Well, I got a story too. I had to go up 35 meters to work on a 65 ton I-Beam crane in a prefab concrete plant. So I went to the control room and turned off the wireless crane control. I did check the crane remote to make sure it was off, locked and the battery was taken out. Then I tossed it all in my ruck and off I went. I had to leave the crane track powered up, to trouble shoot.
I took my tools and parts and scampered up the 4 ladders to get to the top of the hall, and out on the track. I am not one of these people who feels good up that high. The track is normal railroad track laid on a 50 cm wide concrete beam. When you are looking down, that beam looks about 3 inches wide. This was 34 years ago, and safety lines and such things did not exist. I had to walk about 15-20 meters down the track before I got to the crane. I took the control out, hooked it up and troubleshot. Changed a contactor and all was good. Took the crane control back apart and tossed it in my ruck and started the walk back down the track, sweating like a pig before the Thanksgiving Feast.
About half way to the ladder, I heard, and felt the track vibrating. Turned around and saw, the crane in motion, and in my direction. Oh boy. So I started shuffling down the track as fast as I could, but it sure was not fast enough. I looked down, and saw one of the workers with a crane control box in his hands and walking along with the crane in motion. I screamed and screamed. In a plant like that, no one is going to hear you. I shuffled faster. Then seeing that there was no way I was going to make it, I turned around and waited for the crane to get to me and jumped up on the I-Beam. It was moving very fast by then and its very tall. I hung on, for a while. It came to a stop and I climbed up on it. I started to throw all my tools at this fool with the crane control. He at last noticed it.
The workers in the plant were all from an un-named Eastern country. Drinking vodka is a way of life there. The plant superintendent had this guy gone by the time I got down. So murder was not possible. This fool thought the crane control was in for maintenance. So he asked another fool for the extra control, that was supposed to be locked up. I went home early that day.
I worked with a guy who was too lazy to go get his meter. he would lick two finger and reach right in there. There is not enough gold in Ft. Knox, to get me to do that.
