Accidents on the road

[niceman]

Before H&S, used to deliver recharged large gas cylinders back to ships berthed at local refineries, old Ford Anglia van, eight cyls laying in back, ( overloaded, must have been )sudden stop, no cage, top cylinder launched like a torpedo past our shoulders, thru windscreen and off down road in front of us! No one hurt, collected cyl from kerb and completed delivery, then new screen.Happy days. Oh the joys of being the apprentice.

[install monkey]

as an apprentice i got send to hargreaves duct shop in bury for 5 lengths of 315mm duct- no roof rack, boss says just tie em on the roof- 3mile later on m66 my boy scout rope techniques were no match for the severe crosswinds of the north- ended up dumpin it over the barrier-as an aprentice you get away with murder

[mikeref]

3rd year apprentice living in one of 78 Barracks at a mining site. 10 rooms per Barracks and one Evaporative A/C per building. Built my own A/C from scavenged parts. No HP/LP or a thermostat.

Someone dobbed me in...so i had to remove it and face the top Brass responsible for 400 + Apprentices.
Damn near ended my career. 3 month Probation. :(

[Rob White]

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After a grueling day at work (yeh right) I was on way back home and started to feel extremely tired,
more tired than I should have been. My brain functions were not working and I could not process the
data my body was sending. I was driving and I remember feeling extremely different to how I should
feel, but my brain was not in self preservation mode and I continued.

Minutes I assume pass by and I know something is not right, I manage to will myself to stop and check.

After pulling over into a lay-by I opened my door and was struck by fresh air and I then had a headache
that started and lasted for the rest of the day and into the night.

When I gathered my thoughts and it took quite a while, I checked the back of the van.

An aerosol can of cleaning de-greaser had been activated as some stuff had moved in the back and
it was emptying out in the back of the van, I slowly came under the effects of the solvent and propellant
and was extremely happy (at the time).

What had happened and how close I was to ending up in a ditch or worse slowly dawned on me as
my head started to bang.

I never took aerosols for granted after that.

Rob

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[frank]

Do you still sniff them now Rob? :D

[Rob White]

Do you still sniff them now Rob? :D

Shhhhhhhhhh, I'm all respectable now.

:D

Rob

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[cadwaladr]

I think that in the past we showed no respect to the dangers,but on a serious note we should in a typical service vehicle there could be a potential bomb so correct safety precautions should be adhered to at all times,and correct ventilation is foremost considering the chemicals being carried.

[niceman]

Cadwalader, l agree, but years ago you got a vehicle to get you and the tools from A to B, bog standard, only in later years did it come with shelves, racking and strapping.Chuffed when issued an Estate car,again bog standard. Have been stopped by police late at night with 2 x 60kg full cyl laying across rear seat, belted. You did what you had to do to get your call working, no such thing as leave it till tomorrow. Not proud of some of the stupid things l've done and gotten away with over the years, they didn't seem stupid at the time, just necessary!

[Glenn Moore]

Hi niceman
Totally agree with you all the vans I had came with nothing in the back to stop everything ending up in the cab. I had a couple of scaffold planks jammed behind the seats to stop tool boxes ,gas bottles etc from flying into the front area. I was called to Royal Small Arms where they were doing testing on machine guns when NATO troops all had to use the same calibre ammunition. The machine guns were frozen down to minus 55 degree F and then test fired. The compound machine had a major leak under its insulation but we had to keep the plant operational for the duration of the tests. The system was struggling for temperature, due to loss of gas. This was a Friday afternoon so I phoned the depot asking for 4 large bottles of gas to be sent up to site.. One of my colleagues was sent to deliver the gas. Hours past before he eventually arrived. When he did arrive his van windscreen was missing , his dashboard was smashed and the roof by the windscreen was badly bent. It turned out as he was driving up through Tottenham, some old lady walked into the road causing him to break sharply . 2 of the gas bottles had launched themselves up the passenger seat and through the screen, the van was wrecked, he was lucky that they missed him on the way through the screen. I know a couple of engineers died due to a similar incident in Hatfield some years ago.
A colleague of mine when he worked for Prestcold, had a 2 HP Prestcold compressor smash its way out of the back doors of his van and embed itself on to the M20 motorway. The Police weren't impressed at all.
H&S didn't exist back then, it was get the job done .
The same with PPE or lack of . Ear defenders in this game are a must, I was only given them some 8 years back but the damage had been done , now partially deaf and bloody tinnitus , so you young guys have been warned.

[RANGER1]

Did a course a few years ago to go on a mining site with vehicles.
They showed a video of a truck stopping abruptly after hitting concrete bollards.
The engine was thrown quite a distance down the road.
Also saw article woman killed by a laptop computer after sudden stop, killed her.

In Australia several years ago a few incident of mall gas cylinders leaking in service vehicles causing them to explode like a bomb.
Had been leaking overnight, open car up with central locking etc small spark & blew up killing people.

[niceman]

Ranger 1, have heard of computers crashing, a laptop seems to be more dangerous if death involved !

[Grizzly]

Hi Guys!
A good post and timely.
I have a safety meeting tomorrow and does anyone mind if I quote them?
As a means to remind all potential the potential issues.
We have discussed this topic before and several of the guys have had similar experiences.
Brian and cadwalader spring to mind!
Grizzly

[mikeref]

Do you still sniff them now Rob? :D

Have you forgotten your incident with a police vehicle Frank?

[RANGER1]

Ranger 1, have heard of computers crashing, a laptop seems to be more dangerous if death involved !

just showing link I found last week on the story

http://mdbighorn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/3.5.1.3-td_hazards_of_loose_objects_in_the_vehicle.pdf

[mikeref]

Back in '89. Called to a supermarket before sunrise on a Saturday Morning. I had a long wheel base Mitsubishi van with a custom made Bull bar. Organized racks in the back filled with spares, and a 5 ply sheet fitted behind the drivers seat.

About 10 minutes into a 45 minute drive, a Steer bolted from the scrub and was blinded by the High beam and dual 100 watt spotlights. There was no time to react on this particular rural highway.
Head on collision at 60 MPH took out my Passenger side..along with any chance of steering. Custom made Bull Bar simply gave in to this Beast's weight.

Shelves broke loose and hammered the 5 ply behind me. Both Oxy n Acetylene remained in place.

[niceman]

Grizzly, quote away, all true. Also, many was the time as lone engineer l used to load all my gear from the back of the van into passenger footwell and onto passenger seat, not secured in any way, so that l could load a faulty freezer or chiller in the back to repair at workshop. Only reason was to get the job done, and keep my customer happy.

[Rob White]

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Yep quote yourself happy mate.

Rob

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[Rob White]

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One of the funniest things I saw was when an engineer slammed the tailgate door closed
on a ford escort estate. Only trouble was there was too much in the back and as the door
closed the stuff in the back pushed the back window out. The look on his face.

Oh and another, I was third in a row of engineers making our way to the bacon butty shop
on the one day a week we all met up at the office. The company had just issued new vans
to 4 of the more senior engineers, all brand new with sequential number plates.

The two guys in front were showing off in the new vans and racing to get to the cafe first,
one braked a bit hard at some red traffic lights and the other drove into the back of him.

They had, had the vans less than ten mins and done less than 2 miles (on top of delivery miles).

The boss was not exceptionally impressed that day.

Rob

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[niceman]

Ford Escort van, no roof rack, 3x 3metre inch and oneeigths copper pipe appeared to fit in rear whilst resting on dashboard, shut back doors, went to drive off later, left hand side of screen mass of cracks starting where pipes touched screen, oops.Lesson learnt.

[redroge]

Some years ago I was on my from Nottingham to Oxford and in a hurry, having had to fill up with diesel and load up with gas bottles four on the back seat and four in the rear footwell of an old style mondeo estate, the boot space was full of tools etc. so as anyone who has had one of them knows the back end tended to be a bit low down. Anyway on my way down the M1 a friendly plod decides to pull me over saying I,m overloaded and I say no officer its a car not a van and he says makes no difference sir, please accompany me to a weigh bridge at junction 23 ,but I,m in a hurry officer on an urgent breakdown, if you don,t sir you will be arrested. ok so off we go me following him down the M1 at a steady 65 mph to the weighbridge ,at the weighbridge I get out the car, no sir you must stay in the car. Front end weighed back end weighed whole car weighed ,thank you sir your 50kgs under, good bye .Late getting to Oxford.

[Grizzly]

Some years ago I was on my from Nottingham to Oxford and in a hurry, having had to fill up with diesel and load up with gas bottles four on the back seat and four in the rear footwell of an old style mondeo estate, the boot space was full of tools etc. so as anyone who has had one of them knows the back end tended to be a bit low down. Anyway on my way down the M1 a friendly plod decides to pull me over saying I,m overloaded and I say no officer its a car not a van and he says makes no difference sir, please accompany me to a weigh bridge at junction 23 ,but I,m in a hurry officer on an urgent breakdown, if you don,t sir you will be arrested. ok so off we go me following him down the M1 at a steady 65 mph to the weighbridge ,at the weighbridge I get out the car, no sir you must stay in the car. Front end weighed back end weighed whole car weighed ,thank you sir your 50kgs under, good bye .Late getting to Oxford.

So the load capacity is different from a car to a van?
Stupid of me! Are you saying because of the way the load sits the Mondeo sat tail low bonnet high!
I seem to remember saying something similar with the old style.
Grizzly

[Grizzly]

So a couple of Years ago I am at the depot when several of the Bosses are around.
So I am tasked with taking a van load of empty cylinders back to Climate Center and BOC.
Van loaded by myself and others.
Prior to leaving and with said bosses in plain view I express an issue with the side sliding door. which did not seem to be shutting properly. Several opened and slammed it shut, before it was deemed OK!
Off I go and whilst traveling through the small town nearby down a quite road.
Said door decided to slide open just before a pedestrian walking his dog stepped out on me.
I slammed on the brakes,
Said door shot forward straight off its runners and gambolled about 30 to 50yards end on end down the road.
Before coming to rest against a wall and still upright.
I don't know who was more shocked Me or the dog walker!
I ran down the road grabbed the door like it was a shield and raced back to the Van throwing it in through the back doors.
Then raced back to the depot. When I repeated to several of the bosses who were still outside having a fag.
One replied with "Well you did say there was a problem with the Door!"
The cylinders did not get returned that day.
Grizzly

[redroge]

Forgot to say plod pointed out a plate under the bonnet stating load capacity

[mikeref]

So a couple of Years ago I am at the depot when several of the Bosses are around.
So I am tasked with taking a van load of empty cylinders back to Climate Center and BOC.
Van loaded by myself and others.
Prior to leaving and with said bosses in plain view I express an issue with the side sliding door. which did not seem to be shutting properly. Several opened and slammed it shut, before it was deemed OK!
Off I go and whilst traveling through the small town nearby down a quite road.
Said door decided to slide open just before a pedestrian walking his dog stepped out on me.
I slammed on the brakes,
Said door shot forward straight off its runners and gambolled about 30 to 50yards end on end down the road.
Before coming to rest against a wall and still upright.
I don't know who was more shocked Me or the dog walker!
I ran down the road grabbed the door like it was a shield and raced back to the Van throwing it in through the back doors.
Then raced back to the depot. When I repeated to several of the bosses who were still outside having a fag.
One replied with "Well you did say there was a problem with the Door!"
The cylinders did not get returned that day.
Grizzly

That incident would have made an excellent gif Grizzly. :D
Thanks for sharing.