Monumental work cockups
Discussion
Nearly 20 years ago I used to work as an industrial radiographer, mainly using isotopes on site to radiograph pipework on site and in the base.
We were working on site at an oil processing plant and had set up barriers around the area we would be working in (about 100m square)then searched the area for any people that had missed the tannoy announcements, including a portacabin office.
Then we got going shooting the various sections of pipework around the area we had closed off.
About 2 hours into the shift a bloke emerged from inside our secure area and asked what we were doing. What we were mainly doing at that exact moment was looking horrified!
After some investigation and about a weeks worth of paperwork it emerged that he had no reason to be in the area, and no permit. He was most likely sleeping under the desk in the office when we went through.
We were eventually cleared of any incompetence and got to keep our jobs.
He was lucky that we were using a relatively small radioactive source and he hadn't received a large dose.
I recently found out that this scenario is used as part of the OIM (offshore installation manager) exams.
We were working on site at an oil processing plant and had set up barriers around the area we would be working in (about 100m square)then searched the area for any people that had missed the tannoy announcements, including a portacabin office.
Then we got going shooting the various sections of pipework around the area we had closed off.
About 2 hours into the shift a bloke emerged from inside our secure area and asked what we were doing. What we were mainly doing at that exact moment was looking horrified!
After some investigation and about a weeks worth of paperwork it emerged that he had no reason to be in the area, and no permit. He was most likely sleeping under the desk in the office when we went through.
We were eventually cleared of any incompetence and got to keep our jobs.
He was lucky that we were using a relatively small radioactive source and he hadn't received a large dose.
I recently found out that this scenario is used as part of the OIM (offshore installation manager) exams.
Colleague's cock up.
We were closing the A12 for a weekend to replace a bridge, and diverting everything through Colchester. We did a letter drop to over a thousand properties giving the mobile phone number of the traffic officer responsible for when the closure was on.
Closure went well, no complaints recieved.
It was about 3 weeks later we noticed the mobile phone number was wrong. Some poor bugger had been taking the brunt of all the calls. My colleague was meant to ring him and apologise but didn't have the balls.
We were closing the A12 for a weekend to replace a bridge, and diverting everything through Colchester. We did a letter drop to over a thousand properties giving the mobile phone number of the traffic officer responsible for when the closure was on.
Closure went well, no complaints recieved.
It was about 3 weeks later we noticed the mobile phone number was wrong. Some poor bugger had been taking the brunt of all the calls. My colleague was meant to ring him and apologise but didn't have the balls.
I did some work in an accounts department of a large homewares/clothing store before I joined the cops. Nothing exciting, bit of data entry etc. I ended up with the job of inputting the company credit card bills onto the accounting system, checking off the statements against the submitted receipts and making sure the various grades of staff were within the limits for what they spent on meals/hotels etc.
The owner of the company had two sons, one of whom was fine, the other was an utter bell end, very much over inflated sense of how important he really was. After querying a few of second son's credit card spends with the finance director, I was just told to put everything through regardless. The rules didn't apply to him. He was a jumped up t
t and liked to lord it over everyone. A real nasty piece of work. Chalk and cheese, compared to his brother.
My last day was also coincidentally the credit card reconciliation day as well. Second son had been on a buying trip to HK and the Far East and had ordered and paid for some "adult" films on his company credit card. I emailed the finance director to ask if he was ok with me processing these items for payment, including the names of the films in the email.
Except I may have "accidentally" sent the email globally to the whole company by mistake, rather than to just the finance director... After a quick meeting with the finance director (who struggled to keep a straight face) it was thought it was probably best if I left the site there and then, rather than working until the end of the day.
Oooops.
The owner of the company had two sons, one of whom was fine, the other was an utter bell end, very much over inflated sense of how important he really was. After querying a few of second son's credit card spends with the finance director, I was just told to put everything through regardless. The rules didn't apply to him. He was a jumped up t
t and liked to lord it over everyone. A real nasty piece of work. Chalk and cheese, compared to his brother.My last day was also coincidentally the credit card reconciliation day as well. Second son had been on a buying trip to HK and the Far East and had ordered and paid for some "adult" films on his company credit card. I emailed the finance director to ask if he was ok with me processing these items for payment, including the names of the films in the email.
Except I may have "accidentally" sent the email globally to the whole company by mistake, rather than to just the finance director... After a quick meeting with the finance director (who struggled to keep a straight face) it was thought it was probably best if I left the site there and then, rather than working until the end of the day.
Oooops.
Edited by Dibble on Saturday 15th October 23:36
UK company I was working for had developed a prototype of a new machine for a US customer, it was big and heavy and very precise/intricate. We broke it down into several parts, crated it up and shipped it by air freight (cost about 50k to fly it out, but had to be done that way due to time restrictions). At the same time, me and a technician were flown out to the US to be ready to start installing and commissioning the machine.
At some point during the shipping, the main mechanical bit of the machine got dropped (3/4 of a ton). None of the chipping companies involved ever owned up to what happened, but guessing it fell of the side of the lorry at some point. We had to identify all the damaged components and get the factory make new ones, and then get them sent over to us. So my one week business trip to the US turned into nearly a month - most of which was spent sight seeing on full expenses while we waited around!
At some point during the shipping, the main mechanical bit of the machine got dropped (3/4 of a ton). None of the chipping companies involved ever owned up to what happened, but guessing it fell of the side of the lorry at some point. We had to identify all the damaged components and get the factory make new ones, and then get them sent over to us. So my one week business trip to the US turned into nearly a month - most of which was spent sight seeing on full expenses while we waited around!
I started a new job a couple of weeks ago in a criminal lawyers. I was there four days when I opened an email that was titled 'invoice'. It was blank and caused a virus which wiped our whole workload. We lost our database and years worth of work. Five minutes after I opened it I happened to notice a sticky on my desk from the boss telling me not to open any emails that say 'invoice'. If i had only looked at that message first! However, I am still here and everything is now back up and running.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I ordered 1m tax disc sized stickers for an organisation, that were meant to go on the inside of a glass object facing out, so people on the outside could read it. It just didn't occur to me until we came to use them that they had to be sticky on the side with writing on, and not sticky on the back like a conventional sticker.
D'oh.
Sorry twig thats not a cock up its just plane daft. Have a coffee next time lolD'oh.
I used to work at a food factory on a fairly anonymous trading estate and was out the back in the large yard one morning. A 17 tonne lorry pulled in and the driver jumped out to ask me if he'd got the right place.
As we chatted (and he had his back turned to it) I spotted the lorry starting to move. I don't know why, but I thought he had a second man with him. It soon occurred to me that he was on his own and the lorry continued to gather pace in the downhill yard towards the stores office at the bottom.
I opened and closed my mouth, but couldn't get any words out, and pointed towards the lorry. The driver turned around, yelled "fk!" and gave chase.
It was to no avail of course, and as the stores guys scrambled clear, the lorry smashed into the stores office, which luckily was quite sturdily built.
It turned out it was the guys first day in the job, and his last. I felt sorry for him tbh.
As we chatted (and he had his back turned to it) I spotted the lorry starting to move. I don't know why, but I thought he had a second man with him. It soon occurred to me that he was on his own and the lorry continued to gather pace in the downhill yard towards the stores office at the bottom.
I opened and closed my mouth, but couldn't get any words out, and pointed towards the lorry. The driver turned around, yelled "f
k!" and gave chase. It was to no avail of course, and as the stores guys scrambled clear, the lorry smashed into the stores office, which luckily was quite sturdily built.
It turned out it was the guys first day in the job, and his last. I felt sorry for him tbh.
Refurbishing a takeaway with a pair of pretty heavy duty ovens, day comes to go "live" and the ovens aren't working, we figure it was something that happened during the re-fit and call out the oven engineers who act like vehiclemain dealer techs who just change parts until the problem is solved.
Heads are scratched and parts are changed which result in invoices totalling around 10k, until some bright spark thinks to check gas supply isolator.... whoops
Heads are scratched and parts are changed which result in invoices totalling around 10k, until some bright spark thinks to check gas supply isolator.... whoops
My father worked in the heavy haulage industry where they often hauled large pieces of equipment for the mining, oil and gas industries in the north of Western Australia. That's those big rigs with a trailer having 100 wheels, pilots and police escort.
One job was a large piece that had lots of sensitive equipment built into it, that had to be taken from Perth to Port Hedland where a crane ship had been brought over to load it onto a barge which would take it out to a rig that was being built at sea.
Because this module contained a lot of sensitive equipment, there were strict conditions attached to its movement. It had to be kept level at all times, so it couldn't go on the normal multi wheel trailers, and they were limited to a max of 40km/h for the 1,765km journey. They used a self levelling trailer which didn't have as many wheels, but the State road authority (Main Roads) granted a permit for it, with one exception. Along the route was a bridge that Main Roads would not allow them to cross with the self levelling trailer.
No problem, they sent another rig up with the normal trailer and when they got to the bridge, they transferred the unit to the trailer with more wheels, ran it over the bridge, then changed it back to the self levelling trailer.
They got to Port Hedland and had it on the wharf for the crane ship to lift it onto the barge, but that was where they hit a bit of a snag. Port Hedland has large tides, some 7m or so, and perhaps because of conditions attached to the sensitive modules movement, the crane ship couldn't complete the job against the tidal movement.
There was nothing for it, they had to travel south to a port that didn't have such large tides. So they turned around and travelled some 1,300km back to Geraldton,(over that bridge again), while the crane ship and barge made their way down. It's a lot further by sea as well.
You can imagine the engineers talking;
"Didn't you check that?"
"I thought you checked it."
One job was a large piece that had lots of sensitive equipment built into it, that had to be taken from Perth to Port Hedland where a crane ship had been brought over to load it onto a barge which would take it out to a rig that was being built at sea.
Because this module contained a lot of sensitive equipment, there were strict conditions attached to its movement. It had to be kept level at all times, so it couldn't go on the normal multi wheel trailers, and they were limited to a max of 40km/h for the 1,765km journey. They used a self levelling trailer which didn't have as many wheels, but the State road authority (Main Roads) granted a permit for it, with one exception. Along the route was a bridge that Main Roads would not allow them to cross with the self levelling trailer.
No problem, they sent another rig up with the normal trailer and when they got to the bridge, they transferred the unit to the trailer with more wheels, ran it over the bridge, then changed it back to the self levelling trailer.
They got to Port Hedland and had it on the wharf for the crane ship to lift it onto the barge, but that was where they hit a bit of a snag. Port Hedland has large tides, some 7m or so, and perhaps because of conditions attached to the sensitive modules movement, the crane ship couldn't complete the job against the tidal movement.
There was nothing for it, they had to travel south to a port that didn't have such large tides. So they turned around and travelled some 1,300km back to Geraldton,(over that bridge again), while the crane ship and barge made their way down. It's a lot further by sea as well.
You can imagine the engineers talking;
"Didn't you check that?"
"I thought you checked it."
Our local council recently stopped the use of black bin bags, instead supplying everyone with 52 pink bags. So a town of 55 thousand (1.8 million bags) had a years supply delivered and a phone number incase you need to order more.
Only problem, was the number belonged to a local Thai restaurant: http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/72...
And me personally, I have a habit of forgetting to check the material thickness height when I draw stuff on our CNC. Quiet often the blades think they're going through 30mm of wood, but in reality it's 12mm plus the bed of the machine.
Only problem, was the number belonged to a local Thai restaurant: http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/72...
And me personally, I have a habit of forgetting to check the material thickness height when I draw stuff on our CNC. Quiet often the blades think they're going through 30mm of wood, but in reality it's 12mm plus the bed of the machine.
Ilovejapcrap said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
I ordered 1m tax disc sized stickers for an organisation, that were meant to go on the inside of a glass object facing out, so people on the outside could read it. It just didn't occur to me until we came to use them that they had to be sticky on the side with writing on, and not sticky on the back like a conventional sticker.
D'oh.
Sorry twig thats not a cock up its just plane daft. Have a coffee next time lolD'oh.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
I started work in a boat sales company and by the end of the first week things were going well. We were using a small boat club yard to store boats for sale which had a slipway to launch boats on trailers. The yard was quite small so to allow boat movements during the day we would move some of the trailer boats out into the car park then back in at night. So the Friday morning I moved about 5 boats out to the car park with the land-rover, then coming up to closing time I started putting them back. Joe that day the boss had left early so there was just me and me and another technician left. I put the last boat away and went in the office. About 5 minutes later we heard a commotion outside in the yard. When we went out, the last last boat I put away wasn't there, it was now in the marine, trailer and all. Turns out when I parked it up on a very slight slope, I put the handbrake on, but unfortunately the previous owner had removed the brake shoes to stop them sticking when he launched it. Fortunately the boat was fine, just a minor scratch were it kissed a wall on the way down the slip way and my boss was fine about it. I'm still working in the same place 10 years on, but always make sure every trailer is chocked before I leave it.
Friend of mind developed a machine to monitor the oil quality in big industrial machines so that you get the maximum life out of the oil before a big oil change was neccessary.
He had mortgaged his house to set up the business witha 3 year rent on premises where he was the guarantor
These machines sold for £22,000 each and about the size of a PC computer. Got an order from Japan on a test basis. Told him to forget it. He sold them a machine anyway.
6 weeks later it came back, in pieces, with a cancelled order.
Two months later the japanese company brought out its own version, half the price.
Friends business went to the wall and he is in big debt.
He had mortgaged his house to set up the business witha 3 year rent on premises where he was the guarantor
These machines sold for £22,000 each and about the size of a PC computer. Got an order from Japan on a test basis. Told him to forget it. He sold them a machine anyway.
6 weeks later it came back, in pieces, with a cancelled order.
Two months later the japanese company brought out its own version, half the price.
Friends business went to the wall and he is in big debt.
Robbo 27 said:
Friend of mind developed a machine to monitor the oil quality in big industrial machines so that you get the maximum life out of the oil before a big oil change was neccessary.
He had mortgaged his house to set up the business witha 3 year rent on premises where he was the guarantor
These machines sold for £22,000 each and about the size of a PC computer. Got an order from Japan on a test basis. Told him to forget it. He sold them a machine anyway.
6 weeks later it came back, in pieces, with a cancelled order.
Two months later the japanese company brought out its own version, half the price.
Friends business went to the wall and he is in big debt.
bHe had mortgaged his house to set up the business witha 3 year rent on premises where he was the guarantor
These machines sold for £22,000 each and about the size of a PC computer. Got an order from Japan on a test basis. Told him to forget it. He sold them a machine anyway.
6 weeks later it came back, in pieces, with a cancelled order.
Two months later the japanese company brought out its own version, half the price.
Friends business went to the wall and he is in big debt.
ds.Did he not think to patent it?
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff