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Heavy Lift #1 12/25/2005

So Christmas day dawned bright and early. I dragged my lazy carcass out of bed, and started getting ready for work. As I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, brushing my teeth in a distracted manner, my thoughts roamed over the week that was, looking for random highlights to file away in the memory.

We had a company dinner on Wednesday night, and needless to say, I was feeling a little fragile on Thursday morning. Chucking back shots of grappa with the owner of the restaurant, listening to old Italian love songs will do that to you. I was surprised I managed to make my way back, considering I was riding the black sprinter, which doesn’t actually move until the engine hits 8,000 r.p.m. I know I had a bit of a hairy moment, when my entire world (which, at that point in time, consisted of me focusing very hard through the narrow field of vision I had in the helmet), was filled with flashing blue lights and sirens. I thought I was fucked, until I realised it was the Police escort for some big ass, fat cat politician. I chased up behind them, until I remembered what the bike had tried to do to me 2 weeks ago, so I backed it off. I think I was only doing about 150 km/h the rest of the way home.

So this morning, after I got my brain kick started, I rocked down to the site in the truck. The place was deserted, as I expected. I opened up the site office, and poured myself a cup of coffee. Jerkoff turns up a little later, and starts explaining to me what is supposed to be done today, even though I didn’t remember asking him to volunteer any information. I told him to shut the fuck up, while I finished my coffee, and told him I read the fucking method statement, same as the copy he got. I walked out on site to see the set up of the lift operation. And almost immediately issued a stop work order.

In spite of 2 meetings, where I made the safety requirements clear to the contractor doing the lift, he had brought no safety equipment to site on the day. No barrier tape, warning signs, witches hats, signal lights. Nothing. I practically screamed at him and the vendor’s engineer in charge, pointing out to them that they shouldn’t take what I say lightly. I reminded them that delays caused by safety violations was on their cost, not ours, and they shouldn’t even think of fowarding a claim for compensation for delays.

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After that initial hiccup, the lift proceeded smoothly, after the security guys on site helped the contractor out by giving him some barrier tape and witches hats, and assigning some extra personnel to provide overwatch during the lift. After housekeeping, I gave the place a once-over, and walked up into the CEP to see the actual machine location. Things were also good there, except for the trellis that we had to remove earlier.

The trellis is a welded beam assembly, measuring some 20 feet by 20 feet, out of box section steel. It was welded in place on the support trusses, and the contractor removed it by grinding off the welds and then lifting it off. When we noticed that the trellis was warped. It had obviously not been welded in a jig, and therefore when the installation welds were removed, the trellis sprang back into the shape it had been in when it was first welded.

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The contractor was scratching his head, wondering what he was going to do. I could see from the look on his face, he was considering sliding some weights atop the trellis to bow it back into the correct shape. So I walked over to him, and whispered the words, “chain blocks”, into his ear. He looked at me in some dismay. And I told him, chain blocks, (which would have to be anchored to the floor of the CEP), or nothing. From the method statement he provided, he figured on this being a half a day job. He was now looking at providing overtime for his work crew.

At least the lift is done, and one headache is now removed. I’m wondering what’s going to happen tomorrow, when the lift is going to involve a 120 tonne crane, a 30 tonne crane, 2 low loaders, several trucks, and a partridge in a pear tree.

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