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13th Feb 2007, 07:01 PM #16Member: Blue and white apron brigade
- Join Date
- Feb 2006
- Location
- Perth
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- 7,182
Simso, you should post that story in the safety forum as an example of what can happen. My guess is not many WW read the metal work forum.
Anyway I hope you are OK now.
Cheers
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14th Feb 2007, 12:53 AM #17Golden Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2005
- Location
- Helensburgh
- Posts
- 618
The welding incident (I refuse to call it an accident as it was sheer stupidity) that happened in the last few days in a houseboat is an example of someone not taking proper precautions and thinking about danger. Inboard boat hulls are a bomb waiting to go off and boat hulls in general whether inboard or outboard powered need a huge amount of respect due to gas and oil and petrol leakage. Forced ventilation for an extended period of time is needed. The guy paid with his life, lets all learn from it.
Stupidity in welding stories are legion. Two guys were welding a very large pressure vessel and when they finished, they leak tested it and found a leak in the top. They were standing on top of said vessel, when with the pressure still in it, they decided to touch up the leak with a quick run of weld. It exploded and they too died and these guys were professionals and should have known better.CHRIS
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14th Feb 2007, 10:19 AM #18Senior Member
- Join Date
- Aug 2005
- Location
- Perth
- Posts
- 185
Okay just a little follow up on my previous post, and thanks bob all is good came out very safely. One of the earlier questions was how could you possibly catch a fire while welding or something along those lines. My story was merely to point out how easy it can happen. As far as the horrible tragedys that happen around the world, its always the welder thats blamed for stupidity ect in the inquests, people vary rarely look any further or try to find another reason. In my example, if one of the steel frisbees went threw me and I had of died, Ill bet your bottom dollar the inquest would have simply said the welder didnt ensure a safe and free clear zone. It wont take into consideration the fact that I stopped and started the job that I was required to go elsewhere during the job, that a person placed an empty drum of thinners on the metal rack ect, I would have been blamed and it left at that. There are always more than one side to any story and if your dead its hard to tell yours. These guys that die in these horrific accidents are just like you and me doing there job and its usually outside variables that end up killing them, not them doing there job. Very easy to call a dead man and idiot or morron ect, a tragedy is a tragedy but theres no need for bad labelling these people. Stupidity in welding stories are legendary. Thats a shame you should feel for these peoples families, if a clerk stuffs up his paperwork someone may not get paid ect or the order doenst get made, but in the building industry it usually results in death or impairment. We all stuff up no matter what the job, just the risks that go with it are different
Steve
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14th Feb 2007, 11:14 AM #19
Many years ago whilst in the RAN, we were told that a fuel tank cylinder is extremely dangerous when near empty. This applies to the usual cars fuel tank, or a huge LP gas tank.
Seems commonsense is out the winda with some, regardless of their occupation, qualification and supposed knowledge.
You want to try doing an Occ Health & Safety course and see how many in that classroom are destined to commit suicide in the workplace, just by their demeanour and behaviour in that classroom. I'd say without exaggeration, 2 out of every 10.
I sat here in Adelaide and watched the evening News covering the houseboat incident, and wondered why the hell this bloke didn't think to take into consideration, fumes?
Not casting aspertions upon anybody, but it was just another case of not doing your homework before attacking a task. Slack!
I've worked alongside people in the building industry who take chances/shortcuts every day, and doesn't it surprise you that they just happen to drive a car the same way? reflecting their attitude.
When I was a Weapons Mech in the Navy, we had 'em in the Magazine whilst priming projectiles, we had 'em on the Rifle Range.
They're out there, been living my life in the workforce hoping their stupid actions don't take one of my mates, or me, out.
I grimmace of the thought that many years ago I saw a fella in a Wrecking Yard firing up an Oxy -Acetylene to cut up a supposedly empty fuel tank???
Sorry but I'm pretty passionate about this subject.Paul 'MoonShine'
www.feelin-rustic.com/
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14th Feb 2007, 01:37 PM #20Novice
- Join Date
- Dec 2006
- Location
- QUEENSLAND
- Posts
- 12
44 gallon drums
44's have two seams- upper and lower, that form the rims- knockover seams for want of a better term. Over time, the contents of the drum gradually leach into this formed seam. No amount of steam-cleaning or whatever is going to penetrate that rolled seam, so when you go and cut that drum in half, an amount of those contents is present within this join.
Something to ponder when the contents of that drum are unknown.
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15th Feb 2007, 01:08 AM #21
know what you mean
Moonshine,
Spare a though for yours truly then.I agree with your statement but in my case I reckon its about 4 in 10.
Attitudes to safety amongst our school kids are sometimes just appalling
We have just started the new lot of year 11 Engineering kids. Gave them the standard instruction lecture of safety and expected behaviour in the workshop.I am real big on them not walking off from a lathe and leaving the chuck key in the lathe chuck, among other things.There are machine shops in this town will sack a machinist for doing that.
I specifically tell them "your hand never leaves the key while its in the chuck"
Half an hour later a smarts rrs cherub rocks up and announces in a loud voice about fellow student leaving key in the chuck.
The thing is, that the kid(the lathe operator) was innocent, he had nothing in the chuck and was getting stuff ready and had no reason to use the key at that stage.
I am sure this loudmouth had attempted to set him up. Being an ex boilermaker political correctness means little to me.
A quiet word to the suspected miscreant and mention mention of dire consequences far exceeding school behaviour management practices would have better effect.
The scary part is that some of these wombats will have a license to drive in less than 12 months.
Stepping down off his soap box
grumpy Grahame
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10th Nov 2007, 01:36 AM #22Intermediate Member
- Join Date
- Nov 2007
- Location
- Canberra Australia
- Posts
- 35
Years ago, While I was working as a labourer in a Plumbing and Sheetmetal shop. We had a job come in to alter a boats aluminum fuel tank. I got the job of flushing it out. It was left with water flushing it out for hours, and a few wash outs with detergent. I thought it must've been clean as a whistle and the shop foreman agreed. So he put it on his workbench and decided to strike an arc with this TIG torch on the filler neck just to check for a start.
Well BOOM, it flew a good 6 metres up through the air bounced off the roof (after denting it) and came back down and hit him on his shoulder. The explosion smashed half a dozen windows in the workshop and made a dust storm that you nearly couldn't see through (dust in the right concentration with air is a explosion hazard in itself).
The Foreman was ok besides a sore shoulder and ringing in his ears (all of ours were too). Mind you, he was half deaf from years of sheetmetal work. The fuel tank was a write off, and looked more like a half peeled banana and was built totally anew.
It was scary stuff, though once the dust cleared and found everyone was ok, we laughed a bit about it. To this day there is still a reminder of the incident, above this bench, the dent in the roof.
We all learnt a lesson, big time.
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