Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Jul 31, 2008
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Pressure
Now there is a word I am sure that we are all familiar with, as it can apply to us all at times, both at work or our family life at home. It can affect us in many ways as well, even though we all have our way of relieving it when we feel pressured. During my working life I have come across pressure and suffered its consequences, yet I believe I coped with it better as I got older. When I was a subcontractor welding inspector working on a oil construction site there was always a lot of pressure put on us to complete all NDT (non destruction testing) on structure and all mechanical pipe work, so that it could be completed and signed off. In the case of pipe work, all systems which were going to be used off shore had to be pressure tested to limits above what they were designed for, as some of them would be carrying everything from very hot high pressure systems to others that would be working at temperatures way below freezing, say -40°C for example. So the pressure was applied to the pipe work as well us the inspection teams carrying out the actual tests. Deadlines were always very short, as the structures and modules had to be completed and shipped offshore in what they called 'weather windows'. This in fact was only a period of a few weeks, when the weather was good enough to allow such construction in the North Sea. There were also financial pressures that went along with the completion time, and very high fines were imposed if these deadlines were not met.
Of course the pressure on the inspection personnel was bad enough, but made even worse if you were a subcontractor, as the management would always remind us that we were not in fact company employees, and as such easier to pay off or dismiss. This of course could make the job a lot more difficult and we had to be very diplomatic and cover our backs.
With this in mind, my back-to-back workmate and myself kept a small hand-over notebook, where we left messages to each other which we thought could be possible set-ups of situations occurring. Tempers would flare up at times, and if mistakes were made, some company employees would think nothing of transferring the blame on to a subby (subcontractor), knowing that the subcontractor was due to be laid off at completion of construction. At the time of this actual event we were working 12-hour shifts, back-to-back with an opposite number, and in my case my back-to-back was also a subby. We had to work these hours as that was part of our employment contract, but the company inspectors could go home after working an eight-hour shift, which a lot of them did. This was not an ideal situation for us as it put more pressure on us, as we had to cover their work as well after they had left. This caused us problems with the completion of deadlines. It was during the last stages of a pipeline prior to the hydraulic testing of a system, where the pipework is filled with fluid and pressurised, then left for a set time to see if the pressure was being maintained. I had left a message in our own little hand-over book for my workmate, saying that not all the pipe supports had been fitted to that particular system, and that management was pushing hard for the testing to be completed, and that all my efforts to point that fact out were being ignored. The complete file for that system had been left on our desk, for one of us to sign it off, and had been there for a few days. Even when we tried to hand it back saying that it was not complete until all the pipe supports were in place, it would arrive back on our desk again, with the note about the missing pipe supports being removed.
It was just as well that I did this, as it turned out that once the system was filled with liquid and the hydraulic testing was being done, the pipe started to vibrate and collapsed before they had time to release the pressure and drain the system. As if that was not bad enough, when the pipe collapsed it landed on top of another system which was made of copper nickel, which is a soft material, causing considerable damage to that line as well. The costs involved in repairing the damage and all other reworks required would be at the contractor's expense, and that is not including the cost of the time taken to carry the work out. Of course this caused a lot of activity and questions were being asked by all concerned at all levels and they were in fact looking for someone to blame for it, and of course us subby inspectors were fair game. My workmate phoned me at home and asked me if he should produce our hand-over book if he was questioned about the incident, but luckily he was not approached. When I came in for my night shift the accident was still being investigated, and just as I suspected, it was not long before I was being asked about it. So I simply produced our own hand-over book, photocopied the relevant page, as there was no way I was going to risk losing the original copy, and gave to the management to read. It was simply amazing how their attitude changed upon reading it, as they came barging into the office earlier with so much confidence that they had got their man.
We never stopped using that hand-over book, and neither did any of the other subby inspectors, as it was a good way of covering our backs and reducing any extra pressure put upon us.
