Tragedy

[AtlasRob]

It is my 50th birthday today

BUT

I have just experienced the worst week of my life.
On Tuesday afternoon I was an eye witness to the death of a fellow worker.
He was killed by a reversing truck. I was 100metres away and by the time I realised the danger he was in, my air horns were to late to alert him or the driver to the danger.
I am not going in to details of who, why, where, when. There is an on going investigation by H&S and the Police.
What I want to emphasise is how quickly a normal day at work can change into a nightmare.
You must keep your guard up, keep aware, look out for yourself and your fellow workers, do not take things for granted.
It is frightening how quickly things can change.
I apologise if I have upset anybody.
Rob

 

[ASPHALT04]

Happy Birthday, Atlasrob!!

And I am sorry to hear that. It is truely amazing just how many things out there we do take for granted and it is just sad that it takes something terrible to happen before we see it.
I hope you are doing OK,
Rich

 

[digger242j]

Happy birthday, Rob.

Thanks for taking the time to remind us of how important it is to be aware of everything that's going on around you. I'm sure it had to be difficult to post about something you'd rather not even think about. Hopefully, your post will save somebody, somewhere, from harm...

 

[modelmaker]

Hi Rob, that wasnt the accident on the A2 at cobham was it ?

 

[RollOver Pete]

Rob...
We have a tendency of taking way too much for granted.
I think about that all of the time.
I've been guilty of it.
I've also seen two fellow co-workers die as a result of their injuries.
Thats a hard image to put behind you.
On the other side of the spectrum,
I've seen someone become injured and end up paralyzed as a result of my actions.
Even though it happened over 20 years ago, it still bothers me.
Many nights I laid awake thinking about what I had done and what I should have done that would have kept this accident from ever happening.
Many nights I prayed for forgiveness.
I still do.

It only takes a split second to change many peoples lives.
With what I've been through and learned from my situation,
I don't hesitate to warn someone, say something or do something to keep someone from getting hurt.
It may be something as simple as making sure someone has safety glasses to chewing someones ass for not wearing his seatbelt.
We all have a job to do.
Many of us are sometimes pushed or forced to produce...no matter what.
In my case, a steering issue on a 657 and me not having the balls to refuse to operate an unsafe machine opened the door for an accident.
While I was cleared or not held responsible,
I still feel that I was 100% responsible.
After all, I was in the operators seat and made the decision to take the machine back out.
Being young and feeling pressured...
Yeah, I made a bad decision.
I now do what ever I can to make sure others dont make the same mistake.

Oh....
And happy birthday Rob. :drinkup

 

[ZAXIS]

Happy birthday AtlasRob, I'm sorry to hear the horrible news-keep your head up and pray for the victim's family. As hard as it had to be to share this story with us, I want to thank you and RollOver Pete for reminding the rest of us to BE SAFE. ZAXIS

 

[Cat420]

Happy birthday AtlasRob

Sorry to hear about your fellow worker. I too have learned how quickly a normal day can be messed up. It's no where near the caliber of your story, but Tuesday was a bad day for me as well. I knocked one of my front teeth out with a huge wrench.

I was helping put up some racks in the new warehouse for the company I work for.(racks like Home Depot has) They were raising them with a forklift and had guys working under them and also standing on the top step of a ladder. I had voiced my concerns and decided to work behind them at a safe distance tightening up the bolts. I guess some of them were at a strange angle that had me pulling towards my face with one of hands, because when the wrench slipped off, it smacked me right in the face. Normally I wouldn't pull towards my face, but for whatever reason I guess it slipped my mind this time. Just goes to show even trying to be careful isn't enough sometimes.

 

[AtlasRob]

THanks

Hi Rob, that wasnt the accident on the A2 at cobham was it ?

M25 at Dartford but I expect its the one you heard about. For those out of country we are only talking a couple of miles difference!

Happy birthday AtlasRob

Sorry to hear about your fellow worker. I too have learned how quickly a normal day can be messed up. It's no where near the caliber of your story, but Tuesday was a bad day for me as well. I knocked one of my front teeth out with a huge wrench.

I was helping put up some racks in the new warehouse for the company I work for.(racks like Home Depot has) They were raising them with a forklift and had guys working under them and also standing on the top step of a ladder. I had voiced my concerns and decided to work behind them at a safe distance tightening up the bolts. I guess some of them were at a strange angle that had me pulling towards my face with one of hands, because when the wrench slipped off, it smacked me right in the face. Normally I wouldn't pull towards my face, but for whatever reason I guess it slipped my mind this time. Just goes to show even trying to be careful isn't enough sometimes.

Thanks Cat420 for making me smile It sort of puts things into perspective.
I feel your pain

Thanks R.O.Pete. Not so many hours ago I would not of appreciated where you were coming from.
It sure changes a man outlook on life. I did not appreciate the pain and guilt a man can go through, even for something that was beyond thier control.

And thank you all for your thoughts and wishes. Even those who read but could not post.

Please be careful. Rob. :thumbsup enough already :thumbsup

 

[DigDug]

Happy Birthday Rob!

 

[redline]

happy bday mate and thanks for the reminder

 

[stretch]

Wow...I hope I never have to go through that, AtlasRob...sorry for your loss.

And Happy Birthday!!! :drinkup

 

[Buckethead]

Atlas Rob, my condolences.

 

[AtlasRob]

Here is an update on my worst week.
I have not been allowed near my machine since the accident. Which is 11 days now.
The whole contract is stopped. The HSE ( Health & Safety Executive ) are due on site on Mon or Tuesday so I expect a proper interview and debrief then.
It is a long day sitting in a car park wondering if you are going to be summond for interview, talk, whatever.
The main problem seems to be getting suitable method statements / paperwork in order. It is a fine line between being bogged down with paperwork and not being safe. And of course everybody is aware of being the wrong side of that line.
There is an ongoing review of proccedures, checks on training, tickets etc, etc, etc.
One of my lines to the labourers used to be, "and for godsake dont get run over or hurt, we'll spend the rest of the shift doing paperwork " Not very funny now !
Myself, I went to talk to a councillor and he helped me sort out some of the guilt I was having, over what if, if, if, if. if.
It will be nice to get back to work, but it will be a very different job.
Thank you all for your thoughts and messages.

 

[BrianHay]

Really sad to read this thread Rob I hope the counseling helps you get over the guilt/what ifs you feel. I know it's hard not feel that way, I can relate. I have experienced some serious tragedies were I lost people very close to me (not work related though). It has been years now but it still haunts me daily. From what I've read there was nothing you could have done but it's human nature to keep going over the seen in your head to try and figure out what could have done different. Especially for someone like yourself who seems to genuinely care about others. All that you can do now is try and help your coworkers deal with it as I'm sure you will. If you do that there are no real what ifs for you, you did all that you could.

 

[modelmaker]

Hi Rob, i share in what you are goingtn through, but there is nothing that can change what happened..
I was working in Southwater, Horsham a few years back, taking down the old industrial estate there to make way for the shopping area, one lunch time one of the lads decided to climb up on to roof of one of the buildings to grab a small amount of lead, needless to say the roof gave way with him falling 20 odd feet, made worse by our buckets and peckers housed in there,the building was the only intact one left, it was a car workshop, with locking shuttered doors, and thats what he fell on,buckets and a 20 tonners pecker, he died the following day, and then days of interveiws and paper work, but so many ifs and buts and more ifs, every one was made to felt guilty, but there was nothing that could of prevented the accident.
You have to ask why was there no banksman with reversing lorry, why was lorry moving without one.
Back to Southwater, few weeks later we stayed on hire to the groundworkers, there was great little irish lad there as the ganger, great bloke, got out of crew bus one morning and fell flat over, heart attack.
Keep at it and get back in saddle as soon as.

Martyn