What's that awful smell- It's OmahaSteve - oh yeah- 75 YO falls into poop & dies

[Tucker]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2049054

Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Oct-03-11 05:57 PM
Original message
75 year old man dies on the job at treatment plant (this is what I do for a living too)
   
Edited on Mon Oct-03-11 06:08 PM by Omaha Steve

Many of you know I was almost killed on the job 4 years ago. It was dumb luck a piece of re-bar was where it was (it wasn't supposed to be there) next to the ladder to stop my fall.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111003/NEWS01/710039873#...

Published Monday October 3, 2011

KEARNEY, Neb. (AP) — Authorities in Buffalo County have identified a Niobrara man who died after he was flipped into a treatment pool at the Kearney wastewater treatment plant.

The Buffalo County Attorney’s Office issued a news release Monday identifying the man as William Aschoff, 75.

Aschoff was operating a piece of equipment Friday when it flipped into a treatment pool at the plant.

FULL story at link.

How did OS get so fat working at a a poop plant? I'd never have an appetite.

As to the article, you would think that a 75 year old man, working in a union shop, would have enough seniority that the only thing he would have to do is punch in.

DoBotherMe Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Oct-03-11 06:05 PM
Response to Original message
3. Yikes!
   
My ex-husband worked at Swift making hamburger, sometimes he would have to jump into the auger to unclog it (the machine was off) it was very dangerous work. He was in the meatpackers union, but Swift was awful. Be careful out there! Dana ; )

How would he go about this? Jump in with his shoes on? Strip nude?

I detect some major bullshit.

alphafemale Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Oct-03-11 06:05 PM
Response to Original message
4. Man. That would have to be in my bottom tier of ways to go out.
   
Getting eaten alive by a shark might be preferable to drowning in sewage.

Poor guy. Somebody's beloved Pappap I bet. Still working a job like that at 75.

And yet you hang out at a DUmp.

Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Mon Oct-03-11 06:45 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. I was never trained in fall protection or confined spaces before my accident
   

I was lent out for a few days to our sister plant. There was a safety tripod above the confined space entrance I could have used. I didn't have a harness and was told to go down the man hole. The ladder was covered with ice and snow to boot. I still have the inspection photos. A forty foot drop from where I slipped. I should have said "this looks dangerous" and called the union office. Something I preach as shop steward loud and often since this happened to me.

OS

Yep! If it looks like work, call the union.

[Karin]

8. I was never trained in fall protection or confined spaces before my accident

  Yet another failure of government.  Isn't it, Steve?

I worked for many years in the paper industry.  These companies bent over backwards to make sure that people had the right training upfront, and ongoing training throughout the year, to do these dangerous jobs.  Even office staff got the same training (LOTO, MSDS, confined spaces, etc.) just in case.  Gee, private industry takes this stuff very seriously fat Steve. 

[thundley4]

Our company and the safety director come up with some of the most BS policies , supposedly to make our work safer, but they make the job more difficult.

[shadeaux]

Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts)      Mon Oct-03-11 06:45 PM

Response to Reply #5

8. I was never trained in fall protection or confined spaces before my accident
   

I find that hard to believe.  OSHA would have been all over that company.

Looks like the union OS prays and sings praises to doesn't give a damn about him.  DUmmy.

Do most companies not allow you to think for yourself ?  If it's dangerous, don't do it !

 

[zeitgeist]

I find that hard to believe.  OSHA would have been all over that company.

Looks like the union OS prays and sings praises to doesn't give a damn about him.  DUmmy.

Do most companies not allow you to think for yourself ?  If it's dangerous, don't do it !

 

I am going to double down on that.  OS is spreading what makes the fields turn green with this post.

OSHA ( which came  about during the Nixon years ) would be all over this like white on rice.

And wouldn't this just put another nail in the "unions promote safety" coffin? 

And a city Union?  OS must have slept through Confined Space Trainin. I bet somewhere out there he managed to sign off saying he was trained in Confined Space. 

And, yes, I taught Confined Space Training.   

 

[Karin]

Yeah, this was municipal, not a company. 

In the industrial companies I worked for, nobody was allowed to say "I already had that training, I can be excused."  No way.  One confined space is not like another. 

What does OSHA do to a municipality when it commits an egregious offense like sending a guy into a hazardous situation without training, & fall protection equipment?  It sounds like the union didn't give a shit about you, Steve. 

[Wineslob]

*sniff* *sniff* Hummmm, I believe I smell B.S. on OmahaSteve's part. I'll bet he got popped for NOT using the proper gear.

We are non-union and have monthly Safety training, MSDS training, ect. You name it, we do it.

[diesel driver]

I am going to double down on that.  OS is spreading what makes the fields turn green with this post.

OSHA ( which came  about during the Nixon years ) would be all over this like white on rice.

And wouldn't this just put another nail in the "unions promote safety" coffin? 

And a city Union?  OS must have slept through Confined Space Trainin. I bet somewhere out there he managed to sign off saying he was trained in Confined Space. 

And, yes, I taught Confined Space Training.   

 

I was self-employed, and I had "Confined Space Training", mainly because what I did was potentially deadly. 

There are certain times you do NOT go into a silo (the feed storing kind, not the missile kind).

[zeitgeist]

I was self-employed, and I had "Confined Space Training", mainly because what I did was potentially deadly. 

There are certain times you do NOT go into a silo (the feed storing kind, not the missile kind).

Yup.  I remember an example of a grain silo death.  Methane gas IIRC.

[Tucker]

I smell a mole.

progressiveinaction (81 posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Tue Oct-04-11 01:48 PM
Response to Original message
16. Hey Steve
   
I live in Omaha, what plant do you work at?

Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Tue Oct-04-11 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. Mo River on S 10th St
   

Small world.

More of the divulging of too much personal information. Add the data to the dossier.

[NHSparky]

Unions not pushing safety rules?  I smell bullshit, and not from the treatment plant.

And I've gone through the following on an annual basis since I left the Navy:

--Confined space
--Respirator
--Radiological
--Plant Access
--Electrical safety
--Tagout/lockout
--Fall protection

Along with all the other fun "just in time" training we get to do.  Whee.  And no, Steve, if you knew something, if you were worth a shit, you WOULD have done something right then and there.  The fact you didn't makes you a worthless POS, but then again we already knew that.

[BlueStateSaint]

It sounds like the union didn't give a shit about you, Steve. 

I think we can agree with that union, can't we?

[GOBUCKS]

This reminds me of a Smothers Brothers bit where Tommy talks about a tour of the Hershey's chocolate plant.

He got separated from the tour group, and was wandering around lost, when he stumbled and fell into a huge vat of chocolate.

So his brother Dick asked him what he did, how he was saved from a terrible fate.

Tommy said he screamed at the top of his lungs, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Dick said, "Fire? Why would you say that?"

Tommy, "Because no one would come if I yelled, "Chocolate."

Maybe when this poor guy fell in the vat of sewage, he yelled "Shit!", and no one came.

[Tucker]

This reminds me of a Smothers Brothers bit where Tommy talks about a tour of the Hershey's chocolate plant.

He got separated from the tour group, and was wandering around lost, when he stumbled and fell into a huge vat of chocolate.

So his brother Dick asked him what he did, how he was saved from a terrible fate.

Tommy said he screamed at the top of his lungs, "Fire! Fire! Fire!"

Dick said, "Fire? Why would you say that?"

Tommy, "Because no one would come if I yelled, "Chocolate."

Maybe when this poor guy fell in the vat of sewage, he yelled "Shit!", and no one came.

Would you?

I'd tell my self that he lived to 75 and he had a decent run.

This sounds like one of those jobs that an American wouldn't do.

[diesel driver]

Yup.  I remember an example of a grain silo death.  Methane gas IIRC.

It's usually CO2, hydrogen sulfide, and nitric dioxide.  If you have methane, your feed is rotting.

When you enter a barn, and see a lot of dead rodents, open the windows and leave for an hour or 2!

Better yet, if the farmer still has the blower hooked up to the silo, turn it on as well. 

The most dangerous time is from 3 days to 2 weeks after the silo is filled.  I had one farmer that got mad at me because I would not come out to set up his unloader a week after he filled the silo.  He had his son do it instead.

He buried his son the following week

[GOBUCKS]

It's usually CO2, hydrogen sulfide, and nitric dioxide.  If you have methane, your feed is rotting.

When you enter a barn, and see a lot of dead rodents, open the windows and leave for an hour or 2!

I vaguely recall reading about someone being killed inside a silo when he fell into an air pocket in the grain.
Have no idea how that could happen, but I'm pretty sure that's what I read.

[thundley4]

I vaguely recall reading about someone being killed inside a silo when he fell into an air pocket in the grain.
Have no idea how that could happen, but I'm pretty sure that's what I read.

There was a case not too long ago of someone being trapped in a grain silo here in Illinois.  They said the corn is basically like quick sand if you fall into it.

[GOBUCKS]

They said the corn is basically like quick sand if you fall into it.

It was probably cream style corn.

[diesel driver]

I vaguely recall reading about someone being killed inside a silo when he fell into an air pocket in the grain.
Have no idea how that could happen, but I'm pretty sure that's what I read.

That happens when the grain is removed from the bottom of the bin or silo, and it bridges over on the top.  It looks solid, but it's completely "hollow" underneath.

[Wineslob]

I'm guessing corn is quite a bit different than rice? I fumigated rice for 3 years. We did "piles"(up to 200,000 tons) and silos. Never had any air pocket issues.

[Rebel]

Omaha Steve Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Mon Oct-03-11 06:45 PM
Response to Reply #5

8. I was never trained in fall protection or confined spaces before my accident

Shouldn't this be COMMON SENSE?

[Tucker]

Shouldn't this be COMMON SENSE?

H5 for the absurdity of the question.

[BlueStateSaint]

Shouldn't this be COMMON SENSE?

Something I heard long ago--"Common sense is the least common thing in the world."

Definitely true for the DUmp dwellers.

[Rebel]

Something I heard long ago--"Common sense is the least common thing in the world."

Definitely true for the DUmp dwellers.

Those idiots are the reason there are "Do not operate in bathtub" labels on hair dryers and "for external use only" labels on curling irons.