Marine Engineers

[Stanley]

Dead right Robert.



People used to come and see the polished engine running smoothly in the engine house and envy me my job. They forgot what had to be done to get to that stage. This isn't me, it's one of my flue cleaners but it was the job from hell.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
Was the photograph taken in the boiler flue, or in the underground flue to the stack? Either way an unenviable task. Not a job, for a claustrophobic.

[Stanley]

Furnace tube Robert, shovelling dust over the bridge into the ash pit at the back of the firebars. Jack, the fluer, was perhaps the hardest man I ever knew and a gent.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
Gotcha. Still not a job for the faint hearted.

[Stanley]

This was almost as bad Robert. Scaling the inside of the boiler, Jack on the left, me on the right and the head in the bottom right corner is my firebeater, he had passed out from the heat but we hadn't noticed! (The boiler had been firing the day before) Daniel did the pic first, then alerted us and Jack and I got him out of the boiler. You can guess what it was like getting his body out through the manhole.... All part of the job. Happy days!

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
Been there, got the T shirt and seen the video. Lol.
When I was doing Boiler and Compressed air tank, pre inspections, for Lloyds inspectors. In the back of my mind I always thought, what happens if something goes wrong whilst I am in there.
All in a days work, I suppose, the not so glamorous side of being an Engineer Officer.

[Stanley]

You'll recognise this one Robert. The management casting an expert eye on the workers whilst on his way home. He hadn't the faintest idea what we were doing which was replacing a fractured blow down main using secondhand pipe robbed from redundant pipe runs in the mill. We were at it until 2AM in the morning and then had two hours off before starting firing for heating. At 10:00 Our Mr Birtles came in the engine house, wake me up and said that John was asleep as well and he didn't pay us for sleeping. I had to remind him of what we had been doing and educate him about the running of the boiler and engine. I suggested he go away and leave us alone. I don't think he liked it but had the sense to do it. He never questioned me sleeping in the engine house again.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
He looks like he is watching paint dry.
Like you say absolutely no idea of what you are attempting to do.
Oh well must be some Mothers son.

[Stanley]

He was ticking his 'man management' box before he went home.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley
I don't understand people like that.
Respect is something you have to give before you receive it.
Wearing nice smart clothes doesn't make you a manager.
When I was at sea, I always remembered that my world was the length of the ship I was on, and that everyone's life, onboard was in the hands of subordinate engineers and deck officers. Including myself.

[Stanley]

I used to take the main fuses out and put them on my desk when I had contractors working on that circuit. Some complained about this and said I was interfering. Too bloody right I was!

[chinatyke]

I used to take the main fuses out and put them on my desk when I had contractors working on that circuit. Some complained about this and said I was interfering. Too bloody right I was!

This is normal procedure during isolation of systems prior to 'Permits to Work' being issued in hazardous areas and the fuses would be locked away. Either that or "pulling the wires" and sometimes both! Also the use of isolocks with multi-hole clasps. The permit issuer locks-off the equipment and then each worker fits his own personal lock to the clasp. The permit issuer's lock is the last to be removed after he has checked the equipment is fit to go back into service. You're talking about an age before Permits to Work were the norm. Mines are a good example of hazardous areas and look what sometimes goes wrong when safety procedures are ignored. There are laws governing entry into confined spaces, eg. boiler flues, but what is a confined space? Should a slurry pit be regarded as a confined space? When you're in front of the coroner answering for the consequences of your actions then you realise you can't take short cuts.

[Invernahaille]

Chinatyke'
Like you say standard procedure.

[Stanley]

But 40 years ago it wasn't standard procedure. It was just me being too careful according to some.

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
I understand what you say. You were taking the precaution of ensuring safety. These days with the I.S.O, Protocols in place the idea behind it, is so there are not any accidents.

[Stanley]

It looked like common sense to me. I once found a contractor about to start working on a live circuit and never forgot it. I had always thought they could be trusted to look after themselves. What a quaint idea!

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
I.S.O. protocols stipulate isolation procedures, I.S.O. Started in around the year 2000,With ISO 9000. Just taking fuses out became non compliant, and our friends at H.S.O. can now hand out hefty fines for non compliance. What you did was standard safety procedure at the time, and made common sense.
Times change, I suppose.

[PanBiker]

In the domestic scenario when out on field service. I had occasion to cut seals and remove YEB main fuses and leave the customers premises with them on more than one occasion. Best, or worst one was when hubby had "done a good job" rewiring the kitchen and various other new sockets around the house. Problem was he had done it using figure 8 bell wire and of course no earth! The TV was displaying a postcard sized picture not because it was faulty but because the mains supply was down to no more than 100v and the switch mode power supply was just about operational and doing the best it could. I rang the YEB to tell them what I had done of course, they were out within half an hour and fitted new sealed isolation blanks and issued a notice to the customer to engage a competent and certificated electrician who would inform them when it was safe to perform a test and reconnection of supply.

As has been said, no accounting for stupidity.

[Stanley]

And I'll bet you have come across the foil wrapped fuse and in the old days the nail used as a fuse.

[PanBiker]

Indeed.

SIDE

Switch off
Isolate
Dump
Earth

Came in useful when dealing with 25,000 volts on the final anodes of colour TV CRT's or the 8KV from EHT triplers in the Mono TV's. Especially when working in the corner of someone's living room. I have worked in premises where the carpet was live, that was a revelation!

[Invernahaille]

Ships always carry an electrical engineer recognised by the green behind their braids.

[Invernahaille]

For those that go down to the sea in ships.

[Stanley]

See THIS and always remember that when a seaman's ship was sunk he automatically came off the shipping company's payroll. Nice!

[Invernahaille]

Stanley,
The same applied if you passed away at sea. However, they put you in one of the fridges and brought you home, as long as no crew member protested. Didn't want a body stored with the food.

[Stanley]