Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Aug 5, 2004
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
The Human Cannon Ball
This rather amusing tale drifted back into my thoughts while watching a recent film on television. Back in the mid seventies when the oil construction business was at its peak, there were around three thousand workers employed at the site near my home town. A new way of building nodes, which are basically the areas where all the structural braces meet on a large jacket1, was introduced.
These nodes were naturally the most important areas of the whole structure, as they controlled all the stresses of the structure in the sea. With this in mind they were designed and actually cut to shape with laser-guided computerised burners, to ensure perfect fit onto the node barrel.
Unfortunately it was impossible to construct the node barrel into a perfect circle, due to stresses and distortion during welding. This, in turn, meant that the fitting on the brace supports2 was not always perfect, so some of them required back welding - welded from the inside. This could prove very difficult, especially on the smaller diameter bracing nearer the top of the jacket.
Now out of these three thousand workers, there were around six hundred welders split into various stages of production. Of these, the best were used for these node welds as these were the most important welds and repairs could not be tolerated as the quality had to be of the best.
There was one particular welder who stood out from the rest - as there was, indeed, in all the various trades. Everybody knew or had heard of this character; he was just that type of person. He was always first to argue with management, always first to stir up emotions at union meetings and had a certain way of leaving everyone in no doubt of his presence! This made him a target for the management to aim at so, in return, this made him popular with the other workers around him. He showed no fear of anyone regardless of their lofty position in management and was always ready to protect those who were vulnerable. He may not always have been right, but at least he left everyone in no doubt of his point of view.
He was also one of the best welders we had so, naturally, he was put on to the welding of the nodes which did not suit him as he was such a large-built man. This was no problem at all until it came to the back welding of these smaller stubs - especially the smaller ones as they tended to be longer. So after he had completed the external side of a stub he asked his supervisor if they could put a smaller man in to do the inside. Bear in mind that he was so popular with the supervisors, because of his attitude and strength of character, so his request was ignored and he was told to complete the job himself. This, of course, angered him and he was not long in telling everyone in the construction shed3 his point of view.
It was a stupid decision, however, and he obviously could not do his best work due to his size which restricted his access. Remember that some of the supervisors were not of high calibre anyway, as they had only been promoted due to their own poor welding quality causing expensive repair work. This fact, along with his hatred of the man, obviously clouded this supervisors judgment. So, with reluctance, our man had to do his best and try and climb inside this thirty six inch diameter stub which was about five foot long, and back weld it as best he could. He lit up one of the propane gas heaters to increase the pre-heat temperature prior to welding, as the electric heaters could only be fitted to the external side now. The reason for this pre-heating was to slow the cooling rate of the weld, thus reducing the chances of cracking, and it was an important part of the welding procedure.
He had just completed the pre-heat when the dinner break siren went, so he jumped down from the scaffolding and made his usual dash for the canteen. All during the half hour lunch break he could be heard complaining about the situation and, indeed, he did have a large amount of support from the rest of the welders, along with other tradesman. So it was with bated breath that we all watched his return to the job after the break. I, myself, was only a few yards from his position, high up on scaffolding, so I had the perfect view. He once again approached the supervisor and asked for a smaller person to be put in but once again he was refused. So deliberately and slowly he made his way up and climbed, as best he could, inside, under the watchful eye of the supervisor, who seemed to be taking pleasure of the situation.
What happened next was just unbelievable! There was this bright yellow flash, followed by this loud exploding noise and smoke which filled the air. Then there was a deathly silence throughout the whole shop as everyone stared at that spot with bated breath. Then slowly out of the smoke and fumes a hand appeared, then his head as he climbed out of the stub. All we could see were his clothes that were not covered by his welding jacket all smouldering and his face, black, with a very confused, surprised look upon it. His body was shaking, and he was rubbing his ears as if he could not hear. All his clothing was still smouldering, as he slowly climbed out of the stub.
What had happened? Well, apparently, he had laid the gas torch down into the stub, which we all did when they were not in use to protect the head which was a heavy copper head full of small holes for the gas to burn from. Then he went to the canteen for his lunch, totally unaware that the torch he had been using had a bad connection to the hose, which caused a gas leak. During the half hour he was away the gas had been leaking out and, being heavier than air, it had filled the stub full of the explosive gas. When he struck the ark to start welding it had ignited the gas which caused the explosion. A few men close by rushed over to help him and took him straight to the surgery to have his burns treated. They did not even bother to get the mandatory pass chit from the supervisor, prior to going to the surgery.
The supervisor had noticed this and was, indeed, in pursuit of them to remind them of this when he was stopped in his tracks by a few of the welders who then gathered threateningly around him. Then they went on to explain to him that, under the new health and safety laws which had just come out, he was indeed responsible for the accident as he had not insured that all the heaters had been gas-leak checked prior to using them at the start of the shift.
Afterwards? Well our welder was off work for some three weeks while his burns healed. The supervisor? Well he was transferred to another part of the site - in fact it was the furthest point from the shop that you could get. The story went around that it was for his own safety and he was given an office job where he was away out of sight which improved everyones safety!
