Hot Work

As most of us are, we are all working a day to day job. Some other days, it can be utterly boring and sometimes altogether exciting. Last Monday was a bit unusual due to the Chinese New Year (CNY) Celebration is around the clock, my boss assigned me to buy hampers and distribute to our clients. Only five clients were selected - to whom celebrating CNY. I managed to get RM50.00 each for a 4ft high hamper. It's quite a good bargain and the hamper looks huge!

But if you were to really see the hampers physically, it is slim shady shape. It's tall but thin. The dimension is small, it could fit in 3 x hampers on my car back seat floor! hahaha..

Anyways move forward to Wednesday. In our Whatsapp Operation group specifically for Labuan only, my colleague had shared a very interesting photo. A photo that can be describe in a thousand words.

Soon as the photo was shared, I immediately ask in the chat group what job is that for and where. But unfortunately, I did not get the answer to what I wanted. One guy had replied and said, CNY is coming so they are starting to play fireworks alike. And then another one replied and said 'steady la Pak Cik', in other words it means this uncle is working fine. I understand they are joking around, but I don't find it funny especially when my question was not answered. I instantly got fired up, because it is a no joke for me.

Why is it no joke for me? And why did I get fired up easily? If you are working in the Oil & Gas industry, you will quickly understand what causes me to react as such. I do not hold any Quality Health & Safety Environment (QHSE) certificates but if you are someone who is working with the industry, you will find the above photo is no joke. This man is doing Hot Work Job. A hot work job is simply define as to a job that is related to heat or a spark that could causes flames. So as soon I saw this picture, only two things concern me.

No.1 - This man working without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). He has no safety helmet, has no safety glass, has no hand gloves, and among all has no welding helmet.

No. 2 - Second thing I'm looking at his surroundings. I am working for offshore container supply, I am so curious if his welding job is repairing to one of our Cargo Carrying Unit (CCU).

I got really fired up when my group chats took this photo lightly. There is a lot of 'IF' going on in my mind. What if an unwanted incident happened during this Hot Work job, is there anybody on site capable to tackle the situation? If the man got injured by burning fingers or hand, or sparks gets into his eye, or worst scenario flame lights up - is there any first aid kit or fire extinguisher to control the situation? If the man got blinded from this hot work job - can his family sue the company for not providing him proper PPE? If this hot work job happened to be in our company work site and caught of guard by our client - will we lose our client? If this welding repair is to one of our CCU - why isn't there any Non-Conformity Report (NCR) submitted? For the whole five minutes while waiting for an answer after I texted " I'm serious" This add on IF questions continue to lingers. Moment after, I received a reply that this photo was taken in another work sites that was viral out due to safety issue.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

So I knew, they got me. They got me good. Because the CCU in the photo looks very much similar to ones that we have in our work site. It was a good day gone bad and then turn to laughter. Either way, funny as it sounds for them I was still feeling emotional because I was already on my way driving to the work site. Then everything went fine and calm when I reached the work site. True as they said, that photo has nothing to do with us. But I continued with the operation guys explaining to them that the photo that was shared is not something to joke about. It is for sharing and to talk about the unsafe acts that is going on in the photo. The man in the photo seems pretty harmless but with the type of job he is doing, many things can happen. And behind the photos, we do not know what else is lying behind him. It could be something that is highly flammable that could lead to fatal accident.

Indirectly, while all of us were talking at the work site sharing our own opinions towards the man in the photo we ended with a very good discussion. At least for now I know they understand what are the consequences that could happen for a hot work job. The guys at the work site are still young and new to the field, it felt good when they listened and understand. And LUCKY enough, this Hot Work job has nothing to do with us. Otherwise, I will be part in the keyboard warrior with the managements. LMAO.

Just for sharing. Shots taken before the rain starts again. Beautiful view of few Jack-Up Rigs from our yard.

Till then, Steem on peeps.