Rant: The worst week I've ever had on a shutdown at the Gary plant

Last Tuesday, we had to pull a big heat exchanger bundle with a crane in the rain. The rigging slipped and it dropped about a foot, bending a bunch of tubes. Then, the new gaskets we ordered were the wrong size, so we lost a whole day waiting. The foreman just kept saying 'figure it out' while the plant manager was breathing down our necks. Has anyone else had a bundle pull go that sideways?

3 comments

3 Comments

oliviajenkins29d ago

Wait, it dropped a whole foot?

vera2929d ago

Exactly, OliviaJenkins. A foot is a huge drop in water level for a lake. It changes everything. The boat dock at my cousin's place is now sitting on mud, completely useless. You also see old fence posts and foundations that haven't been visible for decades.

johnkelly29d ago

Remember hearing a loud bang once when a sling let go... scared me half to death. We started using those bright colored lifting straps with the sewn eyes instead of wire rope, way less chance of slipping on a wet bundle. Had a foreman like that too, OliviaJenkins, always just telling us to figure it out without lifting a finger to help. You gotta slow everything down in the rain, double check every choke point, even if the bosses are yelling. Lost a day once waiting on gaskets, so now we always lay the new ones on the old flange before the old bundle even comes out.