ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area On the job mishaps/ screw-ups

I had a big screw up today on a job. I went to one of our jobs and about 5" of drywall needed to be removed about 10 feet long. I thought I'd help my guys hurry up, so I grabbed a Dewalt cordless sawsall and started cutting. I was being carefull not to cut too deep because I didn't want to cut any wires. At the end of the cut, I heard a hiss and then water spraying me in the face. I ran to find a shut off, but couldn't, I went back to the leak area to get some pliers to cut it off at the street and noticed the spray was hot, so I ran the the water heater and turned it off there. As soon as I got it cut off I heard somebody yelling. It turned out the homeowner was in the shower when I turned off the hot water! Ooops!

It took us about 2 hours to mop up all the water and dry out the cabinets. It doesn't look like anything was damaged too bad, although I 'm concerned that the hardwood floors might warp. If they do, I guess I'll be refinishing the floor.

I guess it could've been worse. The pipe was CPVC, so it repaired easily, but if it were copper, I probably wouldn't have cut it because I would've know I hit it and I was using light preasure. I'm also glad it was me that cut it and not one of my employees.

Does anybody else want to confess a screw-up?

[This message has been edited by Electric Eagle (edited 10-16-2003).]

(while looking at the floor and pawing the ground)
"hmm, uhh, well, see, uhh...not me"

I was once doing a minor repair to a sink.

I turned off the water under the sink and then used my pipe cutter to cut the supply line BELOW the valve I had just shut off. Alot of water can come out of an open 1/2" pipe!

I slipped walking in a truss attic and put my size 12 through the ceiling once.

Sawed through a beam once and knew I had cut a wire when my saw stopped working.

Drilled into a wall and melted the tip of my drillbit (lots of fireworks came out of the wall) when I drilled into a wire.

Roofing a house all alone one day and had my ladder blow over. I used to do some rock climbing so I figured I could use my safety rope and harness I was using (with some creative use of other stuff I had in my tool bag) and just rappell down. Got stuck on the roof edge, got my rope tangled up, ended up tied in a knot, dangling helplessly 6 feet off the ground. Cut the rope and landed on my (now completely numb) legs in a pile with my tools scattered all over the ground - unable to stand up. Just then the home owner pulled up.

Maintenanceguy said:


Hmmm...at least it's better than rappelling off the roof successfully.....only to come crashing feet-first through the upper-story windows right below the roof line.

Methinks almost everyone's bulled and jammed at times enough to cause a ruckus, and a tad more damage than necessary

i know i have

~S~

One time I was installing a new circuit for an under cabinet microwave. The kitchen was already finished. Why the homeowner didn't call me before I will never know. Being the consious worker that I am I decided to pull the oven out of the way so as not to damage it while I worked over it. After unplugging it I proceeded to pull it out. I felt some resistance and I assumed that the cord must have gotten caught on something. When I looked in back of the oven I did not see anything. So I gave it another big tug. Finnaly I slid the oven back in place thinking I caught the side on something when I noticed the problem. The front leg of the oven was digging into the brand new kitchen floor and ripped a 3" gash in it. I never felt so sick in my life. Needless to say the job I did was free. The homeowner told me the flooring company fixed it for $50.00 and hardly left a scar. I will never move anything any more. I have the homeowners do it.

Blessings, Mark

Mark,
I know that feeling!.
A few years ago I was asked to go and hook up some speakers in a Home theatre system, in town here.
I had to solder RCA connectors to the ends of the speaker wires, so I set up my soldering iron and stand and plugged the iron into the wall.
Went out to the van to get some bits and pieces and returned to find a smell of burning and looked down, to see my iron burning a hole in the brand-new cut-pile carpet!.
It had fallen out of the stand, because of the cord having a permanent twist in it.
Man, I've never had a sinking feeling like that before, cost heaps to get it repaired too.
Suffice to say, that soldering Iron is at the local rubbish tip, at this point in time!

Last fall I ordered a 1600amp distribution panel full of 200 and 100 amp breakers. Silver plated copper buss...the whole bit. Cost was $4800.00. Forgot to order it with the 1600 amp main breaker. Ooops...cost me another $5200.00 to get one in with a main breaker plus $1600.00 for priority shipping. I triple check my orders now.
Richard

Judging by the fact that there are 2 posts that I have submitted here, I don't really make that many mistakes.
But when I do, I really muck up!.
A few years ago when I was a Line Mechanic, us guys were working out of an EWP to cut the wires from a pole, after the wires had been Undergrounded.
We tested the pole to see if it was decayed, and it tested OK.
BTW, the pole had wires from 3 directions.
cut the first set no worries, moved around the other side of the pole to cut the 2nd set and just cut the last Neutral when the pole snapped and flicked up and destroyed a Glass-house and a few other things as the free end fell.
I am not immune to accidents, like the rest of you guys, my ones happen to be just that much bigger.

OK, so I've maid a cuppl of misteaks:
Ordered 50,000ft of #8 Green instead of 500ft.
Switchgear with mirror image layouts, or NEMA 1 instead of 3R (More than once).
Failed to specify Aluminum conductor on an 4500ft order of 750MCM, after telling the supplier less than a month earlier to always send us copper unless instructed otherwise.
Sent guys to the wrong side of an empty multi-tenant building and had them "demo/make safe for remodel" about 1500 sq ft of office area.
Had the wrong colt (horse) gelded (castrated)
Drove into a utility pole while staring nervously into the rearwiew mirror at the Sheriff's car that was behind me.

...just to name a couple...S