Something that isn't talked about as much in regards to safety even though it can still happen and is usually WAY more interesting is random people near a jobsite or crew that put the team in danger. A recent article about an incident in Austin, TX (my hometown....) highlights the randomness and potential dangers that exist outside or regular work hazards. A person nearby a residential project was not happy about the music he heard coming from a crew truck. He responded by confronting the driver, going back into his own home, returning with a machete and then swinging it at and banging the truck as the driver quickly left.
If you work on jobs that are near or exposed to the public you probably have more than one story about crazy public incidents. Some of the incidents I've personally seen are:
A crew literally caught in a vehicular shootout between two vehicles that dove off equipment to dodge bullets.
A vehicle drove through a work zone and past an off duty police officer and then got stuck when it did not have the speed to clear the gap between new concrete and existing asphalt.
A vehicle drove off the side of the road, narrowly missed the start of temporary barrier wall, continued under the boom of a crane that was down in anticipation of inspection that day while just clipping the boom with the roof of the vehicle in the process but did not injure the drive.
A (likely) drunk individual would not move to allow for moving rail segments overnight, even after an off duty sheriff's deputy, who happened to be a K-9 unit told him to move so the dog was released to do its job which it quickly did.
During overnight work during the winter, a (likely) drunk driver drove their vehicle drove past a flagger and clipped the top corner of the cap with a fully loaded loader bucket causing all of the windows to shatter. The driver did not slow down and continued driving in the sub 20 degree night.
An attorney walking to court defied an off duty officer's orders to not lift caution tape and cut through a work zone. The officer promptly stopped the attorney and sat him down in the dirt in his suit while he gave him his options. The attorney initially challenged the officer until notified that further challenging would result in arrest but that a simple ticket could be issued and later challenged in court. The attorney took the ticket and did not challenge it in court.
There's quite a few more but these incidents definitely made things interesting.
Another conflict between people or craziness that many of us have seen but isn't as common as the "old days," the internal conflict that turned into a fight between crew members. If we were lucky, they waited until after work and until they were off site to take swings at each other. In my experience these are often because of respect/disrespect and/or perceived favoritism.
Even after hazard exposure is eliminated and controlled and all of the crew is properly trained, an unanticipated low blow can came out of nowhere from a crazy or drunk persron or from someone having a bad day or a bad moment. At worst they are tragic but at best they are pretty funny.
What stories do you have? Feel free to share in the comments on this site, on social media or via e-mail (postholedigger@thetrailer.build).
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