Worst incident at work ?

[Lofty]

So what's been a bad incident for you guys.
Mine was last week, so far !!!.
Working in an old property doing a total rewire which has been empty for a little while, was in the attic and pulling the light cables under the floorboards up there when I reached under and ,yep put my hand right into a rat's nest , an occupied one !!

Cheers,
Lofty.

 

[i=p/u]

poo ya self did ya

 

[Lofty]

Came close !!

 

[Dunc]

Worst i've had was working on a thatched cottage in Rutland. They had rodent issues so got the pest control people in to lay poison. The guy came and put out about 10 blocks which he said was good for 30 mice a piece. When he came back a couple of days later all the poison was gone so just a bit of basic maths will tell you how many mice traipsed through that roof space. Can't remember how many corpses i came across whilst running cables but the smell was awful! One of the worst jobs i had to do as an apprentice. Also had to core a 4" extractor hole on the same job in a wardrobe with the door shut to keep the dust in, that wasn't much fun either when you can't see the wall that's only a foot from your face, looked like a chuffing snowman!!! Done a few jobs on fire damaged properties too, that's never nice work as you always get covered in black and the smell stays with you for ages! Think my old boss took some delight in sending me on those jobs as i was on every single fire damage job we got. Can't think why i left now!

 

[Electricalserv]

Wasp nest in garage roof space. Luckily only an outside light getting fitted so it was swift and bold.

 

[telectrix]

being expected to balance on the top tread of 8 tread stepladder to wire up clik roses. refused point blank.

 

[Des 56]

Did a council rewire of a recently vacated property ( 2 weeks)
Mattresses on floor and rubbish everywhere

Finished the job and a neighbour told me the guy who was evicted let loose a couple of hundred scorpions which were trapped and dealt with ( Yeah right )
I saw none, but I was given no info that there might have been big bugs walking around under the boards

I wonder to myself if I would have done the job if I did knew beforehand, because I have a good tolerance normally of our spikey legged neighbours

 

[Phil]

squirrel`s in lofts, bats in one flying around.

 

[eskimo39]

Me and my old boss were putting some downlights in an old victorian property a few years ago. We had marked the ceiling which was old lathe and plaster to be overboarded and were about to start wiring, just had to cut a few holes in the old ceiling where the lights were to go, my boss not wanting to cut decided to just bash the holes through instead and proceded to smash clumps out of the ceiling with his lump hammer, First hole he made also took the bottom off an occupied wasps nest and withing seconds we were running for our lives. About 10 minutes later we were sat in the van with about 30-40 stings between us!!!

Also went to do a rewire on an old council house which had been used as a squat, after moving the old sofa and finding hundreds of used needles, I walked straight out and refused to ever go back. No way would I ever chance putting my hand under the floor in that place.

 

[Marvo]

Mostly snakes, large spiders and scorpions in control panels and meter boxes. You kinda get used to them.

 

[Electricalserv]

Mostly snakes, large spiders and scorpions in control panels and meter boxes. You kinda get used to them.

And this is the exact reason why moving abroad as a spark does not become economical...lol

 

[hookedonfishing]

Guy had installed his own loft boards, unknown to me without batoning, layed across one, moved slightly and fell straight into the blokes bedroom.

 

[Marvo]

They're mostly placid and you can relocate them with a suitable stick as long as you're eyes are wide open and you see them before your fingers get too close.

 

[eskimo39]

Also seen a joiner fall through a ceiling in a bungalow right above where the family were sat in the kitchen about to have lunch. Only managed to stop himself under the arms so most of him was hanging through less than 3 feet from where they were sat.

 

[Electricalserv]

Also seen a joiner fall through a ceiling in a bungalow right above where the family were sat in the kitchen about to have lunch. Only managed to stop himself under the arms so most of him was hanging through less than 3 feet from where they were sat.

Most amazing thing I have ever seen was a painter and decorator screeming at his young mate because he was trying to get a corner piece of patterned paper to match. Apprentice was putting paper up and the boss was barking orders. Needless to say he was doing it wrong and the boss was screeming obscenities at him. He then ran over towards him as if he was going to barge him out of the way. Unfortunately we had the boards up putting some lights in the room below. The young lad had snipped the off cut of paper and covered 2 boards which we had up by accident.. You can guess the rest..... the boss ended up dangling through the ceiling. Funnily enough it was the young lad who pulled him up. Brilliant.

 

[telectrix]

classic. but would have been funnier if it had been a plumber.

 

[Andyfm]

Had a rat poke its head through a downlight hole once - i`d taken it down to test why it wasn`t working and went to put it back and Roland was staring at me, it turned out there was nest with 5 rats in it built around the transformer, keeping them nice and warm till it started cutting out on the thermal trip

 

[Daveyboy]

Was doing a house refurb. was in the bathroom with the plumber who was working behind me & the nob decided to lift a large cutout chipboard flooring right behind for somethin & didn't say a word and you've guessed it, i've turned around and ended up in the downstairs hallway.

 

[Electricalserv]

Was doing a house refurb. was in the bathroom with the plumber who was working behind me & the nob decided to lift a large cutout chipboard flooring right behind for somethin & didn't say a word and you've guessed it, i've turned around and ended up in the downstairs hallway.

Quality mate..

 

[johnboy6083]

Motor control centres (posh name for panels) in water treatment works always have mice and rats droppings in them. i now bang the panel trunking with screwdriver before i pull the lid off, so all the droppings fall out. it stinks too.

 

[JD6400]

Myself and a couple of our lads did a complete rewire of a local knackers yard / farm about 2 years ago .
They had not long taken a new contract on and were snowed under and could not shut down , they had booked us to install a third incinerator already but not for 2 weeks and they were getting a bit behind .
They could take about 20 ton a day but were getting 25 - 30 ton of " product " a day on top of the usual so things did not smell good !
The " product "was dog , and i for one did not realize how much fat is in a dog !
While they were burning , it was literally pouring out the front of the incinerators and running across the yard , they kept chucking road salt on it to soak it up / stop it burning .
We knocked the power out twice by mistake and truly got smoked for a good 10 mins each time , on a separate note if they lose power for too long the heat will melt the burner motors !
Anyway the worst part was the main cable run which had to go past in front above the two incinerators and we had to lay all the swa through the running fat for the pull in , we got absolutely plastered i can not even begin to describe the smell or taste .
I remember in the evening when we had finished and washed up before leaving i was heading down the drive and brushed my hand through my hair and rubbed it across my cheek and when i looked in the mirror it looked like some one had poured olive oil over my face , thats how much fat was in my hair !
Needless to say all work gear got burnt after that job .
We have done numerous other not so pleasant jobs but from what i remember at the moment this the worst .

 

[Marvo]

I feel ill

 

[Jonesy83]

Myself and a couple of our lads did a complete rewire of a local knackers yard / farm about 2 years ago .
They had not long taken a new contract on and were snowed under and could not shut down , they had booked us to install a third incinerator already but not for 2 weeks and they were getting a bit behind .
They could take about 20 ton a day but were getting 25 - 30 ton of " product " a day on top of the usual so things did not smell good !
The " product "was dog , and i for one did not realize how much fat is in a dog !
While they were burning , it was literally pouring out the front of the incinerators and running across the yard , they kept chucking road salt on it to soak it up / stop it burning .
We knocked the power out twice by mistake and truly got smoked for a good 10 mins each time , on a separate note if they lose power for too long the heat will melt the burner motors !
Anyway the worst part was the main cable run which had to go past in front above the two incinerators and we had to lay all the swa through the running fat for the pull in , we got absolutely plastered i can not even begin to describe the smell or taste .
I remember in the evening when we had finished and washed up before leaving i was heading down the drive and brushed my hand through my hair and rubbed it across my cheek and when i looked in the mirror it looked like some one had poured olive oil over my face , thats how much fat was in my hair !
Needless to say all work gear got burnt after that job .
We have done numerous other not so pleasant jobs but from what i remember at the moment this the worst .

i know that smell worked at pointons in chedleton i heaved on the 1st visit

 

[Jonesy83]

mine was probably while wiring up a roller shutter door about 6 years ago when the roller shutter door was down setting the bottom limit a forklift smashed into it bringing the entire shutter down 9 metres high by 7 meters wide just missing me it was a brown trouser day that day

 

[Lofty]

Jeez, someone upstairs was looking after you then .

Cheers,
Lofty.

 

[telectrix]

i know that smell worked at pointons in chedleton i heaved on the 1st visit

didn't that used to be called something else, beginning with G.... i went there for an agency once, after 3 steps inside, i turned round and went home.

 

[malcolmsanford]

Here we have to be careful of sump pits, the normal thing if your opening a sump is is throw something large and heavy down it that makes a noise and gently go down with very bright lights.

The best myth over here is the poor Filipino lad that got attacked by a nest of camel spiders, just google these things they can be huge, and he died apparently of multipe bites, yet to be proved.

I also heard from a college that one of his lads got bitten by an Arabain Cobra out camping, though he survived he was not very well ...........

Mine was bats, we were doing an old oast house in the 80's and the place was full of them as it had been abandon years before.

 

[mogga]

classic. but would have been funnier if it had been a plumber.

even funnier if it was a Plasterer

 

[telectrix]

even funnier if it was a Plasterer

best would however be a building inspector

 

[Jonesy83]

didn't that used to be called something else, beginning with G.... i went there for an agency once, after 3 steps inside, i turned round and went home.

not sure always known it has pointons but a spark died on there few years ago trying pull a fitter out of a machine the fumes killed him the boss narrowly escaped prison with a hefty fine since then theyve been hot oh H&S