Sunday night. You get a call from the manager saying that you have a 4:00 wake up – 5:15 leave time – 6:30 on job for a 7:00 pour.

The job is 250 yards of caissons. Displacing water, Pour to proceed at the rate the sleeve is retracted due to sandy soil conditions.  Call in pour because of the weather front moving in. MESS!

How much training time is there between your notification and bed time (1/2 hour ago)?

NONE!

Your total experience with this type of job is what?

NONE

You will be in a major mud hole.

You will be working, and booming within two feet of the rig’s mast.

What should you - / - do you say to the manager on the phone?

Oh lord,why me

Learn FAST!! Ok I don't like short notice pours,I'm getting long in the tooth and I need my beauty rest! But I'm also a quick study,and this has been done before. Someone on the job knows whats up,and its OK to say you've never done this before.We were all virgins once.The rest is pretty much common PUMPER sense,like pin All clamps,position yourself so the down elbow is paralell to the crane as much as possible and ask what their pour plan is. You are going to be booming STRAIGHT DOWN and STRAIGHT UP so getting too close can make your job difficult! You also want to keep your outriggers AWAY from ANY hole or caison,as theres a possibility the ground around them is weak.OK now priming out! Say you are running a 32 with a 25' 4" trimmie pipe,you are now effectively priming out a 42m (give or take a meter)!Take your time and OVERPRIME!!! Hell is a trying to unplug a 25' trimmie when it's plugged halfway through the pipe. So easy does it! OK 'youve primed out the trimmie and you need to drop it in the hole full of water.Down you go and youve just WASHED out your prime. Be aware! You will not always need to resort to putting a plastic bag over the trimmie end,or putting a paper plug in the end of the pipe,but they are options. Now pumping the hole is the easy part! First watch out not to go TOO deep,watching your short hose.You'll know,because youll see slack in the hose.I once had an inspector tell me I wasn't deep enough down a 10' 18" hole when I knew I was on the bottom.I told him to hold the pipe and then tell me when I was deep enough.He had me about 6 inches in the mud and told me to turn on the pump.I blew ALL the water in that hole about 15' up the boom totally trashing the inspector . We all knew what was coming, so we were inching back as the pressure built up. He looked so funny covered in mud.He wanted to kick my butt! I basically told him to go do something he was good at,like sit in his truck,and let us do our jobs! But I digress. And I dont want to take up all this thread,so some one else take it up from here! What I really want to end on is this: Don't be afraid to try something new,as WE are the sum of our experiences! Just use common PUMPER sense!!!

Really Roy!

Why me is right.

Do you say "I can't"?

Do you end up hurting someone tomorrow?

Can you make your house payment without those hours?

Oh Lord, why me?

Mudslinger,

You haven't been this guy for a long time. What does HE do?

The real question behind the question is this:

Why in the hell is "this guy" even put in that position?

Why isn't he trained? Why is he being instructed to do a pour he is not qualified to do? Why is he put in the position of needing to tell the people that should have trained him, and did not, that he is not 'ready' for that pour?

Instant transformation from rookie operator to CHUMP/FALLGUY.

What is wrong with this picture? Who is the responsible person?

Ya know bob you used to that to me alot long ago.Only difference was you had the coffee for thermos ready,hehehe.But yes a valid point,why me.I can think of so many options for a manager to change things around.Now a different perspective.A veteran operator somehow needs to understand he needs to be more flexable than the more inexperienced.Why could this be?.I can think of many reasons.Liability,customer satisfaction,equipment and the list goes on.If you remember bob, we were always told when on a job with problems or questions use whatever means it took to get ahold of a responsible person at the office.Yes it may sound like being thrown to the wolves but common sense always prevailed.Just knowing someone was there for you meant alot,reguardless of how po'd you were.Why me?.

ive been put in situations like that alot when i first started. it all worked out good though it would be bad if i wasnt a fast learner. i see that kind of things happening alot now days here in honolulu. theres alot of small pump companies here that started up withing the last year and they dont have experienced guys running there equipment i hear all the bad stuff from the ready mix drivers always a good story lol. sorry for getting off topic a bit.

I have thought about this for a  while. We have all been there! It is definitely BAD SERVICE to send an inexperienced operator to a critical placement! Tens of Thousands of dollars worth of concrete on the line," Crazy"! In the spirit of the business though I have to side with Slinger. It is just the way it is! I personaly would not do it with my company!

Hammah,

I just read your comment on this subject, you said you get a laugh out of the ready mix drivers and their pump operators stories. I also hear these stories everyday. What I would do is try to tell the drivers what they should have done to help. For example, tell the drivers what you would have done, and relay the help to the other operators.  I am not trying to be an ass, but keeping in mind safety and trying to help others. So don,t take this the wrong way.

you know this may seem crazy but we all talk about sefety you know never pick to much system allways get a crane ast. and soforth but in the 25 + years of doing this the only time i have ever seen any damage done on the pump was from the crane just calling as i see it

The important part of crane assist is having a knowledgable signal man who is in charge.Nowdays radio remotes are everywhere,which allows operator more vision.As for the only time we see damage,mmm.Lets say in the past 7-8 years there has been a real push on for annual boom inspections,both owners and factories.Operators generally look at the boom from the outside,they may or may not know what they are seeing.Todays booms are very weight consious (thinner sections) than booms of yester year.You will see more crane assist in time.Hidden on the inside of each section is damage and a potential disaster months/years into the future of that machine.

Sorry ,But I was actually trying to drive home a point,although I went the long way around. USE COMMON SENSE. And don't be afraid of something new! All around me I have people who say "it can't be done" Then I do it!! And frankly I'm sick of the attitude! Somewhere around you is someone who has done it before! If I need help,I'm gonna say something!To hell with this macho attitude that people are gonna think less of me because of it . Say "OK I'LL go,but I've never done this before" Pumping isn't "Rocket Science" , it's "Rock Science" The first time I ran a joystick was on a 28m schwing,after 18+ years on toggles, was on a "drill & fill" job.I learned alot fast,as my boss knew I would.He knew I probably wasn't going to be knocking guys around, I'd get a great lesson on functions,and I'd learn alot about roll and folds.He was right and within about 4 months I could make that boom ( for "OE3" That was Galletti#2) dance.What I'm trying to say is every job is a learning experience,make the most of it!

99.2% of the time everyone lives, leaves and comes to work tomorrow. This means that the typical exposure for exposure to "DID YOU HEAR ABOUT"... is .8%

My exposure to the aftermath of screwing up is concentrated; so I have a different perspective of adventerous behavior. I see a much larger % of disaster. I see a lot of what happens when the odds and gods catch up with poor training and preperation.

Have a good turkey day off. ;~)