Any heavy construction site is a GREAT place for blowin' shit up, fuckin' shit up, and heavy-duty hardcore assmunch to the metal mayhem. I decided to start this thread to share some of the more interesting things I've seen, heard about, and laughed my ass off about.
And when you've planned to be successful SANS mayhem, sometimes Mr. Murphy himself will make his presence known to you......
And when you've planned to be successful SANS mayhem, sometimes Mr. Murphy himself will make his presence known to you......
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Missouri
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Re: Fun with heavy construction!
Sat, September 15, 2007 - 6:21 AMSome years ago, an outfit poetically named BANGert paid a blaster to have a shot set off on Interstate 270, the St. Louis loop while working on the interchange next to Dougherty Ferry Rd.They had to make a rock cut so an offramp could be built adjacent to the bridge. The powder monkey (blaster) added too much ammonium nitrate to the shot holes and blew the bridge 8 inches off its foundation.The gas pressure relief holes were totally not there.......
SAFETY THIRD! -
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Re: Fun with heavy construction!
Sat, September 15, 2007 - 11:48 AMPullman Washington needed to do street repairs on steeply sloped streets. Rather than have large equipment ripping up the asphalt they decided to use explosives to break up the asphalt first, making it easier to remove the chunks. While walking to class I watched them do one street correctly. There was a muffled WHUMP and the street bounced up a couple of inches.
When day I returned home and passed my neighbor's mustang with both side windows blown out (parked across the intersection from the blast area) . I noticed several houses along the street with plywood covering some of thier windows. And I noticed a softball sized chunk of asphalt sitting on the neighbors roof just outside my 3rd floor apartment window.
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Dynamite Jim
Sat, September 15, 2007 - 12:24 PMI used to work as a blaster and I've had my share of interesting encounters with fellows who failed to consider their work....
A blaster guy appropriately named Dynamite Jim, loading holes leveling a new shopping mall parking lot, arrogantly dismissed our suggestions (he was working for another contractor) and decided that he wanted some "heave" to displace the blasted rock and make it easier for the excavators to move. He almost doubled the amount of explosives in the holes, AND had his drillers drill the holes raked back at a 30 degree angle.
He failed to account for the Volvo assembly factory about 500 metres distance, where hundreds of brand new Volvos sat, waiting to be shipped.
Watching the blast was like watching a thousand home runs go over the fence all at once.....all into the new car lot. Much of the rock ejected stayed within the safety zone, but dozens and dozens of cars were trashed as baseball and football sized rock crashed into the lot.
I never saw Dynamite Jim again.
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Re: Fun with heavy construction!
Sat, September 15, 2007 - 5:11 PMBack when I was in college, we used to climb tower cranes and drink 40's. The views are great, sometimes heartbreaking. Climbing down from a tower crane while really drunk is a true safety third exercise. -
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Re: Fun with heavy construction!
Sat, September 15, 2007 - 10:14 PMWe shut down an exit ramp from I-270 when another blaster cutting an exit ramp had to remove a rock face at Gravois Rd. in St. Louis later in the same year. He loaded his holes with one extra stick of dynamite per hole. One hour short of rush hour the rock face dropped on the exit ramp from I-270.
It took 50 minutes, 14 tandem trucks, and 3 front end loaders to get the ramp clean in time. Just barely. Nobody hurt, nobody injured, but a lot of equipment had to be mobilized from up to15 miles away.
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