting billed for it before the engineers where even on the scene. Folk were shouting and waving at him after the first wire but he didn't stop til he'd done the lot 😂

Seen that a few times, grab drivers are a different breed 

[fatolive]

Seen a few bad ones, worse was a lad whose winch control had broken so he was just touching the wires together to make it work In side the casing , loading a mini digger up the ramps he decides to free the trapped chain from under the blade , unfortunately his hand got stuck under the cable and because he was just using wires he couldn’t stop or reverse the winch , I was on the digger pushing the levers to drive it up the ramp, trying to go faster forwards to give some slack while in two minds to jump off and stop the winch, but if I did this the cable just went even tighter against the stopped digger . It’s what I did in the end but a grim few minutes and result of 2 and half lost fingers. 

[SatanGreavsie]

Old place of work used to have one of the old school paternoster lifts. The ones that constantly looped round and you stepped in to go up/down.

Came in one morning and there was all sorts of kerfuffle and areas taped off etc; turns out someone doing building work had ignored strict instructions and tried to save time by taking a big plank of wood in with him. He didn't get it inside fast enough, so it jammed, then snapped (the system was powerful, as it needed to be and the emergency stop button was on the outside) and took his yed off. Presumably the system just then carried on its merry way, looping round until some poor sod waiting to get in on another floor was confronted by the scene...

[Sweep]

A bloke who drinks in our local club fell under a Brussel Sprout picking machine several years ago, when he was doing some casual labouring on a local farm. fortunately the ground was soft, so the caterpillar tracks pushed him into the earth. His leg is still proper fucked though, with half of his calf missing

[peelyfeet]

8 minutes ago, Sweep said:

A bloke who drinks in our local club fell under a Brussel Sprout picking machine several years ago, when he was doing some casual labouring on a local farm. fortunately the ground was soft, so the caterpillar tracks pushed him into the earth. His leg is still proper fucked though, with half of his calf missing

No muscles from brussels

[peelyfeet]

2 hours ago, Not in Crawley said:

See, this real work sounds dangerous.

Whale oil, Swarf, Emery paper, paternoster lift.

Sound like props from a Terry Gilliam movie set.

The most danger I get is a paper cut, or hot brew spillage 

 

 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, peelyfeet said:

Whale oil, Swarf, Emery paper, paternoster lift.

Sound like props from a Terry Gilliam movie set.

The most danger I get is a paper cut, or hot brew spillage 

 

 

What’s your favourite Terry Gilliam film?

[peelyfeet]

5 minutes ago, boltondiver said:

What’s your favourite Terry Gilliam film?

probably 12 monkeys or Brazil 

I've watched the Holy Grail about 50 times though

[boogs]

I’m not one for over zealous H&S but I’m quite glad I never worked in engineering back in the day. Old fella I used to work with worked at the loco works in 60s/70s. He used to enjoy telling a tale of being on night shift with just a couple of others. One lad trapped 2 fingers underneath a big 2 tonne block, managed to get them out again but there was nowt left of um, he runs to tell the foreman, who was in the canteen, what has happened. The reply came “fuck off, I’m on my dinner!!”😂

[Tonge moor green jacket]

9 hours ago, boltondiver said:

Your liability or hers?

Mine, it's the decent thing to do. That's what we have business insurance for!

Mind, its only done the outer pane, so I'll probably just pay for it.

[Guest]

51 minutes ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Mine, it's the decent thing to do. That's what we have business insurance for!

Mind, its only done the outer pane, so I'll probably just pay for it.

Good egg

But, she might accidental insurance, or similar?

[SatanGreavsie]

6 hours ago, boltondiver said:

What’s your favourite Terry Gilliam film?

Jabberwocky - few Pythons in it and criminally overlooked. Deffo watch for anyone who hasn't seen it.

 

[MancWanderer]

My Dad’s favourite story from WW2

He was the Chief Engineer in charge of all the Hudson Bombers in Gibraltar that were charged with dropping depth charges on the U-Boats operating out of The Bay Of Biscay attacking the Atlantic convoys

Hudson came back one day. Bomb doors open. Depth charges still in place. Couldn’t release the depth charges and couldn’t close the bomb doors

Plane handed over to my Dad. He sits in the pilot’s seat fiddling around with the electronics and he finds the problem. Next thing all the depth charges clatter onto the runway and all he can see from the cockpit is folk scattering far and wide at full pelt.

Fixes the problem, logs it, and climbs out of the plane. To be faced with a purple-faced senior officer who slaps him with a reckless endangerment charge. My Dad stayed in Gibraltar. The senior officer didn’t. At the subsequent inquiry my Dad only had one thing to say

Depth charges explode at depth.....

Edited August 19, 2020 by MancWanderer

[bolty58]

15 hours ago, peelyfeet said:

Whale oil, Swarf, Emery paper, paternoster lift.

Sound like props from a Terry Gilliam movie set.

The most danger I get is a paper cut, or hot brew spillage 

 

 

Got me thinking about other shit which went on during my apprenticeship which, whilst not exactly in keeping with the thread title, certainly could have gone that way!

Initiations - iron filings in grease on the bollocks the most common. Fuck me - where would that go in the law courts these days? Almost an everyday occurrence for cheeky young fuckers. Never happened to me. Always respectful of skilled tradesmen.

Besides greasings, the lads at Atlas Works in Bury had two vices positioned at just the right distance so they could clamp your overall cuffs in and leave you there in a slight crouching position for the entire lunch break if you backchatted anybody. Those that received this treatment made sure they never did it again. Back killing you after that one apparently.

The more dangerous lunch time burner was to be hung around 6 feet from the floor with the crane hook through the adjuster on the back of your boiler suit. Only saw that twice with some poor fucker shitting himself and skriking like a baby. I wouldn't have had much faith in that adjuster holding but they did.

Bosses used to turn a blind eye - saw it as part of 'training'.

Then there were the wild goose chases like 'fetch me a bucket of steam', 'Go and get the Hampton gauge from the tool room',  Go to Wood Street store and ask them for a long stand'.

Edited August 20, 2020 by bolty58

[MickyD]

At Horwich Loco Works during my fabrication engineer/welder apprenticeship, we had a massive furnace for heat treating components. The furnace was switched off for maintenance twice a year; once prior to Christmas shut-down and once prior to Horwich holidays.

Knocked off at the end of shift the Friday before, it was cool enough to replace broken firebricks by about Wednesday.

A gobby Scouser was given a pair of goggles, stripped to his undies and thrown into the cool furnace along with the open end of a compressed air hose. Came out like Al Jolson!

There were two overhead cranes in each of the three long bays of the Plating & Fabrication shop. A gobby  apprentice strapped to each, the crane drivers would play conkers! Imagine that now. There’d be lawsuit after lawsuit.

Edited August 20, 2020 by MickyD
Correct typo

[bolty58]

22 minutes ago, MickyD said:

At Horwich Loco Works during my fabrication engineer/welder apprenticeship, we had a massive furnace for heat treating components. The furnace was switched off for maintenance twice a year; once prior to Christmas shut-down and once prior to Horwich holidays.

Knocked off at the end of shift the Friday before, it was cool enough to replace broken firebricks by about Wednesday.

A gobby Scouser was given a pair of goggles, stripped to his undies and thrown into the cool furnace along with the open end of a compressed air hose. Came out like Al Jolson!

There were two overhead cranes in each of the three long bays of the Plating & Fabrication shop. A gobby  apprentice strapped to each, the crane drivers would play conkers! Imagine that now. There’d be lawsuit after lawsuit.

 I am sickened.

 

 

On a more serious note Micky, very funny - especially the conkers. That was one up on my crane story! 

[Tonge moor green jacket]

15 hours ago, boltondiver said:

Good egg

But, she might accidental insurance, or similar?

That was the first thing she said. Didnt screech or flap. Which I respected hugely, which made it easier for me to say no worries, I'll sort it with my insurance. 

[Elson]

3 hours ago, MickyD said:

At Horwich Loco Works during my fabrication engineer/welder apprenticeship, we had a massive furnace for heat treating components. The furnace was switched off for maintenance twice a year; once prior to Christmas shut-down and once prior to Horwich holidays.

Knocked off at the end of shift the Friday before, it was cool enough to replace broken firebricks by about Wednesday.

A gobby Scouser was given a pair of goggles, stripped to his undies and thrown into the cool furnace along with the open end of a compressed air hose. Came out like Al Jolson!

There were two overhead cranes in each of the three long bays of the Plating & Fabrication shop. A gobby  apprentice strapped to each, the crane drivers would play conkers! Imagine that now. There’d be lawsuit after lawsuit.

Remember this from a few years ago 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/444656/two-men-cooked-to-death-in-giant-oven/

[MickyD]

6 hours ago, Elson said:

Remember this from a few years ago 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/444656/two-men-cooked-to-death-in-giant-oven/

Love the “cooked to death” headline. You’d think maybe burned to death would be nearer the cause.

By the way, the furnace we used was most definitely incapable of accidental re-ignition. Safety systems on the safety systems. The guy who knocked it off never let go of the padlock keys because he needed the shut down to remain shut down.

[crawshawbooth]

Just back from pub ,apparently a Latvian contractor got properly squished this morning on one of those massive towers that are gonna be bigger than the Hilton

RIP

[victor meldrew]

can't find the story, someone will, but who remembers 2 contractors from nottingham ,working on decommissioning metal box in westhoughton , who were dismantling a chimney and were shot into the air like a cannon.

unfortunately brown bread

approx 1994

Edited August 20, 2020 by victor meldrew

[Tonge moor green jacket]

27 minutes ago, victor meldrew said:

can't find the story, someone will, but who remembers 2 contractors from nottingham ,working on decommissioning metal box in westhoughton , who were dismantling a chimney and were shot into the air like a cannon.

unfortunately brown bread

approx 1994

I vaguely remember. Company got seriously hauled over the coals iirc.