In my prior post "Nicknames in Mining" mention was made of "Roger Kaa Kaa" who was a sanitation engineer in Timmins and his helper "Ray Poo Poo". This story is about Ray.
Ray decided on a career change when the mine sanitation dept. expanded. The mine was getting larger and Roger was getting stressed out and "losing his sh_t" (which isn't a good thing when you're the sanitation guy). The job was steady dayshift Mon-Fri. and Ray thought it would be a nice change from rotating shiftwork. After spending 1 week with Roger getting trained he was ready to go on his own.
Roger decided that since he now had some relief help he would book 2 weeks vacation. He said Ray was properly trained and shouldn't have a problem.
On his first day Ray reported to work, got his line-up. checked out his mobile pumper on surface, did his pre-op checks and went on his run. I gave him a call on the radio at 10:00 a.m. to tell him that 4600 comfort bay had to be pumped out. He told me that his tanker was almost full and that he would go to surface and empty it out at the "Blue Lagoon" which was the mine's waste containment area. He said "Roger and I pumped out this comfort bay last week and it shouldn't be full yet". I replied "We had a tour group up from Inco last week and they visited 4600..............and you know what Inco is famous for". "I may have to make 2 trips!" Ray said.
An hour later Ray arrived at the "Blue Lagoon", backed up his pumper, attached the drainage hose, opened the valve and emptied the pumper. Once the tank was empty he started to remove the drainage hose by turning the coupling counter clockwise. This is when it started going south.
Ray was standing at the back of the pumper about 3 feet away from the lagoon and was having a hard time getting the drainage hose off. He was pulling on it with his back to the lagoon when the hose finally came free. This caused Ray to fall backwards and you guessed it,..... right into the lagoon. This part of the lagoon is about 6 ft. deep, and Ray when right under! After thrashing around for a bit he finally made it back to shore.
Ray was a properly trained employee and knew that you must report all accidents/incidents immediately to your Supervisor. Soooo.... He got into the cab of his pumper and proceeded to drive over to the Admin. Building to see me in the Control Room. The control room has tinted glass on all sides and you can see anyone coming from 4 directions. I not only saw Ray, I could smell him coming a mile away. He walked up to the door covered in blue chemical with bits of toilet paper sticking to his coveralls and said "let me in, I want to report an accident" There was no way I was going to open that door, so I told him "go to the dry, bag your clothes and take a shower. After that go to First Aid.......then come and see me"
45 minutes later Ray came to see me. As I was writing out the accident report Ray said "You know I must have stood in that shower a good 30 minutes and scrubbed myself raw.......but I can still taste sh_t". I said "Ray...........you might want to get rid of your gum........"
Ray decided on a career change when the mine sanitation dept. expanded. The mine was getting larger and Roger was getting stressed out and "losing his sh_t" (which isn't a good thing when you're the sanitation guy). The job was steady dayshift Mon-Fri. and Ray thought it would be a nice change from rotating shiftwork. After spending 1 week with Roger getting trained he was ready to go on his own.
Roger decided that since he now had some relief help he would book 2 weeks vacation. He said Ray was properly trained and shouldn't have a problem.
On his first day Ray reported to work, got his line-up. checked out his mobile pumper on surface, did his pre-op checks and went on his run. I gave him a call on the radio at 10:00 a.m. to tell him that 4600 comfort bay had to be pumped out. He told me that his tanker was almost full and that he would go to surface and empty it out at the "Blue Lagoon" which was the mine's waste containment area. He said "Roger and I pumped out this comfort bay last week and it shouldn't be full yet". I replied "We had a tour group up from Inco last week and they visited 4600..............and you know what Inco is famous for". "I may have to make 2 trips!" Ray said.
An hour later Ray arrived at the "Blue Lagoon", backed up his pumper, attached the drainage hose, opened the valve and emptied the pumper. Once the tank was empty he started to remove the drainage hose by turning the coupling counter clockwise. This is when it started going south.
Ray was standing at the back of the pumper about 3 feet away from the lagoon and was having a hard time getting the drainage hose off. He was pulling on it with his back to the lagoon when the hose finally came free. This caused Ray to fall backwards and you guessed it,..... right into the lagoon. This part of the lagoon is about 6 ft. deep, and Ray when right under! After thrashing around for a bit he finally made it back to shore.
Ray was a properly trained employee and knew that you must report all accidents/incidents immediately to your Supervisor. Soooo.... He got into the cab of his pumper and proceeded to drive over to the Admin. Building to see me in the Control Room. The control room has tinted glass on all sides and you can see anyone coming from 4 directions. I not only saw Ray, I could smell him coming a mile away. He walked up to the door covered in blue chemical with bits of toilet paper sticking to his coveralls and said "let me in, I want to report an accident" There was no way I was going to open that door, so I told him "go to the dry, bag your clothes and take a shower. After that go to First Aid.......then come and see me"
45 minutes later Ray came to see me. As I was writing out the accident report Ray said "You know I must have stood in that shower a good 30 minutes and scrubbed myself raw.......but I can still taste sh_t". I said "Ray...........you might want to get rid of your gum........"
No comments:
Post a Comment