The joys of being a bloody sparky!

[brizospark]

What a day

Monday mornings are bad enough without this!

have being testing an industrial site for a while now and nearing the end

So I'm testing low bay light fittings about 20 metres in the air

No probs I though and proceeded to take the genie bom up to the last fitting in the circuit

So I'm at the light fitting just away to undo the Klix when all of a sudden the fire alarm goes off in this factory where they run continuous production

So I'm 20 metres up in the air and my paranoid sparky instinct that kicks in every time a fire alarm sounds tells me "I hope that was nothing to do with me"

So I have a look around and notice this bloody laser beam at the end of the building staring at me, I turn around and see the reflector behind me

Bloody great!

It was a beam sensor smoke detection system right at the top of the factory where the light fittings are.

Now nobody had ever mentioned these things to me and there was no signage anywhere in the building informing contractors of the setup

So after about 2 minutes I finally manage to negotiate myself back down to the ground and exit the part of the factory towards the main gate where the entire workforce is waiting and I'm walking towards them harness and all.

By the time I get there there are two fully loaded fire engines on their way into the building.

So the factory manager approaches me and asks if I was up the Genie boom to which i just told the truth

So typical factory manager blames me to which i had to stand up for myself and declare that it was not my fault but in fact the health and safety officer who had originally inducted me first day on site and I stressed that this should have been part of his induction (instead of spending 10 minutes going on and on about how mobile phones aren't allowed on site!)

So anyway fire alarm finally stops, fireys leave, everyone back to work

Later in the day I hear through the grapevine that the factory hierarchy are going bananas because they have to pay a ridiculous amount for the fire service since it was a false alarm, and on top of that they have lost production time

What is you guys take on this?

 

[alarm man]

ask the customer to put fire system on test at every job,also tell him he has to put it back live when your finished for the day,covers you then..

 

[brizospark]

yeah but the trouble with that is that I have been there for two months and the factory has ATEX areas so isolating the alarm is a no no

 

[pennywise]

Perfect the shrug of the shoulders and vacant expression and deny all knowledge

 

[alarm man]

yeah but the trouble with that is that I have been there for two months and the factory has ATEX areas so isolating the alarm is a no no

they could set up a ring site first when works going on,no answer then brigade.

 

[JD6400]

ask the customer to put fire system on test at every job,also tell him he has to put it back live when your finished for the day,covers you then..

Can they do that ?
What if there is a real fire , i don't mean to question you but that just sounds to easy .

 

[telectrix]

they should have told you about the lasers. not your fault. another example of the suits passing the buck and trying to cover up their own incompetence.

 

[alarm man]

Can they do that ?
What if there is a real fire , i don't mean to question you but that just sounds to easy .

of course,the customer can tell an arc what they want for that day,schools often have no brigade during school hours unless confirmed by school of a fire,due to the little darlings smashing break glasses to get out of lessons..

 

[robsparky1975]

not your fault,h&s bloke should of told you,at least you will know for future lol,never happened to me but can imagine how you felt.i have done a tests previously where i did call the local firestation,and called them back afterwards to take off test.like the t shirt says s happens

 

[rmc86uk]

A Monday morning **** up for me today also.

Started on a new site got there for around 7.15am was told site induction was at 8.10am with the main contractor in one of the cabins. Gets to the cabin at the said time and the ******* ***** of a ****** site manager locked me and this other bloke out so we tapped on window and he said your too late come back tomorrow! Then our cars were blocked cos the car parking facilities are a joke so we had to get a lift home and return end of day to pick cars up! Why are people like that arrogant **** always on a power trip!

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

 

[alarm man]

not your fault,h&s bloke should of told you,at least you will know for future lol,never happened to me but can imagine how you felt.i have done a tests previously where i did call the local firestation,and called them back afterwards to take off test.like the t shirt says s happens

im surprised they took that as gospel,its normally the arc that call brigade,i inform local station when testing smoke cloaks but they still turn out if some old biddy thinks the place is on fire and dials 999..

 

[telectrix]

just given me a boost to morale as i packed in site work before i brained some arsehole with a hammer. who do these pillocks think they are.? backstabbing , blame shifting morons that should never have been given a job in the 1st place. rant over.

 

[KFH]

My brother in law (BIL) was a H&S manager at a large factory. Following a serious accident involving HV a review of all their electrical safety processes was undertaken by HSE. My BIL explained thier lock off process to the HSE inspectors and explained the shift manager had the only key and was the only person allowed to approve unlocking. If they took the key home they had to be called back in irrespective of the time. The foreman electrician then said if they could not get the manager it was not a big problem as they had duplicate keys and he opened his drawer and pulled them out. The HSE inspector later told my BIL that his expression when the foreman said this had kept the HSE office in stitches for years. There were a lot of locks with duplicate keys going for free after this.

 

[robsparky1975]

just given me a boost to morale as i packed in site work before i brained some arsehole with a hammer. who do these pillocks think they are.? backstabbing , blame shifting morons that should never have been given a job in the 1st place. rant over.

you hooligan tel lol,can imagine someone googling the word hammer to buy one and finding your thread,priceless.

 

[1shortcircuit]

If you're not lucky enough to possess the art of mind reading and there aren't any signs about then how are you supposed to know that is the type of system being used.

You stated it yourself, this should have been stressed in your site induction. If Health & Safety did the induction then should they have not warned you about the laser? Surely this could have harmed you if you had looked into the beam or temporarily caused you to lose vision and cause you to fall out of your hoist

Throw it back in their faces!!!:reddevil:

PS Remember most of these Site Managers etc were more than likely Bullied at School and love the Power they now have:frown2:

 

[mogga]

same thing happened on a night shift at a biggish shopping center all store staff out due to HnS guuy not having anything in induction about lasers above celings even though he knew the job was above celing

Had full city center shopping mall in Aberdeen evacuated at 11am due to security not isolating as requested cos he was distracted by a shoplifter I set alarm off full evac public n everything 8unit turn out and 2 turntables Big Big chief fire officer happened to be round the corner and "popped round " to see he asked center amnager what happened then asked if every store had done as per fire risk assesment YES then asked senior fire officer if units arrived as they should and had full center coperation YES he then turned to a WHITE Shaking center manager n said " Good drill wasnt it I dont expect another one this year !!!" to which the center manager replied NO and vissably wobbled

 

[baldsparkies]

NOT YOUR FAULT. Did the same thing once whilst working in a supermarket at high level. No signs no warnings verbal or otherwise. When the brass shouted I shouted louder with good reason, how the hell was I to know ??
They backed down in the end, but trust me don't let them try to talk you down on this one. Stand your ground, white coller workers aren't use to that, they expect you to lick botty and wimper apoligise, DONT.