Gotta love my boys

[Bala]

Back from 3 week break, the JCB telehandler has been down for a week, no forward or reverse, So today I found them the correct wiring diagram etc as they had been looking at the wrong one, then eventually told them the process they needed to take to find the fault, it turns out that the operator, who has been on it for over 6 months forgot to take the park brake off so it would not drive, then called the electrician who managed to hot wire it and get reverse and they got it back to the workshop and pulled all the dash to bits etc etc, looking for a fault that was not there, all that was wrong was the park brake was on and the operator had a brain fade.

And the PC200 is bogged in a swamp, but if it rains heavy it should apparently only wet the cab a bit it should not reach the engine, we are on an island where it rains most every day!!

 

[Nige]

Know the feeling .......... sometimes I just feel like ointhead I'm sure you do too.

 

[Bala]

Its out now!

 

[dirty4fun]

I bet that made you feel good to see out. I know I would sure hate to see mine sitting down in a hole like that.

 

[Bala]

I had a qualified mechanic and the operator out at the machine as a warning light was coming on and the machine was cutting back to idle,

The mechanic told me it was the oil light,

It was actually a water temp light, neither of them noticed that the temp gauge was up in the red!!

The radiator is blocked from its excursion in the swamp, it is heading back to the workshop at idle so it will take them a while,

just another day!

 

[CM1995]

Damn Bala that's rough. Don't you have some shovels they can operate for a while? When they break those it's not near as expensive to replace...:cool2

 

[RTSmith]

I had a qualified mechanic and the operator out at the machine as a warning light was coming on and the machine was cutting back to idle,

The mechanic told me it was the oil light,

It was actually a water temp light, neither of them noticed that the temp gauge was up in the red!!

just another day!

I'm with CM on this one. Maybe they are operating the wrong piece of equipment.

And no disrespect intended, but your use of the word "qualified" regarding the mechanic who didn't check the guages might give me second thought...

But look on the bright side- The JCB parking brake passed its service test!!

 

[Bala]

Maybe they are operating the wrong piece of equipment.

Apart from one or two blokes I would not call any of the people who drive anything here good operators, I say they are just drivers.

use of the word "qualified" regarding the mechanic

Qualified means you have a piece of paper, even the dictionary says that, has nothing to do with being any good!

But look on the bright side- The JCB parking brake passed its service test!!

Only the switch that cuts out drive was working, the park brake disc pads are worn out the brake itself was not holding at all.

Have a great day all, mine will be normal!!

cheers

 

[buckfever]

Glad I'mnot the onl one with those days like....
employee on the phone- "hey the skidloader peddals won't come unlocked and it won't go forward or backwards."
me- "did you put on the seat bealt and switch off the parking brake?"
employee- "ya still nothing."
me- "huh, did you latch the seat belt all the way?"
employee- "oh, ok it's fixed now thanks"
me- "grrrrrrrr :Banghead:Banghead:Banghead"

 

[Nige]

Dumb & Dumber strike again ............

To me there is a big difference between an operator and a "lever puller". Some lever pullers will never be operators as long as they have a hole in their a$$.

I take great delight now in repeating what my boss told me when I was hired for my first job after I qualified. "That's a fine looking piece of paper you have, now go out and prove you can do it in the real world". So true.

 

[Bala]

yetserday, dipper ram seal on the backhoe leaking, it was done not long ago, seal in backwards,

today after filter change on JCB telehandler, running poorly, seal missing from fuel separator bowl, sucking air,

its relentless, I could run a daily diary on the stuff that goes on but you cant dwell on it to much

but they are not bad blokes and do work very hard a lot of the time, they just dont really know what they are doing

 

[digger242j]

but they are not bad blokes and do work very hard a lot of the time, they just dont really know what they are doing

The question then would be, are they learning anything from their mistakes? Cause if they aren't.... :cool2

 

[joispoi]

One of my first jobs was working for a tree service company. It was a small company, but the boss did have an employee training program- which was all on video tape (and we had to watch it on our own time).

It sounds like your men might benefit from a few hours of continuing education. There are equipment safety programs where they cover a lot of useful information (that everyone groans about when they're watching it because they already KNOW it all). There must be something on video about basic maintainence that you could show your guys that would serve as a primer if not a good refresher.

 

[Bala]

The question then would be, are they learning anything from their mistakes? Cause if they aren't....

VERY VERY VERY slowly, sort of, No not really, they are set in there ways and it is very herd to change.

One of my first jobs was working for a tree service company. It was a small company, but the boss did have an employee training program- which was all on video tape (and we had to watch it on our own time).

It sounds like your men might benefit from a few hours of continuing education. There are equipment safety programs where they cover a lot of useful information (that everyone groans about when they're watching it because they already KNOW it all). There must be something on video about basic maintainence that you could show your guys that would serve as a primer if not a good refresher.

As far as watching videos in there own time they would have to stay back and do it on site as they live in grass huts and do not have power, some have battery dvd players!

As for training, my safety training was not getting through so i went to a safety briefing every morning, even after I have been here 8 months and have been preaching asafety glasses since day one I walked passed a guy yesterday using a wire wheel on the bench grinder with no glasses.
I have had numerous sessions on one topic after 2 injuries from using pipe on breaker bars, I have set up a special modified pipe to be used only on a 1" breaker bar, my last attempt was to type up instructions, sit with one of the senior guys and go through it with him, I presented it in English, he then presented it in local language, the lesson, "The only extension pipe to be used in this workshop is that one and only on the 1" breaker bar", no other bars or pipes, VERY NEXT DAY i noticed the senior person with a group of others with a pipe on a crappy sliding bar.

Nothing gets through, every day is groundhog day, If I stay out in the workshop then I can get some sort of order happening, but if i am not here it all reverts back.

Lifes good

 

[Nige]

Usual answer to the question "Why are you doing it that way?"
"That's the way we've always done it" .............. they don't see acts as unsafe the way we do. Simple as that.

We go overboard (in my personal opinion we are anal, but that's just me) on safety. But you can see how little of what we preach/insist on sinks in when our workers go out the gate in an evening after work and straight away break the same safety rules that they comply with on the property. For example we don't allow anyone to ride in the back of a pickup truck on site, yet these guys will happily thumb a lift outside the gate and jump on the back of the first pickup that stops without a care in the world as to whether it has decent tyres, brakes, or steering (most don't). Life is cheap as far as they are concerned, I've no doubt where Bala is will be exactly the same.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . are you in PNG Bala?

Cheers.

 

[Bala]

are you in PNG Bala?

Yes but only for a few more months, heading back to FNQ.

On a brighter note, the swamp driving PC200 had 2 short term problems from its adventure, overheating, but thats from blocked radiator and oil cooler so thats easy, the other is error code CA428, basically problem in fuel water sensor wiring, thought this may be an epic, was up to stage 2 on the list of checks, found the engine controller, thought that its in a crap spot, then noticed a 2 pin plug that did not look right, pushed it in and errror fixed,

all to easy! sometimes

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . I did a couple of years based out of Kiapit pushing a road towards Madang. Turn off was just on the Lae side of the Leron.

The boys could be a worry But I wouldn't have missed it for quids. My brother was headstockman on Leron Downs when Placer owned the place.

Cheers.

 

[D6 Merv]

Ahhh PNG
The K factor. Dispela im kiwi himthink dempelas wantoks bilong you. You telim just liklik pipe. Bigpela em pipe nogot, Im bugarup.
Well something like that, worked for ok tedi mining back in the late 80s doing same as you ! Somethings you just never forget.

 

[Nige]

For those reading this thread who have never been to PNG you may find these photos of interest ......