Dirty Great Machines

[grahamw48]

All tunnelling (well, construction work for that matter) is potentially dangerous, but when you're working with such powerful and incredibly noisy machinery, 10,000 volt electric supply lines, an unsupported tunnel with a rough rock surface, a foot or more of water on the floor and gallons pouring in all the time...all in partial darkness and restricted space...

I used to call it 'a vision from hell'.

It was always 'interesting' probing the ceiling with long steel bars to locate insecure rock so that it would come down....hopefully in front of you, before falling on someone else's head.

I injured various parts of my body on that job...but all par for the course really.

The majority of the foremen and safety staff were ex coal or gold miners.
There is still a fair amount of blasting on these tunnels.
The initial shaft is normally 'blasted' out, and then you have to blast out a short tunnel back and in front of the bottom of the shaft to accommodate the full length of the TBM and its 'train' attached to the back of it. (Imagine an upside down T). Also rail lines laid for its 'train' to be pulled along.

[lastlid]

All tunnelling (well, construction work for that matter) is potentially dangerous, but when you're working with such powerful and incredibly noisy machinery, 10,000 volt electric supply lines, an unsupported tunnel with a rough rock surface, a foot or more of water on the floor and gallons pouring in all the time...all in partial darkness and restricted space...

I used to call it 'a vision from hell'.

It was always 'interesting' probing the ceiling with long steel bars to locate insecure rock so that it would come down....hopefully in front of you before falling on someone else's head.

WOW. I kind of get the picture. Potential for injuries and dare I say it fatalities...

I would have said that I imagine it paid well but no doubt they used Philippino labour...

[grahamw48]

WOW. I kind of get the picture. Potential for injuries and dare I say it fatalities...

I would have said that I imagine it paid well but no doubt they used Philippino labour...

I was in charge of a gang of HK-born Pakistani workers.

Chinese either wouldn't go down there because of superstitions, and when the govt did send some on a work programme, they were either lazy so and so's or just couldn't cope with the (surface) work. None would go down the tunnel.

We did have some very capable Chinese engineers and the odd fitter/welder, so I won't rubbish all the Chinese staff.

[lastlid]

I was in charge of a gang of HK-born Pakistani workers.

[grahamw48]

There were plenty of injuries on the job, but only fatality we had was the Chinese gantry crane operator.

This gantry crane (like those at container ports) used to sit over the top of the shaft.

For some inexplicable reason he'd walked out onto the body of the crane, slipped and fell the full 100m depth of the shaft.

We had a lot of cleaning up to do after that.