Monday, April 30, 2012
Back to the End!
After flying out I was actually kind of looking forward to a good couple of weeks working and earning money. For the first time ever I have been put into a Supervisor Suite in the east part of the camp and I love the room. It is wider than the normal ones and has a double bed! After lousy sleeps in the single beds this has been a nice switch. But how long will it last for?
The boys on the backshift have been saying that this job is almost over. They are saying that the welding is almost done and that there is no connecting left for the Ironworkers it only some reaming, bolting and impacting. It makes things feel a bit ominous. I know we have the Syncrude job coming up but it is always a little sad when things come to an end. Already there are guys like my curmudgeonly welder friend Shane who have left and taken a leave but who we will see a month down the road at Syncrude.
That is the nature of this work. We come together by the chance of the project. We make friends. And when the project ends we say good bye and move on as the cycle repeats itself. Down the road, if we stay on it long enough, we will see our friends again on other projects where we have often randomly been thrown.
I am wondering if there will be a top-out ceremony. That is where as the last beam is raised we honor our union and the others involved in the project by raising a beam draped with our union flag and some other things. It would be kind of cool to participate in one of those this early in my career. It's hard to say what will happen but it would be fun to be part of.
I have mentioned many times the value of routine a d how it keeps us stable on these long 'away' stretches. This sort of thing, ending one job and moving on to another in another camp, forces change in our routines and so people will probably get more and more agitated as the job closes down. But a lot of us are going to Syncrude and that purports to be a three year plus project. It has camps that are less restrictive and it is a lot closer to town. That means that when this one is over it shouldn't take too long for us to find our. Esso routine and rhythm. Oddly enough though I am going to miss this place and all the quirky unique things about it!
Post Script: the good folks at blogspot have changed a lot of things a out how our blogs are posted. As a result things like having only one very long paragraph is an example. Please bear with me while I figure out these changes or simply move my blog to a new location. Mae culpa!
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Flying here, there and everywhere!
Flights here, flights there, flights everywhere
I have a friend who is convinced that Esso is paying for our flights and our employer is making money off that by sending us home on milk runs. I don't believe it for a second but as far as conspiracy theories go it is an interesting one. The idea is that Esso pays a lump sum per guy, say $500. By sending us on the milk runs they average much less, say $250. Therefore they pocket the difference.
I don't believe that theory and think instead that they pay the flights themselves and are trying desperately to save money. After all, they only recently started offering flights and what triggered the offer was their need for extra men and inability to find any. They needed the men because they were behind schedule and were probably losing money each day it continued. So I think my reasoning makes more sense.
No matter what the reason for offering the flights they are booked in the most milky milk run fashion possible. Unfortunately if one doesn't like it one could always pay for their own tickets. But it does set you up for potential trouble.
When you have been in camp long enough you want a beer and a woman. As you have to get home for the woman then the first thing on your mind is the beer. With our flight we couldn't have a cold one till we reached Calgary and were waiting for the trip to Winnipeg. So we had a few pints with our food and then we flew to Winnipeg. We had a couple more beers there. But when we got onto the plane to head to Toronto the stewardess on WestJet told us we were intoxicated and put us off the plane!!! No test. No breathalyzer! Just a 'get off or we call the cops!' WestJet did rebook us for the next day but that left us at a hotel in the Peg where we REALLY drank some beer. In what can only be described as true irony when I flew out at 4:45am the next morning I truly was intoxicated where I hadn't been the night before!
Did I mention that my flight back to camp at the end of the turn left at 7:35 am from Ottawa? I don't live in Ottawa but am 3 hours from it. So on Saturday my wife and I headed to Ottawa and stayed in a hotel. It was fun but cost me 2 days out of my turn at home.
Irony being a theme of this entry these flights were ironic! After my longest stay in camp (24 day) it took 2 full days to get home. It took a other 2 full days to get back! That only left 4 short days at home! Painfully short but fully ironic when it is considered next to the very long work turn that proceeded it!
Oh well! Two more weeks and I get to do it again! The joys of free flights!!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Sex and Day 23
I am not in the mood to write today as I am too damn distracted. 23 days up here and all I can think about is sex. God I'm a horny beast at the moment! I feel a bit like Pavlov's famous dog that drooled when ever a bell was rung after having been trained that the bell meant a steak was coming. Except to hell with steak! I want a woman! Aaaaargh!
To make matters worse I am not the only goat in the group. It seems everyone has dogging on their mind. And so most of our conversation is sprinkled with sexual reference and innuendo. And here I always thought that word was Italian for anal sex! Innuendo... get it? Ok that was a bad attempt at humor but a good example of how the people up here, myself included, are mentally slipping back to our animalistic roots and as such our procreational needs are ripping through the seams.
When people sit around and talk about sex it always gets me thinking. I went to all male private schools when I was a kid and I played football for years so I have heard lots of this kind of talk and braggadocio. Buddy says something like: "I picked up this girl one time and..." and out comes an entertaining whopper of a story. Usually it is complete bullshit but as I said its entertaining. Being male and having spent a long time with males I can tell you that I typically only believe about 30% of this kind of stuff when it comes from a man. Not to say that they don't personally believe that it actually happened as half the time they do. But in those cases I chalk it up to being a lie they have been telling for so long they actually believe it.
I'll give you an example of what I mean by that. One time when I was 14 or 15 I was over at the house of some slightly older 'cool kids'. We were smoking at the time. We were smoking more than just cigarettes too. It was a warm day so I had on a denim vest, a pair of cut off shorts and a speedo bathing suit underneath it. And I was so cool (and stoned) that I was smoking a cigarette. I took a drag and as I went to pull it from my mouth it stuck to my lips because I had the pasties. The result was that my hand came away my mouth without the cigarette but with the heater stuck between my fingers. I yelped loudly and shook my hand vigorously causing the heater to fly up in the air, slide down the front of my vest on the chest side burning it all the way and finally ending up inside my cutoffs where it proceeded to melt my speedo onto my testicles. My only reaction was to slam my hand down hard and in so doing I knocked myself out. I am telling this story now because this summer I heard my little brother tell it and in his version HE WAS THERE. By my calculations he would have been 11 at the time and there is no way I would have brought him. But he absolutely swears that he was there. So this is a good example of how a person can tell a lie for so long they start to believe it.
Where me tend to lie and exaggerate their conquests women are the exact opposite. No matter what they tell you know in your heart that they did MORE than they are admitting to. I even have a hunch as to why this is. If a woman admits to something, particularly sexual, the person listening will expect at least the same should they get her in the sack. Here is what it might sound like:
Him: hey baby, roll over now I'm goind to put my junk in your trunk!
Her: no way! That would hurt!
Him: but you did it with that guy who you boinked in the bathroom of that club uptown. I remember when you told us!
So the truth is that where sex and sex stories are concerned no one tells the truth!!
Sorry to use this space to vent some of my sexual tension. But 23 days in and that's all I can think about. It doesn't mean I will get anything when I get home but like that drooling dog the promise is there and I can hear the bell so I too am drooling!
Friday, April 20, 2012
Women in the trades
As I have no real idea who reads this blog I want to address this one to women who may be considering getting into the trades. The 'stars' of this entry will be the several women on our site who actually make it look easy. They are able to do this because of a mixture of personal characteristics of which having a thick skin seems to be the common element.
I think that thick skin is essential because the women here work in what is still a male dominated world known as construction. It is a tough world in that you work hard and are tired and you are a long way from your family and, and, and. As a coping mechanism we tend to use humor and that humor tends to be bawdy in nature. So if this sort of thing offends you for goodness sakes don't go into the trades!
For women with an ability to let that sort of stuff roll of their backs construction can be a very rewarding place to find one's self. For starters you are significantly out numbered by men and probably most of them will hit on you. But in the same joking manner they probably hit on each other too. Like I said before the humor is bawdy. And it is continuous.
I should also point out that accommodations are made for people who aren't as strong or as tall or as ... whatever as the men. In our trailer one of the favorites of the group is Britt. She also goes by Smurf, half-pint, Shrek and about anything else that a person can think up. She has a great sense of humor and gives it back at least as good as she gets it. But Britt isn't the tallest person in the world and even in her tiny little work boots (I want to get a pair from her to bronze and hang from my rear view mirror) she would be telling a stretcher if she claimed to be over 5 feet tall. But she works hard and pulls her weight. Let me tell you about some of her challenges and in advance say that she conquered them all.
Britt is an iron worker. As an apprentice (like me) we carry heavy loads, run to the tool crib 100 times a day, we 'pull cable' and we set up welder stations. At the moment Britt does all of these thing but not so much when we started. Instead she became the queen of the grinder. We men were told to pull cable (set up and/or chase various chords and cables usually about 6 feet in the air) and Britt was told to grind. We were told to unload heavy wire. Britt was told to grind. We carried heavy welding boxes upstairs. Britt was told to grind. And so on.
So all day long poor little Britt sat on a little wooden box and ground rough metal seams. All day long she sat with her little mask on under her faceshield and ground and ground and ground. I am guessing that about a thousand times a day she asked herself 'why the fuck am I doing this???' but to her credit she never quit. She never complained more than anyone else. She endured the aching arms and cramped hands. And she succeeded. And she got stronger. And slowly she started doing all those other things we apprentice Ironworkers do and she learned to do them well. That is probably why she is a favorite in our trailer. That and the fact that she looks like a cute little Ewok when loaded into her construction gear and when you add the voluminous safety gear to the equation.
There are other women on our site who are Ironworkers. Nicky is a foreman and is a good one. She knows her stuff, has an indomitable personality, is usually happy, and has a lot of respect on our site. And if she is angry watch out as she can spit fire from her eyes while chewing you up like a piece of gum. I don't know much else about Nicky other than the fact that she comes from a family of Ironworkers and has several relatives working onsite.
Kate is a certified Ironworker who I heard has 11 years on the tools. At the moment she is on contract with Waiward in some kind of safety capacity but I think she wants
To get back on the tools again. Ironworking does that to you. It gets into you blood and is hard to squeeze out. Kate is tall and beautiful and has a really attractive French accent but you wouldn't want to tick her off! Like Nicky she takes no shit and is formidable when crossed. Even the male Formen are afraid to cross her!
A few articles ago I mentioned our close and symbiotic relationship with the scaffolders. There are a lot of women in this trade although we only work closely with 2. Emma is a third year apprentice and comes from a long line of scaffolders. She has both a father and a brother working in the trade. Emma works in a crew with two men who are both journeymen and that fact surprised me when I found out as it looked like she was running the crew! Emma has a happy disposition and is quick to share both smiles and humor with everyone and anyone. And there is always a hint of mischief in her freckled green eyes. Emma makes her trade look easy even though it is probably not. She would be a good mentor to anyone entering the trade.
Yvonne is another scaffolder and like Emma is a third year apprentice. Like me she is past her 20s and is possibly past her 30s too. Like Britt she is not the tallest person on the planet. But she works hard and pulls her weight and does so with a smile on her face.
So basically there are some common traits found in women who are successful in the trades. The thick skin and ability to dish back the rough humor that is a daily reality. A good disposition makes it work better too. And finally the confidence to do the hard work without complaint would be another important feature. But hey, these are also the characteristics a man requires for success in the trades too! And that IS as it should be now isn't it?
There are some women who come up here for more than just the work. Some women come up looking for an mrs degree (as in becoming Mrs. Somebody or other). But these people tend to not last too long. This really is a place where only the strong survive. Male or female.
I think that thick skin is essential because the women here work in what is still a male dominated world known as construction. It is a tough world in that you work hard and are tired and you are a long way from your family and, and, and. As a coping mechanism we tend to use humor and that humor tends to be bawdy in nature. So if this sort of thing offends you for goodness sakes don't go into the trades!
For women with an ability to let that sort of stuff roll of their backs construction can be a very rewarding place to find one's self. For starters you are significantly out numbered by men and probably most of them will hit on you. But in the same joking manner they probably hit on each other too. Like I said before the humor is bawdy. And it is continuous.
I should also point out that accommodations are made for people who aren't as strong or as tall or as ... whatever as the men. In our trailer one of the favorites of the group is Britt. She also goes by Smurf, half-pint, Shrek and about anything else that a person can think up. She has a great sense of humor and gives it back at least as good as she gets it. But Britt isn't the tallest person in the world and even in her tiny little work boots (I want to get a pair from her to bronze and hang from my rear view mirror) she would be telling a stretcher if she claimed to be over 5 feet tall. But she works hard and pulls her weight. Let me tell you about some of her challenges and in advance say that she conquered them all.
Britt is an iron worker. As an apprentice (like me) we carry heavy loads, run to the tool crib 100 times a day, we 'pull cable' and we set up welder stations. At the moment Britt does all of these thing but not so much when we started. Instead she became the queen of the grinder. We men were told to pull cable (set up and/or chase various chords and cables usually about 6 feet in the air) and Britt was told to grind. We were told to unload heavy wire. Britt was told to grind. We carried heavy welding boxes upstairs. Britt was told to grind. And so on.
So all day long poor little Britt sat on a little wooden box and ground rough metal seams. All day long she sat with her little mask on under her faceshield and ground and ground and ground. I am guessing that about a thousand times a day she asked herself 'why the fuck am I doing this???' but to her credit she never quit. She never complained more than anyone else. She endured the aching arms and cramped hands. And she succeeded. And she got stronger. And slowly she started doing all those other things we apprentice Ironworkers do and she learned to do them well. That is probably why she is a favorite in our trailer. That and the fact that she looks like a cute little Ewok when loaded into her construction gear and when you add the voluminous safety gear to the equation.
There are other women on our site who are Ironworkers. Nicky is a foreman and is a good one. She knows her stuff, has an indomitable personality, is usually happy, and has a lot of respect on our site. And if she is angry watch out as she can spit fire from her eyes while chewing you up like a piece of gum. I don't know much else about Nicky other than the fact that she comes from a family of Ironworkers and has several relatives working onsite.
Kate is a certified Ironworker who I heard has 11 years on the tools. At the moment she is on contract with Waiward in some kind of safety capacity but I think she wants
To get back on the tools again. Ironworking does that to you. It gets into you blood and is hard to squeeze out. Kate is tall and beautiful and has a really attractive French accent but you wouldn't want to tick her off! Like Nicky she takes no shit and is formidable when crossed. Even the male Formen are afraid to cross her!
A few articles ago I mentioned our close and symbiotic relationship with the scaffolders. There are a lot of women in this trade although we only work closely with 2. Emma is a third year apprentice and comes from a long line of scaffolders. She has both a father and a brother working in the trade. Emma works in a crew with two men who are both journeymen and that fact surprised me when I found out as it looked like she was running the crew! Emma has a happy disposition and is quick to share both smiles and humor with everyone and anyone. And there is always a hint of mischief in her freckled green eyes. Emma makes her trade look easy even though it is probably not. She would be a good mentor to anyone entering the trade.
Yvonne is another scaffolder and like Emma is a third year apprentice. Like me she is past her 20s and is possibly past her 30s too. Like Britt she is not the tallest person on the planet. But she works hard and pulls her weight and does so with a smile on her face.
So basically there are some common traits found in women who are successful in the trades. The thick skin and ability to dish back the rough humor that is a daily reality. A good disposition makes it work better too. And finally the confidence to do the hard work without complaint would be another important feature. But hey, these are also the characteristics a man requires for success in the trades too! And that IS as it should be now isn't it?
There are some women who come up here for more than just the work. Some women come up looking for an mrs degree (as in becoming Mrs. Somebody or other). But these people tend to not last too long. This really is a place where only the strong survive. Male or female.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
A Culture of Safety
I hate it when some big wig from a company further up the corporate chain comes into our trailer to talk safety with us. They inevitably have a heavy Yankee accent and a tone of voice that sounds less than genuine. This guy was classic. He said: "ah bin sent here from Esso because Esso is walkin' the tawk.' This obviously made very little sense to anyone but he went on anyway: "Ahm here as an extra set uv eyes on accounta your safety record has bin less'n stellar." After this the clown act blabbed for a few more minutes in his artificially sympathetic Yankee drawl about our families being dependent on our health. He even held up a photo of some kid in his Dad's work boots which for dramatic affect he finished off by tearing in two. We dubbed him the picture-ripper.
His Yankee chat got me thinking about a culture of safety. Theoretically he was there to reinforce or to build up our safety culture. But he went about it in the completely wrong way. I know this to be true as I studied organizational design in graduate school. It was pretty clear that coming in and criticizing our track record and then using a dramatic ploy to scare us would be similar to pouring boiling water on a seedling and hoping it would grow. Besides, he was misinformed about our safety record.
I work with the welders and our safety record actually is pretty stellar. One guy got one little burn and that's it. Multiple guys welding every day and no injuries. Multiple guys grinding every day and only 3 eye injuries in 18 months. I am not commenting on other crews but am simply pointing out that our crew has a great record and it is because of the solid culture of safety that we have developed.
For a safety culture to mean anything or to be successful it has to start at the grass roots level. Our trailer is a good example. First it begins with the Foremen and at the start of each day during the toolbox talks. Ours last a full half hour where some crews' last less than 10 minutes which we know because their guys come in to get gear from our trailer and in doing so interrupt our meeting. Our meetings are longer. Because our Foremen (Mario and Greg) really focus on the safety during our meeting. No matter which one leads the meeting it is sprinkled with anecdotes from their broad experience (both have over 30 years in the field and 'on the tools'). The message they give is sincere and it is echoed and reinforced by the senior Journeymen in the group. But it doesn't stop there.
The message from our toolbox talks is carried by the journeymen out to the site and they live it out on the job. Our crew had a big job welding hoisting lugs onto some pieces of heavy wear plate. These things weighed in the neighborhood of 100+ pounds each so the chances of getting pitched fingers or of dropping them on our toes was significant. Add to that the fact that we were outside and that it snowed heavily each day and there was a huge potential for injury. In the end there was none.
There were no injuries because we had the right reinforcement from above. At toolbox we went over all the potential problems with the Foremen and worked out solutions. In the field the Journeymen made sure we started with shovelling and putting down sand for traction. Whenever we carried a plate we talked over our route and in advance knew the process for putting it down without hurting each other. The Senior Journeyman on the job even led the way in picking up any warning tape or earplug packets that were on the ground and which represented trip hazards. As a result there were no injuries.
There is a lesson in all of this. For a successful culture to be developed the message must be genuine. It must be believed and lived by the senior crew level guys. It must be lived and practiced by the senior crew-level workers. And it must be looked at as having real value for the transfer of skills from senior guys to junior guys to take place. And it should be a point of pride with the crew as it is for us.
So parachuting in senior Yankees to put us down works against what our crew has worked so hard to achieve. I am just glad that our crew is tight enough to throw off the Yankee paper-ripper's bullshit. And I am even more glad that Foreman Greg said at a recent meeting how proud he was of our record. He added: "That paper-ripper doesn't know what he's talking about. Our record is stellar and it's because of all of you. I am so proud to be part of this crew!" What Greg didn't realize is that the picture-ripping Yank was standing at the end of the trailer and heard what we thought of both him and his detrimental approach. This time the Yankee didn't say a thing but simply stood there glowing red.
His Yankee chat got me thinking about a culture of safety. Theoretically he was there to reinforce or to build up our safety culture. But he went about it in the completely wrong way. I know this to be true as I studied organizational design in graduate school. It was pretty clear that coming in and criticizing our track record and then using a dramatic ploy to scare us would be similar to pouring boiling water on a seedling and hoping it would grow. Besides, he was misinformed about our safety record.
I work with the welders and our safety record actually is pretty stellar. One guy got one little burn and that's it. Multiple guys welding every day and no injuries. Multiple guys grinding every day and only 3 eye injuries in 18 months. I am not commenting on other crews but am simply pointing out that our crew has a great record and it is because of the solid culture of safety that we have developed.
For a safety culture to mean anything or to be successful it has to start at the grass roots level. Our trailer is a good example. First it begins with the Foremen and at the start of each day during the toolbox talks. Ours last a full half hour where some crews' last less than 10 minutes which we know because their guys come in to get gear from our trailer and in doing so interrupt our meeting. Our meetings are longer. Because our Foremen (Mario and Greg) really focus on the safety during our meeting. No matter which one leads the meeting it is sprinkled with anecdotes from their broad experience (both have over 30 years in the field and 'on the tools'). The message they give is sincere and it is echoed and reinforced by the senior Journeymen in the group. But it doesn't stop there.
The message from our toolbox talks is carried by the journeymen out to the site and they live it out on the job. Our crew had a big job welding hoisting lugs onto some pieces of heavy wear plate. These things weighed in the neighborhood of 100+ pounds each so the chances of getting pitched fingers or of dropping them on our toes was significant. Add to that the fact that we were outside and that it snowed heavily each day and there was a huge potential for injury. In the end there was none.
There were no injuries because we had the right reinforcement from above. At toolbox we went over all the potential problems with the Foremen and worked out solutions. In the field the Journeymen made sure we started with shovelling and putting down sand for traction. Whenever we carried a plate we talked over our route and in advance knew the process for putting it down without hurting each other. The Senior Journeyman on the job even led the way in picking up any warning tape or earplug packets that were on the ground and which represented trip hazards. As a result there were no injuries.
There is a lesson in all of this. For a successful culture to be developed the message must be genuine. It must be believed and lived by the senior crew level guys. It must be lived and practiced by the senior crew-level workers. And it must be looked at as having real value for the transfer of skills from senior guys to junior guys to take place. And it should be a point of pride with the crew as it is for us.
So parachuting in senior Yankees to put us down works against what our crew has worked so hard to achieve. I am just glad that our crew is tight enough to throw off the Yankee paper-ripper's bullshit. And I am even more glad that Foreman Greg said at a recent meeting how proud he was of our record. He added: "That paper-ripper doesn't know what he's talking about. Our record is stellar and it's because of all of you. I am so proud to be part of this crew!" What Greg didn't realize is that the picture-ripping Yank was standing at the end of the trailer and heard what we thought of both him and his detrimental approach. This time the Yankee didn't say a thing but simply stood there glowing red.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Geared up for safety
While watching a fellow worker put on their copious safety gear I was reminded of a scene from the old film Kat Ballou. In the movie the aged gunfighter played by Lee Marvin is going through the process of gearing up for an impending gunfight. The amount of gear he puts on borders on the rediculous but that is the point that they are trying to make. All he really needs is his gun. That scene is also a fun little poke at the old books about the Knights of the round table. In those books the knight was always dressed for battle by a squire. It transformed him from being a normal looking man to being seemingly impenetrable.
Safety gear and those things on the 'absolute' list of things to wear are kind of like that. Some pieces, like the hard hat for instance, are things no iron worker would leave at home regardless of whether it was necessary or not. I have personally banged my hat on lots of low roofs this job and imagine that it has 'saved me' many times. To the safety folks though all of are gear is necessary and makes us somewhat impenetrable.
Some of the safety gear requirement are knee jerk reactions to some injury or other. I think having us wear 'stripes' and 'yak traks' fall into this category. With the stripes (fluorescent striping so that you can be seen at night) probably became an absolute when someone was hit by a vehicle as a result of not being seen. But that 'not being seen' probably happened at night. Now we have to wear those stupid things whenever we work day or night. The problem is that they get caught on everything you walk past and I have personally almost been flung from a ladder as a result of such a hookup. I have caught it on scaffolding, on materials, on ladders and on doors. It is far more dangerous than not wearing it at all. Besides, they get dirty so quickly that they wouldn't reflect light anyway.
Having to wear yak traks over our boots is the same sort of thing. Someone probably fell on ice so a safety Whig came up with these as a solution. The fact that even the packaging that they come in warns that on any surface other than snow these become dangerous must have missed their eye. As anyone who has worked in construction knows there are hundreds of different surfaces on every site. And according to said packaging they are all dangerous if walked on with these so called safety items.
I have a feeling that behind all the safety insanity lies Workers Comp. I bet every time someone gets injured the comp payments go up unless one of the safety fools can think up a brilliant solution. Pretty soon we will have kickstands on our work boots and Darth Vader helmets! Our gloves will be made of steel and we will wear chain link to protect our chests and legs. And pretty soon we will need a squire to dress us in all this shit. So thinking back to our knight of old I ask you this: is safety gear moving forward or backward?
Safety gear and those things on the 'absolute' list of things to wear are kind of like that. Some pieces, like the hard hat for instance, are things no iron worker would leave at home regardless of whether it was necessary or not. I have personally banged my hat on lots of low roofs this job and imagine that it has 'saved me' many times. To the safety folks though all of are gear is necessary and makes us somewhat impenetrable.
Some of the safety gear requirement are knee jerk reactions to some injury or other. I think having us wear 'stripes' and 'yak traks' fall into this category. With the stripes (fluorescent striping so that you can be seen at night) probably became an absolute when someone was hit by a vehicle as a result of not being seen. But that 'not being seen' probably happened at night. Now we have to wear those stupid things whenever we work day or night. The problem is that they get caught on everything you walk past and I have personally almost been flung from a ladder as a result of such a hookup. I have caught it on scaffolding, on materials, on ladders and on doors. It is far more dangerous than not wearing it at all. Besides, they get dirty so quickly that they wouldn't reflect light anyway.
Having to wear yak traks over our boots is the same sort of thing. Someone probably fell on ice so a safety Whig came up with these as a solution. The fact that even the packaging that they come in warns that on any surface other than snow these become dangerous must have missed their eye. As anyone who has worked in construction knows there are hundreds of different surfaces on every site. And according to said packaging they are all dangerous if walked on with these so called safety items.
I have a feeling that behind all the safety insanity lies Workers Comp. I bet every time someone gets injured the comp payments go up unless one of the safety fools can think up a brilliant solution. Pretty soon we will have kickstands on our work boots and Darth Vader helmets! Our gloves will be made of steel and we will wear chain link to protect our chests and legs. And pretty soon we will need a squire to dress us in all this shit. So thinking back to our knight of old I ask you this: is safety gear moving forward or backward?
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Cha-cha-cha-cha changes...
Yesterday was an odd one sprinkled liberally with both good and bad. During our tool box talk the head Foreman dressed us down for what he perceived as slights made against a 40 year member who had parted ways with the company the day before. At the end of the talk I got his message and felt both tuned in and ashamed all at the same time.
The day started out very cold and so I was heavily dressed in anticipation. I hate being cold and especially hate having my fingers go numb which they did. I forgot to mention but during the morning meeting they had promised to have a barbeque for us at lunch and I wondered how thrilling that would be in the cold. Still, a BBQ is. BBQ and I looked forward to it anyway.
Of course you can't have a BBQ without propane and as an apprentice I was picked to get it down to the designated area. Not by my self of course but with big Mitch who is another apprentice. Mitch recently turned 19 which usually means the person lacks motivation but not Mitch. He comes from a cattle farm and is a great big farm boy who is used to working hard. So moving the propane with him wasn't too bad as the tank only weighed about 120lbs (100 of it being the gas) and Mitch did most of the lifting part.
On a site like ours where safety is of the utmost importance you can't just pick up the tank and carry it. As we needed to move it from the surge deck down to the ground and then across the road we took a dolly (hand truck) and strapped the tank into it. We then took it down the back stairs so we could avoid raising and problems from the safety folks. Bad choice I guess as all the site safety people from our company, from Krupp, from Fleur and from Imperial Oil were all asseming at the bottom of the stairs in order to do a safety walk and we didn't see them till we took the turn halfway down the stairs. I am guessing the the safe way to move propane down stairs IS in a dolly with a man above and a man below as we didn't even draw their attention much less get fired!
By lunchtime the weather had changed for the better. The sun was out and it was warm enough to leave the coat in the trailer and just wear a hoodie while standing in the line. Lots of us had happy smiles on our faces and the line was filled with laughter from the typical bawdy humor that is the norm with both iron workers and with welders. It was a nice way to lose some of the angst that starts to build up after almost 20 straight days of 10 hour a day work. To top it off they gave us extra time to eat so we were a little more relaxed.
As we don't have a field or picnic tables we a ate in our trailers. That is where the union stewart found me with his message that I had been 'redeployed' as a 1st year apprentice (same site) and was now making $4/hr more! Pretty good news indeed!
The rest of the day was fairly peaceful. I was nice and relaxed and focused on my grinding. The weather did the Alberta thing... it snowed, then was warm, then was cold, and then looked like rain was imminant. Typical and not distracting. This shift is winding down which is good. I am deep bone tired but will make it. And I will make it at an extra $4 per hour!
The day started out very cold and so I was heavily dressed in anticipation. I hate being cold and especially hate having my fingers go numb which they did. I forgot to mention but during the morning meeting they had promised to have a barbeque for us at lunch and I wondered how thrilling that would be in the cold. Still, a BBQ is. BBQ and I looked forward to it anyway.
Of course you can't have a BBQ without propane and as an apprentice I was picked to get it down to the designated area. Not by my self of course but with big Mitch who is another apprentice. Mitch recently turned 19 which usually means the person lacks motivation but not Mitch. He comes from a cattle farm and is a great big farm boy who is used to working hard. So moving the propane with him wasn't too bad as the tank only weighed about 120lbs (100 of it being the gas) and Mitch did most of the lifting part.
On a site like ours where safety is of the utmost importance you can't just pick up the tank and carry it. As we needed to move it from the surge deck down to the ground and then across the road we took a dolly (hand truck) and strapped the tank into it. We then took it down the back stairs so we could avoid raising and problems from the safety folks. Bad choice I guess as all the site safety people from our company, from Krupp, from Fleur and from Imperial Oil were all asseming at the bottom of the stairs in order to do a safety walk and we didn't see them till we took the turn halfway down the stairs. I am guessing the the safe way to move propane down stairs IS in a dolly with a man above and a man below as we didn't even draw their attention much less get fired!
By lunchtime the weather had changed for the better. The sun was out and it was warm enough to leave the coat in the trailer and just wear a hoodie while standing in the line. Lots of us had happy smiles on our faces and the line was filled with laughter from the typical bawdy humor that is the norm with both iron workers and with welders. It was a nice way to lose some of the angst that starts to build up after almost 20 straight days of 10 hour a day work. To top it off they gave us extra time to eat so we were a little more relaxed.
As we don't have a field or picnic tables we a ate in our trailers. That is where the union stewart found me with his message that I had been 'redeployed' as a 1st year apprentice (same site) and was now making $4/hr more! Pretty good news indeed!
The rest of the day was fairly peaceful. I was nice and relaxed and focused on my grinding. The weather did the Alberta thing... it snowed, then was warm, then was cold, and then looked like rain was imminant. Typical and not distracting. This shift is winding down which is good. I am deep bone tired but will make it. And I will make it at an extra $4 per hour!
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