Time to leave? For safety issues

[Wayne]

Picture this -

I was at work today and part of what I was doing took me outside near the goods receiving department.

Parked there was a white transit type van advertising gas fitters/engineers, the side and rear doors on the van are open.

One side of the van is covered with racking to store tools and equipment.

Laid flat on the floor of the van is a two wheeled trolley, like a sack barrow with two cylinders strapped to it. I could not see what kind of gas they held as only the bottoms were visible.

Laid across these was an even larger trolley similar to the first, strapped to this was an Oxy aecetelyne set. Neither of the trolleys are strapped down to stop them moving.

The gafferer and his mate were there - an oldish chap and a young lad in his early twenties at a guess, both were busily piling copper and steel pipe on top of the cylinders followed by a metal step ladder.

Going by past experience at work these guys probably put in the cheapest bid.

I am not sure what scared me the most, the way the van was loaded or that they were working were I work.

[macbruce]

Sounds a bit dodgy to me....Best keep an eye on those gits............ :D

[WmHorus]

I woulda used the word plonkers

[Frosty]

We used to have a guy like that where I worked in the early 70's. The only term we came up with was, "Old Tom" nobody had to say more.

Do we have a concise term for "statistic wanna be?" The really sucky part of these types is they're likely to take innocents with them.

Frosty The Lucky.

[tzonoqua]

well, it is concerning that the acetylene one was laid on it's side, it's not good unless the persons know to leave it upright for 24 hrs before using. And they should be tied down during transit, but really other than that there are not a lot of regulations, only guidelines for transporting cylinders like that. Sounds like shoddy practice, but the practice is a lot more common than you think it might be. And dragging things over them is not good, might hit, damage the valves, etc.

[territorialmillworks]

In Arizona, you have to have the tank caps on or have the gauge/valve protectors in place. A highway patrol officer was telling me about giving a guy a written warning for transporting ox/acet tanks without the protectors. The reason he gave the warning was because the ticket were so expensive and the guy was just trying to make a living. The next day at the same time and place, this bozo drives past the same HP officer...you guessed it, 2 tickets, one for each tank LOL for a total of $480. I call that contempt of cop. Don't know what the protectors cost but they had to be less than the tickets.

[ramsies11]

here in s missouri, i am scared to even drive by a particular resturant most of the time because we have this group of workers who have their torch sets on the side of their truck, and most the the time the tubes and connectors are all still attached to the tanks. i dont know if its on or not, and what damage the actual torch bit has to it that could let it leak gas. they always come out of their trucks smoking cigars/cigarettes and sometimes they light one right outside of the truck and walk into the resturant. its just plain scary for me because it would in fact be my luck that somehow one of those gents left his tanks open and there is somthing wrong with the nozzle so its leaking gas and as they leave, one decides to light up......
i am frankly surprised at how little attention people pay to things like this, one of their trucks didnt even have a chain around the two, very tall and probably very heavy cylenders, they had a bit of what looked like baling twine loosely attached. all i know is when someone mentions about having them do work for them i advise against it, i know it probably isnt right but i dont want one of my friends to see them and the kaboom im waiting on to finally happen.

[OzMatt]

There was a guy in Australia who died recently in an explosion in his van. Dangerous stuff.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/melbourne-plumber-dies-after-van-explodes-20111212-1oq5m.html

[ErictheRed1990]

when i was working as an insulator i was up on a scissor lift up with the supports for a multi ton mobile crane and the welders that had done the job on the supports for it, had absolute garbage popcorn welding in random spots and they called it safe yea, the next day 4 scissor lifts were lifting a cross beam that was going to be the crane and when they put weight on it the entire end came crashing down and in turn dropped the cross beam on the 4 scissor lifts and collapsed them all, luckily noone was killed, its crazy when people try to cut corners with jobs that concern others safety,

[Yetti]

this was a acetylene leak inside a plumbers van. it was triggered by hitting the remote door locks.

[macbruce]

Impressive! Gives a new meaning to ''pop the lock''....lol, Was anyone killed? I expect the plumber lost some hair off his forearms at least....

[Yetti]

funny you say. i am not sure as it wasn't mensioned in the artical

[Frosty]

Probably a remote door lock, fatalities are usually mentioned. A leak in open air is mostly just expensive, in enclosed spaces it can be B-A-D.

Frosty The Lucky.