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Evans Electric

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Have you any cases of frightening breeches of Health and Safety ?

Although I would always support safe working, I think it has gone too far these days.

Years ago, as a young sparky, I wired a new nurses home and had to connect the sub-main switch fuse to a 500amp bus-bar chamber. Being a hospital the power could'nt be switched off. The supervisor says disconnect the earth wire from the drill (metal in those days) and drill the bars ready for lugs, don't touch earth and you'll be ok, tape up your spanners and bolt 'em up, see you back at the yard.

I did'nt do it, the hospital engineer arranged a weekend shutdown .

Deke

 
Yes, but the best one wasn`t `leccy based...

The company I used to work for did kitchens & bathrooms. He sent me to meet one of the lads, to help with installing a window into a bathroom (no window there before!!)

I arrive. Brickie/fitter arrives. Materials supplied by boss:

double ten extension ladder.

9" grinder (carborundum) - leccy!

upvc window.

Oh, yes. This is a second floor window.

Did we do it? yes!

Was the boss` face priceless when he saw the invoice for:

scaff. tower.

12" petrol saw & diamond blade (bought not hired] :) )

concrete lintel.

Paying wasn`t an issue - his accounts were on stop so often, he`d given me 3 different credit card details to use as necessary. I decided this was necessary.....

 
Look at any site/ job where your jam rolls are working, they don't know what health and safety is and wouldn't do anything about it anyhow because it would cost.
Please excuse me for being thick, but whats a jam roll? ?:|

 
It is a thin sponge, layered with Jam and rolled up. ;)

]:)

 
I didn't know what is was either Mate.

 
Whilst working as a stonemason, was doing conservation work on Carfax tower in Oxford.

The scaff tower did not line up perpendicular with the structure leaving a gap of at least two meters, the site foremans brilliant solution was to reverse the works tranny into the scaff tower, thus pushing it towards the structure.

We stood back whilst he did this, (way, way back)

All went well until the base of the scaff tower connected with the base of the structure, this then buckled the scaff towers base stucture and the whole sodding lot came down in about three seconds.

Laugh, I nearly died. Two of the bars went through the roof of the tranny one of which narrowly missed the foreman.(shame)

He never worked for the company again after that.

 
I was asked on a large job in london in the nineties to go up in a bucket on a tower crane and connect some lights on another tower crane next to it. I said no but another sparks working on the job did do it. scary!

 
when i worked in maintanace for a hotel we had one of out canopys on the top floor balcony fall in teh strong wind, was being held on by one bolt,

car park directly under it filled with cars.

MDs response

get up there on the roof (3 story building in a gale) and tie some rope to it to hold it up.

the roof was totaly flat, and no where to tie the rope to

his answer again tie it to the rain water pipe on the other side of the roof :|

plasitc did not hold it up to say the least : D

not our problem we wanted the fire service out to help us but he wouldent let us

poor cars : D

i left a month later the storys from there were shocking

litrally sometimes

: )

 
Sparkyrj, reminded me that a fellow sparks who specialises in breakdowns used to, many years back, climb the tower cranes and along the jib to attend to some elect. gizzmo up there. He did this until his missus saw him and did her nut, said did he think their kids would come and scrape him off the concrete twenty stories below.

After he stopped he lost his nerve for heights !!

Deke

 
not so much a elf an safety thing today, but went to fit 5 downlights in a bathroom, fitted and all tested no problem

went into kitchen to move a socket from back of dishwasher to inside th cupboard, put finger into hole to check where pipes were nothing :D i thinks so started drilling a hole about 6 mm with a 87mm hole saw attached, suddenly lake rugeley appeared in the customers kitchen, and ended up with a swimming kitchen.

not pleased at this point ended up takling half the back out dripping wet had to change at home 20 mintues drive there and back.

and a plumbers bill to fix the flooding pipe, mind the stop cock was next to where i drilled by inches so water shut off within seconds. first one today, and bound NOT to be the last...

:( :_| :_|

 
Nice one FS , we've all been there. I drilled a hole in a hospital ceiling to support the end of a florrie, other end on a flush conduit box. No one had told me that plastered over in the walls and ceilings are these flat heating radiators !! Thought the SDS was struggling a bit when I was deluged in black very hot water.

Great trade to be in 'aint it ??

Deke

 
Once Replaced A Consumer Unit, The New One Was Slightly Bigger, So Redrilled New Fixings, Next Thing A Hissing Noise Smell Off Gas, A Flush Gas Pipe Had Been Installed Right Next To Existing Consumer.

 
Task-Running conduit and pyros along the horizontal purlins holding the cladding to a warehouse 25ft up. tower? no, skyjack? no, double extension? ****** that too heavy, the solution? Pocket jammed full of saddles, other one full of caddy-clips, gob full of 2BA pinz'n'nuts, drill llashed to belt, hammer wired to a zip tie round the wrist, extension lead tied off round the waist and away we go! inching sideways along the purlin below with one hand for the job and one hand seperating me from an appointment on the operating table.Pray Jeez I shudder to think how gung-ho it all was when I was an apprentice.

 
Once walked along a youngaman board (gang plank) 10ft out, & 30ft up, with a pair of 6 tread steps to change a light fitting in a tall factory, with 6 sparky mates at the other end counterbalancing me.(good job H & S didnt see us) Dave :p :p:p:p:p:p:p

 
Once walked along a youngaman board (gang plank) 10ft out, & 30ft up, with a pair of 6 tread steps to change a light fitting in a tall factory, with 6 sparky mates at the other end counterbalancing me.(good job H & S didnt see us) Dave :p :p:p:p:p:p:p
:eek: :O:O:O Blimey, I dread to think of the possibilties of what might have gone wrong.

 
had loads of prety dodgy work related senarios whilst fitting kitchens on site but the best/worst was when i wes a bit green and daft,fitting kitchens to a block of flats in manchester the kind that have stairs in the middle between the flats in a glass enclosure,no access to the far flats and no stairs just a ladder all the way to the 5th floor.loaded the kitchens on a forklift to the top floor flat through the balcony and walked across a single scaffold plank with the units/tools/worktops to flats across the way!!! i must have been mad.

 
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