Stay out of it. Keep calm, my head down and just do my job...
I did real good at it...
Five of the guys I usually work with were doing a job that looked " iffy", but seeing that one of them was my boss, and the other four blindly follow his every direction, I let it slide.
Smart. Civil. Non- combative...
I knew no one would listen anyway and it would be another head to head screaming match if things were unsafe, so I worked in a different area and left them to their tasks.
My other bosses complimented me on my new found people skills.
Lots of smiles, jokes and laughs....
I looked across the aisle, a little concerned, but the safety dude was present with them along with a few supervisors and a manager, all watching to insure a safe and well done job...
I finished my work orders and bee bopped around, searching for a new task.
I didn't have to wait long....
It seems my workmates had decided that they needed the trolley/ crane to go about eight feet farther than it was designed, and that removing the safety stop from where it was bolted was a good idea.
The plan was to use it to remove a one thousand pound roll from the machine and have three or four of the guys manually pull it away from the machine with straps, putting their body parts below it. Not a significantly dangerous practice and often a necessary one. Many, many times, I have been one of the guys holding the straps and guiding the roll...
But I would have known enough to drill holes at the end of the beam and mount a new safety stop. I've done it before.
I would have argued and told them that removing a safety stop without installing another, further down, was stupid, dangerous and negligent.
I would have not used people skills well...
You see, I used to work on boat engines and pulled large engines out of boats at the pier, as they rocked from waves made by passing vessels, using remarkably similar, if not slightly more primitive, devices...
And I NEVER did it without a bolted stop on the I beam...
Long story longer, these gentlemen ran the crane off of the beam...
Thankfully, they hadn't figured out how to strap it to the thousand pound roll they were planning on lifting, yet..
If it had been hooked and raised, the trolley would have traveled past the beams end like it just did, and the thousand pound roll would have crushed three or four men against the floor or opposite wall...
With the crane on the floor, nothing would have been available to lift the roll off of those crushed...
It was a much closer call than almost all of these guys ever had.
The guys that think OSHA and safety are stupid and overblown.
The worst part was that our safety guy was with them and plant supervisors and a manager thought they were doing a splendid job.
So, I went around our plant afterwards, checking all our cranes, for safety...
Funny thing is, they sent a mechanic home on a completely different job for breaking a safety rule that he never actually did break.
But none of those involved in the crane fiasco had a word spoken to them.
Not the maintenance boss, safety dude or any of the guys involved had an iota of discipline...
Probably because salaried bosses watched it happen and did nothing to stop it...
With all the compliments I received for my people skills and keeping my mouth shut early on, you think I would feel proud.
I don't...
I did exactly what my bosses wanted and kept peace, but my silence, my absence and my wanting to keep my job almost killed a group of idiots who are professionals and should have known better...
But I knew they didn't.
Sadly, I did...
No comments:
Post a Comment