Dangerous jobsite situations you were willing to get fired for

Mad Dog_2

I'll go first:

1) Going down in to a deep (over 6 foot) and narrow  trench and having to bend down or lie down to connect a sewer spur or corporation cock on a Water main...with no shoring, whatsoever. 

2) Remove large amounts of ACM (asbestos containing Materials) sans a Magenta Respirator.  

Other than this, I've done ALOT of crazy, risky things to get jobs done and pay the tuition and mortgage.

One of the craziest  things I've done in the last 11 yrs would be having to replace a rotted Vitaulic flange 6" or 8"  me thinks...in a huge sump (no sewage) pit 5 stories in a sub basement under lower Manhattan streets. They have ancient underground rivers or The Mighty Hudson was creeping in since it was only 2 blocks from The Battery. The entire sprawling basement had underground channels that funneled the water to a huge sump pit. Continuous flow...
 
These were two of the largest sump pumps I've ever seen...Big Bertha!  Each was almost the size of a VW bug and had to weigh 3500lbs each.  It was an overnighter and I was alone with my nice enough, but Dopey Pothead helper.  He used to Fall asleep on the ladder and in the ceilings and crawlspaces...anywhere.  

He also got us thrown out of the nice little park (Where The Beautiful People DO Sushi & Vegan wraps) at lunch time when he dumped a whole quart of Chicken Fried Rice on the ground because he didn't like it.  We got SWARMED by 200 pigeons...serious.  Then the Building security said "Dont ever come back here again...you're banned!"  

My buddy!!  Waters gushing in at a high rate non stop. So, I put the one pump in manual and it gets the level down about a foot below the joint I have to change.  That would have been great, but you only had about 3 minutes to work until you HAD to engage the second pump to bring level down. 

I built up an island 🏝 in the 5 foot deep (from the point one foot below repair) water with cinder blocks so I could stand on something solid. My fear was electrocution.  This was pre-cordless Grinder era (Atleast we never saw one yet) and the shop wad"nt gettin us one anyhow.  I double knotted the extension cords but this was a deep shaft, so there was nothing to safely drape the cords over to keep from falling in water and doing a Gary Gilmore (electrocuted? 1977?) On me.  

I donned my Trout Fishing 🎣 Waders and rubber gloves, told Marijuana boy, my life was in his hands, to keep those cords OUT of the water, and I would buy him a few Bud Tall Boys, and started grinding bolts 🔩 off.  This went on for 3 hours start to finish, but I give the kid credit...he held up. He got his beer 🍺..I survived possible electrocution.. another day in the Life..ya gotta love it.  Mad Dog 🐕 

mattmia2

I remember seeing a gfci that must have been installed around 1975.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I have done some crazy stuff, but won't admit to most of it....... but

Shortly after I started in "73" my boss was an old timer and also an electrician. I didn't get my license till "81"

We were installing some big oil burners 100gph #4 oil with 15 hp blower motors. It was a replacement job replacing old rotary cup burners which use the 75' stack draft to supply the burner combustion air and we now had burners with 15 hp motors.

Of course we needed more electrical power.

We should have shut the power down but this involved killing the power to the entire college campus.

So with his old metal cased Milwaukee 3/8" "hole shooter" drill he bought in 1948 we drilled two of the three busbars live after disconnecting the ground wire from the drill so we wouldn't get shocked. We stood on a sheet of hopefully dry plywood. Then we had to bolt lugs on the live bussbars.

No safety equipment or gloves etc. Long before cordless tools or double insulated tools were invented

Mad Dog_2

Lucky to be alive...but I bet your boss had seen and done much worse in The War..I love wiring boilers, but I ain't goin in panels.  I was taught to stand on wood when it water, but didn't learn till years later..heavey rubber boots and gloves are a life saver!  Were all lucky to be alive...very dangerous trade.  Thanks for sharing Ed.  Mad Dog 🐕 

HVACNUT

Expecting me to work on Fulton high pressure (100 psi) steam boilers. It was just primarily the oil burners service and NYS inspections, removing, hand hole doors and blow downs. But I said you can have someone else do it or send me to training. And off to the Fulton plant in Pulaski New York I went. 

Mad Dog_2

Good for you!  Did you manage to squeeze in some Salmon Fishing in the Pulaski River?  Mad Dog 🐕 

GroundUp

Probably the most dangerous was that one time in 2021 when they mandated that I get injected with a "vaccine". It was 1000% worth getting fired over.

Prior to that, however, I was never really smart enough to say no. Once upon a time I remember dangling in my harness from a crane to make an 8" position weld in a steam pipe 80ft off the ground.

Mad Dog_2

That's a really good one.  It seems like everyone that got "fired" for that has gotten their job back and back pay.  Mad Dog 🐕 

SlamDunk

My company's HR dept went to VP of my dept and asked him to tell our guys (maintenance men) to reach into coworker's cars to take their temps and ask covid exposure questions as they drove in during earliest days of covid.

I raised Holy Hell with the VP and told him to lead by example and do it himself, with senior management. He did, for two days and freaked out and handed back to HR, who lasted one day before they hired registered nurses to do that.