Part 3
Day from hell 125
I worked for
Atlas Explosive Serv. Co, then out of Mineral City, Oh. , and when I first
started working there I was enthralled by a chance to play with dynamite and
things that go bang. Today I am much
thankful that nothing serious ever happened, that I never had to say what they
say about dynamite , if you play with it , things happen, none of it good! Intended
to self-destruct with force, it will take everything with it as it has no
mercy.
Don’t really know
what I was thinking besides the pay was good. Dynamite is safe as long as
certain protocols are heeded. It has to be stored properly and counted
constantly as inventory of loss of one stick is a serious consequence with no
good ending. So you count it in the magazine, and then again when it comes out.
It’s a pain in the butt but I agree with it. Wouldn’t want to work with someone
who stole dynamite, as people are a strange and a curious lot at times and this
can be an obsession with people. When I come across people like this I tend to
head the other way. I can remember partying with a want- to- be prison guard who
was obsessed with a deputy sheriffs murder and by his own admission set up a sequence
of events in telling me the story years ago , that indicated to me he may have
more knowledge and motive, to be looked at very suspiciously. My job was cancelled and I didn’t have to work
with him and always I wondered. Secretly
I was glad to have dodged that bullet as I really had no evidence and with the
time that has evolved, doubt if any information could be gleaned. Still; it
helps to know who you are working with. Especially with dynamite.
I arrived at
work and I was kind of a lead person assigning work and then working with a
crew doing whatever. My primary job was to be a truck driver, delivering
dynamite or anfo , which is an ammonium nitrate plus diesel fuel that kind of
slicks up the hole and then intensifies the blast, kind of like banging on a huge
kettle drum during a thunderstorm adding
percussion to a thunder storm , the stuff that rattles windows and makes your
spine tingle stuff. Well it is benign
till you set it off with dynamite. I am sure you have passed these trucks as
they have orange blasting agent insignia on them. I like watching license
plates and can usually remember numbers and letters in sequence as I am talking
to someone while driving down the road at 60 mph. while blinking at the same
time. Where I am going to, is that I notice placards on trucks and take a mental
note of which sign or placard is turned up. Due to the close proximity of strip
mines and the location of a blasting manufacturer in our area that makes slurry.
This is used primarily in strip mines
and is placed in 4 foot tubes to be dropped above the dynamite and intensify
the blast. I see a lot of trucks with blasting agent or class A explosives
including dynamite as I drive down the road. I am concerned always and steer
clear.
At safety
meting we would hear the horror stories of dynamite gone wrong. We would have
one weekly at which safety was focused on reducing the liability the company might
suffer if we made a mistake. A friend of mine told me to watch Atlas Explosive
Serv. Co.. Atlas had a habit of establishing an operation in an area, and then
maintain control over the processing and manufacturing of product, but would
offload the blasting services, and carrying of dynamite to a new company or an
existing company forced with a sudden lack of business, sell off the servicing
and further reduce their risk. Everything was planned to make maximum profits. Sure
enough he was right, and a year after I was let go, they sold the blasting
business to a competitor, only they had to buy Atlas product instead of another
competitor’s product.
All of the
safety meetings had to do with inventory, preventing major accidents, impaired drug
use, sleep deprivation and how it affects your driving. All important issues
but was mainly a structured company cya policy, and that is a cover your ass
policy at all costs. Telling you all the things that are beneficial to the
company but lacks substance when faced with a scenario like this, like in the
case of an accident and your truck is burning.
You need to remove your load of dynamite first, at this point and I emphasize
first (you do not check on your own injuries or whether there are others with injuries,
you just grab the dynamite and go), carefully carry it to an open area, then stand
by it till the authorities or other company personnel who will arrive and be authorized
to take possession of the dynamite, also try to make sure you have your bill ladings
along also. Now as I am slumped across my steering wheel from having been
thrown around in the cab and now I need to grab my bill of ladings and hurry
outside to go carry some dynamite to reduce company liability. Sounds like a
plan to me.
Well that was
the first thing you are supposed to do. Well there wasn’t a second. You were
not supposed to leave your post by the dynamite to attend to the van load of senior
citizens you just scared off the road when your truck slid on an icy patch and
you lost control, went sideways in the road and ended in the ditch, and although
there is no fire or immediate need to evacuate the area, you cannot leave your
post beside the three ton of 4in x 8in stick dynamite it took you an hour to
unload by hand when I was 31 years old. There was one other stipulation they had,
never admit fault even to a law enforcement officer or anyone. You were to go
to the grave with your secret. That is why they have people who investigate
these things that know what they are doing. It is cheaper to only answer direct
questions as you stand by the smoking crater.
Don’t know, but if it was actually going to
blow up I would have evacuated and run
as far as I could dragging as many senior citizens as I could. Then when I hear
the blast and stick my head between my legs
and kiss my ass good bye , cause I am sure that I will still be to close. And worst
case if I happen to live through it, the company at least needs someone to
blame. Might as well be me as they wheel my hospital bed into the court room
and they give me life and now I would become a burden to the taxpayers as I am
now locked in a prison medical ward , for the rest of my life as I decided to
try and save some old folks and abandoned my post. Don’t you just love how dysfunctional
work is anymore? Where reducing risk is the most important thing next to
profits. I know by now you think that crazy kev has lost it again thank someone
that man is no longer driving dynamite trucks around. Did you hear what he is telling me? No rhyme or reason, just spouting off.
I have purpose and
will revisit later as if I have a plan with my writing. Anyhow in the time I worked
with them close to a year and a half doing a variety of jobs, but mainly being
a shooters helper on the blasting of strip mines. It was because of the safety
factor, certain things had to be done in only one way. Dynamite had to be
counted and stored as soon as it was feasible. The boxes typically weighed 6o pounds,
and after lifting a ton or two you could feel it in your back.
All the safety meetings and how important it
was for the company and yet they never covered backs. Apparently they are more
worried about fighting lawsuits involving employee error than they were
worrying about the employees’ health and safety. It is typical of safety programs,
and I am sure if it sounds crass, I mean
after all why should they teach personal safety? They have to pay our wages to
have us sit around and nod our heads up and down, drink coffee and eat all the
donuts for the office staff before obligingly signing off on a safety
attendance sheet. So they may as well be doing something to help
the company first by doing things to make sure their liability was lowered. Better
than one company I worked for in the strip mines that even without a safety meeting
you needed to sign the safety attendance sheet or be fired. I always hated signing
the paper but wanted my check. Holding the check hostage and not paying me my
obliged amount without having strings attached of lying for my employer, only
served to show how safety was of no concern to them. I ran dozer at the time.
Not once did Atlas
cover prevention of any accident on your behalf. A personal injury was just
personal and they figured you would screw up and blow yourself up first rather
than hurt your back from loading boxes that were too heavy to lift all day
long. Semi after semi with up to 26 tons of dynamite loaded to the gills and
stacked at times 2 high, all to be loaded or unloaded by hand daily. This was
an important part of the job.
This was another
safety requirement as you cannot use electric or gas or even propane forklifts
to load or unload dynamite. It all has to be hand loaded and unloaded. Don’t know
if this is still the case as it was in 1985. The reason is the potential of
explosion resulting in a massive explosion setting off a chain of events there
is no remedy for except to check the crater for body parts.
So it would seem
if you are in the business of moving large amounts of packaged goods by hand shan’t
you at least once give cause to teach your workers how to lift? Never happened, and if you think it is bad it
is a common thread among businesses across the board and even farmers but is
one of the most expensive court cases to litigate as there are survivors who
live for years with bad backs. I can attest to that. It is hardly thought of at safety meetings
till they have their token back case and are faced with higher worker compensation
rates. Then it was I told you so as they
are handing out lifting belts.
All that and I haven’t
arrived at the first hour of work. Well it was 1-10 1985; my history of being
fascinated with things that go bang suddenly took a turn for the worse or
better as the case may be. I was unloading a truck full of sixty pound boxes of
dynamite and sliding them down rollers, along with a crew of about 5 others and
the usual scenario was the roller tables were stacked on boxes and out the back
door of the semi. Four men would go inside the truck and would slide the
cartons of dynamite down the racks to the 2 guys at the other end who would
stack them in the magazine. We would trade out on the stacking at the one end
in the magazine after about twenty minutes. This was due to the nitro in the
air as it emitted a vapor and this caused you a headache. Don’t ask questions of
whether the money is worth it. I wouldn’t have a story to tell.
Anyhow I was
working right along with the others and bent over as simply as I write this, I
picked up a carton and my back snapped. It could be heard as several of my
coworkers asked if that was me as pain shot down both legs and I staggered to
the side of the trailer and sat on some dynamite. I never expected anything
like this to happen. Getting blown up crossed my mind a couple of times but
never a personal injury as I was fairly healthy. Drank too much by my own
admission, and didn’t eat right, partied with my friends, typical behavior for
a young redneck man like myself at the time, but still physically in good
shape.
Well will take a
break and try and finish this story. Not really looking for sympathy in my
story. It is what it is. And part of getting old, seems like we never get smart
soon enough until we are all bent over and struggling to get around or planning
our day on how well we feel. Who knows maybe this could be a precautionary tale
to some youth to slow down and think before doing something as simple as
bending over to pick up your paycheck at work if the boss drops it on the floor
handling it to you. Accidents can happen anytime and anyplace. Sometimes you
need to try and think before doing. If I had anything to do over on that day
and that would have been to slow down. Let them fire me if I couldn’t keep up. Maybe
tomorrow the conclusion. Maybe?
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