What are the worst conditions you have worked in?

[1shortcircuit]

As an electrician I'm sure many of you have some horror stories to tell of absolutely diabolical conditions or places you have had to work in.

What is your worst and when do you know where to draw the line? Have you ever refused to do a job because of the conditions?


I am a telescopic forklift operator at present and recently walked off of a site due to them (site manager and his trusty sidekick) instructing me to operate a machine which I had inspected and found two hydraulic leaks.

I advised of the concerns and refused to bring it into service until a fitter had been out and inspected and put right the faults Unfortunately the site being busy and workers being supplied with materials appeared to be of more importance:mad

For those of you that may be unfamiliar with what a Telescopic Forklift is

 

[Guest123]

Farm buildings are probably the worst I've been in, ones that the farmer has had built in the spring but doesn't get them wired up till the autumn. The livestock have been in them for months so theres the proverbial everywhere.

Gets all over you, your tools your van. Smell gets in your clothes, your hair. generally not nice.

 

[1shortcircuit]

Farm buildings are probably the worst I've been in, ones that the farmer has had built in the spring but doesn't get them wired up till the autumn. The livestock have been in them for months so theres the proverbial everywhere.

Gets all over you, your tools your van. Smell gets in your clothes, your hair. generally not nice.

I know exactly what you mean there

I worked on the construction of the gas pipeline a couple of years ago that went from Exeter to Plymouth.

One of the things the company I was working for ensured they did was try to look after the local farmers. One of them happened to be a Pig Farmer, we often went to collect hay that was purchased from the farmer and on two occasions I was sent on a 45 minute drive in my machine to assist with raising a man rider and farmer up to the roof of the large shed where all the pigs lived so that it could be jet washed... Rats, spiders birds nests and a general build up of S*** over the years was flying EVERYWHERE

As you can imagine, the c**p went all over my machine and absolutely stank for days after

Fair Play to the farmer though, he insisted that I stopped for breakfast with him and his family

 

[Guest123]

I know exactly what you mean there

I worked on the construction of the gas pipeline a couple of years ago that went from Exeter to Plymouth.

I worked on a gas pipeline too....Milford Haven to Gloucester. Spent many a day in a man cage on the front of a 535.

 

[1shortcircuit]

I worked on a gas pipeline too....Milford Haven to Gloucester. Spent many a day in a man cage on the front of a 535.

You're a braver man than I am, I know how twitchy those booms can get

I am also a certified slinger/signaller and was once working with a crane operator that told me about a time where he was working with a man rider with two occupants, one of which was giving him a hard time... a bit silly considering his jib reached over a canal He told me that he warned the guy he would be taking a dip if he carried on... the story ended with the guy being dunked up to his waist:lol I bet seeing it would have been priceless

 

[diditrain]

Had to work in a pig shed once, place full of pigs. Some of them lying dead with there guts etc, hanging out where the others had been eating them.
It was a hot sunny day, smell was atrocious and to top it off you had to keep swatting the flies that kept crashing into you

 

[Sintra]

Worked in the service tunnels below a large hospital. Tunnels contained steam pipes and were roasting good point was 30 minutes in 10 minutes out so plenty of breaks.

Recently was sent to do PIR on a flat. On entering noticed large number of dogs and s*** all over the floor.
Done a very very quick visual and on entering the kitchen was met with fleas jumping about the worktops and festering food everywhere.

Didn't go any further and left as it was a H&S issue, Boss was ok with it and reported conditions to Landlord.

 

[Guest123]

Worked in the service tunnels below a large hospital. Tunnels contained steam pipes and were roasting

I know your pain!!!

 

[ian.settle1]

Worked in the service tunnels below a large hospital. Tunnels contained steam pipes and were roasting good point was 30 minutes in 10 minutes out so plenty of breaks.

Recently was sent to do PIR on a flat. On entering noticed large number of dogs and s*** all over the floor.
Done a very very quick visual and on entering the kitchen was met with fleas jumping about the worktops and festering food everywhere.

Didn't go any further and left as it was a H&S issue, Boss was ok with it and reported conditions to Landlord.

Should of informed Enviromental Health as well

 

[1shortcircuit]

I was once asked to walk through a culvert that passed under a railway track. It filled with water when the tide was in and emptied to ankle depth when the tide was out. It must have been a good 20 FT long.. Yeah right!!! I had the Health and Safety officer down there right away and he said that the Bauer pipe that we were running either had to be pushed through from one end to the other or another route had to be found:cool

We managed to push the pipe through but it was major effort

 

[Risteard]

Farm buildings are probably the worst I've been in, ones that the farmer has had built in the spring but doesn't get them wired up till the autumn. The livestock have been in them for months so theres the proverbial everywhere.

Gets all over you, your tools your van. Smell gets in your clothes, your hair. generally not nice.

I worked for a spark who was also a farmer for a couple of years so know all about it!

 

[Mr Mark Sparks]

went to do a pir on a vacant pub
it smelled a bit so went to look at the mail on the door mat to work out how long it had been empty
all the letters were covered in fleas
went outside to ring the office and noticed i was covered top to toe
took off all my clothes and put them in a bag on my roof rack and drove to another job in a pair of overalls
when i got there told my mate and told him to check me because i itched
they were all over my back and he was picked them off with long nose plyers
had to have the van fumigated

 

[Risteard]

Worked in the service tunnels below a large hospital. Tunnels contained steam pipes and were roasting good point was 30 minutes in 10 minutes out so plenty of breaks.

Working in the Nickel Plating lines of Seagate was the same. 15 min break every 30-45 mins. And dressed up like a spaceman while you were in there.

 

[roukel01]

I worked on a gas pipeline too....Milford Haven to Gloucester. Spent many a day in a man cage on the front of a 535.

You're lucky you get a cage, I either get a pallet on the front of a fork lift or a bucket on a loader!! I'll take some pics this week of the factory we work at.... Only one word for it, but I won;t use it on here!

I can think of many dirty places I've worked in in the past, however, I'd rather that than the nursing home we used to work at, smell of cabbage, plus all the old dears with mental issues and other disabilities, the owners wouldn't close the area we worked in and we had all manners of folks wander past my step ladders! Bless em, its not their fault but if I get like that, please shoot me!

 

[Des 56]

Worked in the service tunnels below a large hospital. Tunnels contained steam pipes and were roasting good point was 30 minutes in 10 minutes out so plenty of breaks.

.

Ditto
Salt tablets free of charge as well
I get sweaty remembering the pump rooms


This is not unique ,we may have all done these sorts
On a weekend on a new build old peoples home,the ground rock hard because of the extreem cold,standing at one dist board,sucking away on my twentieth smoke, making off umpteen pyros with numb hands the wind was biting cold and only cement bags to burn for thawing

By the way
The Health and safety nobs dont visit if its out of their comfort zone, too hot,too cold or too dangerous even

 

[1shortcircuit]

You're lucky you get a cage, I either get a pallet on the front of a fork lift or a bucket on a loader!! I'll take some pics this week of the factory we work at.... Only one word for it, but I won;t use it on here!

That's P*** Poor! Are you aware that a forklift has to have had an Inspection within 6 months to even raise a man rider? I would never lift a person without a man rider that was either suspended from a specifically made lifting frame or ratchet strapped to the machine.

Talk about breach of Health and Safety!

 

[roukel01]

That's P*** Poor! Are you aware that a forklift has to have had an Inspection within 6 months to even raise a man rider? I would never lift a person without a man rider that was either suspended from a specifically made lifting frame or ratchet strapped to the machine.

Talk about breach of Health and Safety!

Please tell me you're joking, pallets get you places you could never reach with a cage!

 

[1shortcircuit]

Please tell me you're joking, pallets get you places you could never reach with a cage!

They can also get you deadededededededed if you fell off.

If a cage can't reach then a MEWP or scaffold tower should be used

 

[roukel01]

They can also get you deadededededededed if you fell off.

If a cage can't reach then a MEWP or scaffold tower should be used

I'd be more worried about falling from a scaffold

 

[1shortcircuit]

I'd be more worried about falling from a scaffold

Even with a safety harness? You know that's required by law these days too don't you

Google Image Result for http://www.health-safety-signs.uk.com/productimages/thumbs/Safety-harness-must-be-worn-outdoor-sign.gif

 

[1shortcircuit]

I'm surprised that there haven't been any haunted house stories yet

When I lost my job, I went and did a job with my brother in law. I was labouring in an old house that was being converted into student accomodation. The house was rather weird, In fact... I've just had a shudder thinking about the bloody place.

The noises that could be heard were spooky to say the least but only when alone. On one occasion the plumber asked how I got into the room that I was working in I said I haven't moved? been in here all morning... He said well somebody just walked straight past me, not good considering it was only the two of us in the house

 

[patricklondon]

as part of a small gang we were on a notorious peabody estate in north london that was having every flat in the estates rads flushed and valves changed etc and me installing programmers to valves. two properties stood out.
poo house and ---- house.
poo house had bare floorboards with cat and dog poo all over the place and on every step of the stair. i was first in but very quickly out again, we all refused entry to that one.
---- house had a real knuckle scraper with his shall we say larger lady girlfriend in a glittery boob tube. they were both sitting on the sofa watching ----. there were a few s & m barbies about and on the drawer unit opposite the bed was a tripod and video camera pointing at the bed.
we were very frightened

 

[gaffer]

Used to a lot of site temps for a large local building contractor,every november I used to get the phone call"Gaffer can you come and put christmas lights on the top of our tower crane".No problem, but the cranes always seemed to be on the coast(wind and rain)and always seemed to be involved in concrete pours(do you know how much cranes move at the top?).
Always seemed to be worse in January when I had to take them all down again though!!!!Bloody COLD!.
Also worked for the local council for a while,did alot of work on sewage pumping stations.One station had had a burst and the chamber containing the five pumps had flooded.A mate and I had to go in and strip the pumps and isolators ,rebuild and make it all work again.Quite litrally a **** job! built up a complete seperate set of tools for jobs like this and disinfect them at the end of everyday.

 

[sparky paul]

Back in my younger years i worked for a maintanence company that had a contract with severn trent water

I remember (vaguely)dangling on the end of my harness above a 30 feet deep well half full of untreated crap,fixing the new transducer in position


Didnt stay with them for long i can tell ya

 

[saveloy]

They can also get you deadededededededed if you fell off.

If a cage can't reach then a MEWP or scaffold tower should be used

Seen it happen!!!Years ago I was a lorry driver. Our main contract was for a cucumber growers (stop sniggering at the back there ). One of the workers was on a pallet on a forklift throwing waste into one of those container skips. Poor bloke slipped between the skip and the pallet on the forks.And got trapped.
I had to ring the ambulance and then jump in the bosses car and wait for it to guide it in.

He died about a week later from internal crush injuries..

 

[kung]

5 hrs in a boiler room in the middle of summer ! had to work 2ft from the main boiler very hot and by the stime id finnished i couldnt hardly swallow my throat was so dry and id left me water bottle in the van dammmmmm ! that was last year but im now doing a long job at a Grundon building its a site that processes clinical infectious waste mainly blood/poo & pee as well as some very nice supprises ! smells very nice but at least its not middle of summer lol
A good tip i got yrs ago by a mortician at R.B.H. was always carry a little pot of vix in your toolbox ! helped me out a few times lol ! one of the worse things is a body from the river thats been there a while after the fish have had a go the sight ent to good and smells a bit !

 

[patricklondon]

5 hrs in a boiler room in the middle of summer ! had to work 2ft from the main boiler very hot and by the stime id finnished i couldnt hardly swallow my throat was so dry and id left me water bottle in the van dammmmmm ! that was last year but im now doing a long job at a Grundon building its a site that processes clinical infectious waste mainly blood/poo & pee as well as some very nice supprises ! smells very nice but at least its not middle of summer lol
A good tip i got yrs ago by a mortician at R.B.H. was always carry a little pot of vix in your toolbox ! helped me out a few times lol ! one of the worse things is a body from the river thats been there a while after the fish have had a go the sight ent to good and smells a bit !


ok you win

 

[Mark.W]

Want a ghost story.......!

Did a periodic at the Courtauld Art Gallery in London a few months ago, lasted about 6 weeks with 87 boards. This place was built in the 1700's. We had to work through the night as the gallery was open to the public during the day.

We were testing one of the galleries at the time, and I went into this one room to take a few Zs reading on the sockets, it was dark and about 1am in the moring and had my head torch on. When I walked into this room I suddenly felt very cold and my shoulders felt like they had pins and needles (the strangest feeling I have ever had). Anyway I didn't believe in ghosts so carried on. Plugged my tester into the first socket and as I plugged it in bang all the lights came on, it was at this point that I actually soiled my pants.......! Managed to get a few readings thinking my gaffer had turned the lights on and it was coincidence. When I saw my gaffer I told him what happened, and he informed the lights were fed from another board and he had not been anywhere near it. Went back up with my gaffer and the lights were off.................!

Not nice!

Mark

 

[1shortcircuit]

This thread has to be worth a bump, look at the date of the last post

 

[dingledong]

on a site years ago and in 1 area the toilets had blocked up and it was traced to a man hole where the expanding bung had been lefrt in the pipe work. well one of the labourers said he'd undo it a nd take it out . i do not know if any one had told him what was gonna happen but i dont think so . anyway ha undid the plug ...then he knew what was going to happen ,he looked up at us and i still remember the look . the er stuff nearlt shot out of the manhole ,just did not reach the top ,the labourer did try to get out but when he did get out he was covered init not a lovely sight and the smell !!!!!

 

[johnboy6083]

whilst working on the isle of grain power station, i was working at the bottom of the feedwater tower. The laggers were working all over the job, and the air was thick with fibreglass! im convinced its no good for you.
On the same job, when they were commissioning the plant, we had a few steam valve failures. I was working wiring the lights, and heard a whistle. i looked down, and saw the steam rising. By the time i reached the other sparks, i couldnt see the way back. managed to feel my way along the handrail, and get out. Fortunatley the steam had been through the compressor, and was at just over 100deg, so it wasnt as dangerous as it would of been further down the process.
I was installing conduit for more lights , and felt the building shake. I jumped down a level (literaly)and ran outside, crapping myself. Then the saftey release valve operated. It made the whole building shake, and released all of the steam from the boiler. It was the loudest sound i have ever heard. the plume must of been seen for miles and miles. Power stations are scary places.

 

[1shortcircuit]

whilst working on the isle of grain power station, i was working at the bottom of the feedwater tower. The laggers were working all over the jobv, and the air was thick with fibreglass! im convinced its no good for you.
On the same job, when they were commsioning the plant, we had a few steam calve failures. I was working wiring the lights, and heard a whistle. i looked down, and saw tghe steam rising. By the time i reached theother sparks, i couldnt asee th way back. managed to feel my way along the handrail, and get out. Fortunatley the stam had been through the compressor, and was at just over 100deg, so it wasnt as dangerous as it would of been further down the process.
I was installing conduit for more lights , and felt the building shake. I jumped down a level (literaly)and ran outside, crapping myself. Then the saftey release valve operated. It madde the wholebuilding shake, and released all of the steam from the boiler. It was the loudest sound i have ever heard. the plume must of been seen for miles and miles. Power stations are scary places.

So you could have been steam fried to no fault of your own? I think I'll stick with Domestic and hope to venture into commercial at a later date. Industrial can stay where it is in my mind lol

 

[johnboy6083]

that job was a very dangerous job. At one point the steel stairs ect were covered in ice, and our foreman was trying to get us to work. I told him that he could go and work, as he would get sick pay from NG baileys, but as we were agency, we would get nothing.
We had pipe fitters suspending 3ton pipes from a tirfor jack up ended, with the Steekl wire poking through the kennedy grating
. I nearly had kittens, it only takes the mechanism to fail, and you have squashed workers, and unhappy wifes and kids.

ive also been in a pit on my current job, and been flooded. Just managed to get out.

 

[1shortcircuit]

Yep and that is why on commercial "I" was the one SAT in a telescopic forklift truck telling the site manager to go forth and mulitiply or the lifting co-ordinator of the cranes to come out of his office and take control of my crane!

Amazing when you ask them to lead by example they cower down like a puppy dawg!

I've walked off sites for far less and I always will. Money and paying the bills is one thing but losing your life and NEVER seeing your family or BEING there for your family is another. It's only when you reach a certain age you start to think this way

 

[dingledong]

yes your right when i think back to things i did when younger i do wonder like 15 pallets on a forktruck . i think its all the electrical shocks makes you become stupid sorry i meant stupider

 

[Knobhead]

I think for me it was working inside a coal mill. When working the airflow through them is heated by the kiln exhaust to around 300c. They are built to withstand an internal explosion so are not light weight bits of kit, even after 12hrs of cooling air was forced through them they are bloody hot. So you’ve got the heat and pulverised coal to contend with. Just to get the lid off the thermocouple housings was a two-man job they were that heavy. Not a nice place at all. It would take 3hrs to do the 77 isolations required.

On a day I was due to go in to a mill the manager called me in to the office to tell me the fire brigade were doing a rescue exercise on site so I was to be the guinea pig for rescue. The brigade showed up as we finished the job, so ideal timing, they had to get me out. They had that much PPE on and about them they couldn’t get through the porthole! My manager was passing cups of tea in to me while the brigade faffed about. In the end I got fed up and dived out the porthole to go and get a shower. My comment that I’d be dead by now waiting for you lot didn’t go down to well! To get in or out there is a handle above the porthole which you grab while you launch your legs through the hole. It’s only a 12 X 18” oval to get through.

 

[johnboy6083]

I think for me it was working inside a coal mill. When working the airflow through them is heated by the kiln exhaust to around 300c. They are built to withstand an internal explosion so are not light weight bits of kit, even after 12hrs of cooling air was forced through them they are bloody hot. So you’ve got the heat and pulverised coal to contend with. Just to get the lid off the thermocouple housings was a two-man job they were that heavy. Not a nice place at all. It would take 3hrs to do the 77 isolations required.

On a day I was due to go in to a mill the manager called me in to the office to tell me the fire brigade were doing a rescue exercise on site so I was to be the guinea pig for rescue. The brigade showed up as we finished the job, so ideal timing, they had to get me out. They had that much PPE on and about them they couldn’t get through the porthole! My manager was passing cups of tea in to me while the brigade faffed about. In the end I got fed up and dived out the porthole to go and get a shower. My comment that I’d be dead by now waiting for you lot didn’t go down to well! To get in or out there is a handle above the porthole which you grab while you launch your legs through the hole. It’s only a 12 X 18” oval to get through.

the access ports into the boiler on the power station were tiny too! there were only 3 on the whole boiler, and the boiler was about 30m high. If there was a fire inside due to welding ect, or somebody collapsed, theres not a chance that they would get out alive. A polish firm (Remak) had the contract to do all of the welding ect in the boiler, and when the blokes went in, they had no respiratory gear, and would not leave until it was dinner time. The fumes that would escape through the access port were pheonominal. H+S werent interested

 

[Marvo]

I'm thinking back to some of the places I've worked and there's quite a few I wouldn't work there again. Abattoirs, gold mines, survey ships, morgues without refrigeration to name but a few. I don't think I could single one out in particular as being the worst.

 

[Knobhead]

We had mine life preservers, they would give air for 20 minutes I think. Enough air to get out or keep your mate alive while you got him out. There were always the safety lads on the outside to help if needed, and more importantly pass drinks in.

One plant I didn’t work on was for handling the waste solvents and PCB’s we added to the coal. The maintenance lads on there looked like Dan Dare when they were fully suited.

 

[mogga]

Used to a lot of site temps for a large local building contractor,every november I used to get the phone call"Gaffer can you come and put christmas lights on the top of our tower crane".No problem, but the cranes always seemed to be on the coast(wind and rain)and always seemed to be involved in concrete pours(do you know how much cranes move at the top?).
Always seemed to be worse in January when I had to take them all down again though!!!!Bloody COLD!.
Also worked for the local council for a while,did alot of work on sewage pumping stations.One station had had a burst and the chamber containing the five pumps had flooded.A mate and I had to go in and strip the pumps and isolators ,rebuild and make it all work again.Quite litrally a **** job! built up a complete seperate set of tools for jobs like this and disinfect them at the end of everyday.

Did the christmas lights on a crane in glasgow city center right out over the buildings next to site it was crackin view The driver turned crane so he could watch the footy on big screen at parkhead through his binoculers lol Best bit was we got flashed at from hotel across the road Couldnt tell if she looked good or not but she had a fair pair of bazonggaz pointing our way

 

[i=p/u]

wel not as an electixian , but slaughtering animals, use to come home with cows blood in your cacks and stinking of **** if you take the bellies out.... better money than im getting somedays now, but them days are gone.. i hope..

 

[i=p/u]

so reading this thread, farmers are officaly smelly and love it.

 

[parker56]

Had to replace a motor/pump unit on a gas oil tank which was in the new born calf shed, calfs were great farmers kids a real pain.

 

[Big n Daft]

Animal reclamation or sewage, yes proper poo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[trev]

While house bashing for Gateshead council some of the places we had to go in sewage would have been preferable

 

[Engineer54]

Seen a few bad houses myself when i helped a friend house bash the last 16 houses on the Tilbury council estate in Essex in the early 80's. Now that was an eye opener!!

One guy and his son stripped, built, serviced motor bikes in the lounge. ...The floors were literary like a skating ring!! Another was some sort of rag and bone man, who kept his bloody horse in the front room!! Most were just out and out filthy, that you wouldn't of dreamed crossing the front door by choice!! lol!! There was one i remember that was actually spotless, and we couldn't work out what was wrong with the house, even thought they made a mistake...lol But come around 10am the house was Full of people, turned out she was a bookies runner and they were the punters!! ...lol!!

These houses were the last 16, that none of the local electrical contractors wanted to know about. My friend managed to negotiate a premium price for these rewires out of the council, but worth every penny and probably more ...lol!!!

We knocked these house re-wires out in a day, all surface boxes with existing switch drops in 1/2'' split steel conduit. All pendant and batten holder lighting points. Even had to cut our own loft access, so that area was totally clear. Few had floor covering in the bedrooms and only carpets downstairs, well they were carpets when new!! lol!! I only had time to help him with 6 or 7 of these places, before i was back out to the Middle East... Something i'll never forget though!

 

[JD6400]

There was a similar thread a few moths ago, ( worst incident at work ) to save writing it again look at post 21 .

Between going self employed and building a client base i also worked as a tractor / digger driver for a muck spreading contracting firm .
Most dairy farms keep it in what is essentially a bloody great big hole in the ground due to the very sloppy nature of cow manure and empty it once a year , when we were still dairy farmers ours was about 40m x 40m and over 12 m deep in places and this was small compared to most, so a lot of the proverbial in the short of it !
Any way i remember one job where we were down to the last meter or so of "product" and the boss / mate had come of the banks at the side and into the lagoon with a 12 ton 360 digger to finish off , it was just up to below the cab floor level .
He stopped it to have a chat with me between the machine cabs , but it would not start again due to a loose connection on the starter motor at the bottom of the engine .
A 12 ton machine is a major problem to move out of a lagoon around the back of a farm so i got the job of stripping off to my boxers and going in under the tide line as it were with the spanners to be able get to the bottom of the engine where there was a gap of about 14" to work and breath in .
Got it going !!!!!!
It was just after i did this that he asked if i would go on a 10,000 ton sludge cake spreading contract for the next 2 months as no bugger else on the firm would touch the stuff , if you don't know what sludge cake is it is the human equivalent .
But that one is another story altogether !:001_9898:

 

[nick182]

i had to pat test a kebab shop once. never again! That place gave me nightmares! Infact thinking about it now i think im going to be sick!

 

[trev]

There's a park in South Shields with a lake in, several years ago I had the pleasure of installing some under water lighting in it. Now this lake was populated by all different types of birds and hadn't been drained for years before we came along for this install. It was quite unpleasant being up to your knees in about 100 years of bird poop, at least they issued us with waders and gloves.

 

[1shortcircuit]

i had to pat test a kebab shop once. never again! That place gave me nightmares! Infact thinking about it now i think im going to be sick!

Tell us more lol