What are the worst conditions you have worked in?

[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