Posted on 08/26/2016 5:38:41 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
Being retired for some years, it is now safe to tell my tale of woe.
I carried the company's safety portfolio, attended too many classes to keep track of, they paid, I went.
One day the company moved to a new building and somehow all my 'stuff', was lost!
At a meeting a customer needs copies of some of my certs, an everyday event; except we cannot find them.
A few calls to friends that I attended class with and a bit of arm twisting, and I had some copies of their certs.
An evening with photoshop... I was a bit nervous; no one even looked at them!
Sometime later I move to a larger company and need a refinery 40 hr class I had never taken, my boss a very knowledgeable guy sends me to the one day refresher class! He knew there were no records of who had taken what!
Then I knew that most of it is total bunk!
Probably more hours spent watching out for the local safety team than actual work time?
If everything was done by the safety book, nothing would ever be done, ever.
Sadly, a fair chance that can happen.
I can say for a fact, if he were my guy and it got out like this story, I would have been toasted.
No cones,
Properly marked service vehicle with company name, phone number and licence prominently displayed.
No hazard signage or worksite markings
Proper permits ?
Flashing yellow lights on service vehicle
handrails
Locking job box ?
I think diving has to have yellow colored tools as well.
Union rules are even worse than safety rules. Back in ‘75, I was starting up a coal fired boiler in Arizona. Needed to make some small adjustments to a coal pulverizer. Maybe a 30 min. job by myself, but I couldn’t touch a tool in that union shop or they’d all be off the job in 5 minutes flat. So, the various unions graciously provided me with a carpenter to set up the scaffold and planks; an electrician to run an extension cord for the droplight; a boiler maker to handle the connections to the boiler; a pipefitter to disconnect various small pipes on the pulverizer; a millwright to disconnect and align couplings; AND a laborer to sweep the floor. It took six tradesmen four hours each to finish my 30 minute job. 24 man-hours of labor for a 30 minute job! Never before and never after have I seen such featherbedding!
And people wonder why manufacturing jobs have left the US of A.
That ain’t happening over in China - where the jobs are now.
Funny thing is I went to China about a year later to start some power plants. The structural steel was up in one plant building and it was time to pour the concrete floor. A big, heavy 12 inch high pressure valve had been sitting smack where they floor was to be poured. Those crafty concrete guys said “Nope, not our job to move that valve.” So they made a form around the valve and did the pour. A couple weeks later, somebody came and got the valve and there was that nice 3 ft by 3 ft hole in the floor!
Ha. Incredible.
I once had to dismantle a 60ft man-lifts platform drive section, removed the wheels and the Hydraulic motor's to get it out of a school gymnasium.
I had to winch it out on Hilmann rollers and slide it on steel plates and put it back together outside. They weigh about 27,000 pounds. Why did this happen to me? Because a stupid outside sales guy gave wrong measurements and nobody on site would own up to just being too stupid to pay attention. The only other option was bust out the door frames and cut masonry and reinforcements. It makes me wonder if I'm a hero or fool.
“An American, doing American stuff.”
‘Jobs Americans Won’t Do Anymore’- GW Bush, amnesty pusher
Be glad they didn’t take a liking to your grinder, for they might have taken it home.
A friend built a new house, and you should have seen the fancy fixtures and more he installed!
Hand hammered farmhouse sink, some kind of bronze!$!
I ask how much? He laughed, and told the rest of the story.
He is a plumbing contractor and goes to the show at Mccormick Place, on the last day. The vendors have to pay full boat to have ANYTHING carried out!
He purchased several complete displays, then had his union plumber, with his stickers on his hard hat and card in his pocket, to pick it all up.
He was so happy he took the venders out to lunch and gave them a ride to the airport!
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