mtt.tr
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- Thread starter Robbie260
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If Dawg was second in command would that make him Deputy Dawg?
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Going off topic, but I had quite long hair in those days so for a laugh one of the others did my hair into 2 plaits finished off with bits of bright coloured rag tied in bows, it was funny to see the blokes on the casting tracks doing a double take as we walked past
you have to remember that was the 70's, no one would give a second glance these days.
addjunkie
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Your not far wrong, Ive worked with several Of our American cousins over the years. The traditional red neck image, is not wrong of many of them. A few spring to mind. Big Beau! Arrived in London to join the project, stetsen, cowboy boits and big belt. Absolutley clueless with anything technical, but a real nice guy, thought it normal to go everywhere with a half pint mug of coffee. Dutch from Louisiana, dungarees and oily base ball cap, redwing boots even travelling home on international flights, used to wander round spitting baccy into an empty juice can, spent his off time hunting pigs with an Armalite rifle, but kept a bible next to his bed. Guess they thought us brits were odd too!
Used to sometimes fly home from Luanda on a Thursday, same day as the Huston express, at the time, think it was Bechtel were building Angola LNG. They used to be a couple of hundred of these guys queing for the flight, dungarees, work boots, chewin tabaco, the fashionable redneck look.
Rig Pig
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They are a breed apart, I worked with them on a project in Yemen, we lived in 20' containers with a hole gasaxed for an ac and one for a door. They had a 'little oasis' set up, 2 x 40'containers in an L shape with tall fencing to make a square, inside there was a bbq with crayfish on the go, one container was a bar the other one was a still and brewery. Fantastic evenings And some of the nicest people I've ever met.
Mick Annick
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You’re so right! When land drilling started in the north Hampshire field in the early 80’s we rented some yard space to a workover(?) crew (looked like a truck-mounted piling rig), the two operators were called Red & Bo
Robbie260
I fix things that others have broken
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Thanks for all the replies guys the h and s regs i think applies to the ships flag of state so it will go by there laws unless there is overiding comapany policy which is to a superior standard.
The ship im now on use to be american flag and i have oddly enough found an old stash of full brim hard hats chucked in a corner so they must be acceptable to the american half of the company at least.
I will look into getting one my self it of course cant be alloy as work with electrics quite a lot so has to be plastic at least.
Yeah i have been told this before because i bring my own boots to work as well but i have bought ones so far in excess of company safety specs its not true so they have trouble arguing that thier crap ppe (its really not hard to get better stuff) would have prevented less injury if it had been worn. And because i have a astigmatism in my right eye i am medically entitled to perscription safety glasses as i get migranes if i dont wear them and coustom ear plugs as they are the only ones that meet the companys 26db noise reduction spec for hearing protection if your wearing glasses as ear defenders dont sit and seal properly so dont provide enough protection. The company has continually refused to pay for both i even got my union involved but they still refused. They have some get out clause as i was employed through gurnsey and now singapore even though its a danish company that is my employer. So far i have just stumped up the cash and worn the ear defenders, ear plugs are on the to get list as even helmet mounted ear deffenders which they want us to start wearing as they want us to wear hard hats all the time provide less protection than the old over the hear band style ear defenders.
Americans are weird they are a bit of a joke in our company worse than even they guys that are accused of buying thier tickets, they dont know how a planned maintenance system should work and they just leave the ship to fall apart. Then after 5 years hand it back to the rest of us for us all to be driven mad trying to bring it back into compliance again. None of us know how they manage to get around port state and class but they seem to manage.
I have sailed with a british cheif ounce he use to call me the white walker as i was so pale everyone was always asking if i was well and i was like of course i just naturally am this pale.
The ship im now on use to be american flag and i have oddly enough found an old stash of full brim hard hats chucked in a corner so they must be acceptable to the american half of the company at least.
I will look into getting one my self it of course cant be alloy as work with electrics quite a lot so has to be plastic at least.
Yeah i have been told this before because i bring my own boots to work as well but i have bought ones so far in excess of company safety specs its not true so they have trouble arguing that thier crap ppe (its really not hard to get better stuff) would have prevented less injury if it had been worn. And because i have a astigmatism in my right eye i am medically entitled to perscription safety glasses as i get migranes if i dont wear them and coustom ear plugs as they are the only ones that meet the companys 26db noise reduction spec for hearing protection if your wearing glasses as ear defenders dont sit and seal properly so dont provide enough protection. The company has continually refused to pay for both i even got my union involved but they still refused. They have some get out clause as i was employed through gurnsey and now singapore even though its a danish company that is my employer. So far i have just stumped up the cash and worn the ear defenders, ear plugs are on the to get list as even helmet mounted ear deffenders which they want us to start wearing as they want us to wear hard hats all the time provide less protection than the old over the hear band style ear defenders.
Americans are weird they are a bit of a joke in our company worse than even they guys that are accused of buying thier tickets, they dont know how a planned maintenance system should work and they just leave the ship to fall apart. Then after 5 years hand it back to the rest of us for us all to be driven mad trying to bring it back into compliance again. None of us know how they manage to get around port state and class but they seem to manage.
I have sailed with a british cheif ounce he use to call me the white walker as i was so pale everyone was always asking if i was well and i was like of course i just naturally am this pale.
Kayos
Gone......
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@Robbie260 I didnt say I agreed, just know how they would justify it.
If you were it on my site you would be asked to take it off until we had written confirmation from the insurance.
If you were it on my site you would be asked to take it off until we had written confirmation from the insurance.
James1979
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Sorry to hear that. All sounds horribly familiar which is why I got out of being at sea. Loved the life but it was getting worse and worse as far as welfare was going. Did a one off trip before Xmas delivering a vessel to BVI and the crew were all employed by the American owner. They were really really worried abut the USCG and the port state when she got the other side. It was a British flag when it left the UK, but changed registry to Togo half way and the differences were vast. The US doesnt require some stuff we see as essential but asks for other really weird stuff - they binned the BAs and floatation suits as not required under Togo and US port state, but bought nearly 2 dozen life rings thaty were required. For a crew of 5 plus me. I did wonder who was going to throw them to who mind...
Robbie260
I fix things that others have broken
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Yeah sorry possibly bad wording i know where you are coming from.
Robbie260
I fix things that others have broken
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I know what you mean the fire kit on most ships i have been on is a joke to be polite to begin with. Amongst other safety kit. I really dont know why they are worried about uscg all they look at is oil leaks from what i can tell, mca or amsa would rake you over the coals for most of the stuff i have seen uscg let slide.
addjunkie
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Safety glasses and ear defenders dont really work well at all, and ear defenders on a safety helmet do work quite well if good quality, until you stick safety glasses on too.
When I was at sea, most of it was shall we say still optional, though ear defenders were encouraged. I always carried my own, as they were better than the cheapest of cheap from ship chandler. Have bumped my head far more since wearing safety specs and hard hats due to restricted perrifferal vision.
Spend the money on moulded ear plugs, worth every penny, far far more comfortable espescially if its hot and humid.
Doesnt sound like much has changed! Do they still insist on those daft silver fire suits with the long hose! Full blown Red Adaire.
When I was at sea, most of it was shall we say still optional, though ear defenders were encouraged. I always carried my own, as they were better than the cheapest of cheap from ship chandler. Have bumped my head far more since wearing safety specs and hard hats due to restricted perrifferal vision.
Spend the money on moulded ear plugs, worth every penny, far far more comfortable espescially if its hot and humid.
Doesnt sound like much has changed! Do they still insist on those daft silver fire suits with the long hose! Full blown Red Adaire.
Robbie260
I fix things that others have broken
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Never heard of or have seen silver fire suits outside of an old ex p and o nedloyd ship i went on as a cadet. We get supplied with good ear defenders 3m peltor optime 3s and the hard hat version but i find it difficult to get them to seal without glasses and impossible with they are also really heavy and your neck hurts quite badly by the end of the day i find. I totally agree with you that i hit my head on more stuff while wearing a hard had than when im not i also would say you are more conscious of were you put your head if it isnt protected but thats just my opinoin. Anyway most stuff in an engine room that has the ablity to fall on you is heavy enough to kill you outright hard hat or no hard hat, there is the occasional bolt or spanner through someones butter fingers but you will hear those coming 99.9% of the time as it bounces of pipes and bulkheads on the way down.
Edit: Of course hard hats in the engine room is the deckies idea not ours some mangement fourm came up with it and all the engineers present protested but the deckies won, dont even see the need for them on deck when at sea back when i was a cadet you only wore them on deck in port or during big lifting operations and that was it, dont ever remember anyone getting hurt.
James1979
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I've only been on one ship with the silver fire suits. Usually it's a mish mash of kit that looks like it's been nicked off the extras in London's Burning!
Ill second the moulded ear plugs. One of the best things i bought work wise. However I still have an in date ENG1 and the accompanying paperwork to say my hearing is rubbish.
Ahhh, the deckie vs engine room arguments! That sounds like a case of "if we have to wear them when we don't want to, then so should you"never really changes. Different vessels and different companies but they all follow the same script
Ill second the moulded ear plugs. One of the best things i bought work wise. However I still have an in date ENG1 and the accompanying paperwork to say my hearing is rubbish.
Ahhh, the deckie vs engine room arguments! That sounds like a case of "if we have to wear them when we don't want to, then so should you"never really changes. Different vessels and different companies but they all follow the same script
addjunkie
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The hard hat, no hard hat debate, it all depends of what side of the argument you are on. Having been on both sides, I get the argument for not wearing them in an engineroom, or on road works for example.
So in an engine room on your own or with one oiler, risk is minimal, but at some point when you are the accountable person, you need to put to one side " they will use common sense and wear a bash hat when necessary" thoughts.
In reality when accountable, the only way to make sure hard hats are worn when required, is to make them mandatory, same with safety glasses at all times.
Big companies tend to have one big set of rules for HSE stuff, so if its an arctic company, you may end up being forced to wear thermal stuff in the tropics because the rules were written for a cold place, by people in a cold place. Its hard to alter the rules in the big corporate machine, but it can be done if you push hard enough with a positive argument.
So in an engine room on your own or with one oiler, risk is minimal, but at some point when you are the accountable person, you need to put to one side " they will use common sense and wear a bash hat when necessary" thoughts.
In reality when accountable, the only way to make sure hard hats are worn when required, is to make them mandatory, same with safety glasses at all times.
Big companies tend to have one big set of rules for HSE stuff, so if its an arctic company, you may end up being forced to wear thermal stuff in the tropics because the rules were written for a cold place, by people in a cold place. Its hard to alter the rules in the big corporate machine, but it can be done if you push hard enough with a positive argument.
I don't think many of us have ever been to Yemen. What part?
Lovely people and a lovely country except when people stir it up.
