Things that give you Heebie-Jeebies

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

My mate had his four fingers on the hinge side of a fire door when someone slammed it shut. I don't know what was worse the sound of bones being snapped or the look of horror on his face. His hand was a mangled wreck needless to say.

My dad was a mechanical engineer and was working on a broken machine when someone came in and turned it on (safety system should have overridden it but didn’t). His hand was trapped in the mechanism.

Lost 2 fingers !

Had to sleep with his arm up for months due to the pain!

I’m not good with heights or wasps so if I am high and a wasp is around I’m a wreck!

 

[SiMCFC]

Heights which unfortunately I work at every day, lately I have recurring nightmares of grinding discs exploding in my face, no idea why but it started a few months back, Wake up sweating thinking it's burst and cut my face in half, weird as hell how the brain works!

 

[bluemooners09]

Height is definitely what most people are shit scared of.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Heights which unfortunately I work at every day, lately I have recurring nightmares of grinding discs exploding in my face, no idea why but it started a few months back, Wake up sweating thinking it's burst and cut my face in half, weird as hell how the brain works!

Do you grind out pointing on scaffolding pal?

 

[LWashington]

Swimming pool drain filters, not the new lighter coloured ones but the dark rusty ones with pipework found at the bottom of Victorian style baths. If I go to a swimming baths that I have not visited before, I have to walk a few complete circuits of the pool just so I am aware of the position of them, so I can stay well clear.
The other thing that scares be are large buildings with bell towers. It's not the building itself, I've walked around many European cities with large buildings, it's just the tower bit on top. I think this comes from the time in the 1970's as a kid, I was in my sisters car and we got lost on an estate somewhere. We couldn't find a way out and kept coming back to this old spooky looking building with a giant bell/clock tower on top. It was a moonlit night and that old building was like something out of a horror film.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

Height is definitely what most people are shit scared of.

I wish I had a quid for everyone who's asked if I get scared working at height mate. As long as I'm attached via a lanyard and polestrap(when in a working position) I've mostly been fine. It's not about what is going on the deck, sometimes 100s of feet below. It's all about experience and trusting in my PPE(personal protective equipment) and having good balance and faith that a tower is safe to climb. All telecoms structures have to pass an annual safe to climb inspection but on occasion structures can and have failed.

Only been a few occasions when I felt vulnerable. One was working on the floodlight of a amateur football club in Devon, the top of the floodlight was maxed out weightwise with heavy antiquated telecoms equipment. When I climbed to the top and started traversing across to get to my work position to repair a fault the whole tower started to flex and sway. I felt sick and thought it was going to topple over. I climbed down sharpish and reported it as a near miss incident and condemned the tower as unfit to climb. It would have been inspected at a later date most probably from a cherry picker.

Another time I was working on the British gas tower in Blackpool opposite bannatyne's gym. I climbed up I think it was mid January on a cold damp day. When I got to the top I had to traverse about 4m to the tower leg where I needed to be. The temperature dropped a degree or two and the steelwork became iced up. I was literally out on a limb and thinking back I should have told my mate on the deck to ring for a cherry picker. Thing is I was committed and only had a 20 minute repair job on one of the antenna components. I did the job and spent about 15 minutes slipping and sliding down the tower leg to the safety of the ground. Was quite difficult I suppose but being a professional climber, something I didn't let phase me too much.

Another time only a couple of years ago my workmate was installing a microwave dish from a cherry picker no more than 20m high. Next minute a hydraulic pipe burst spewing hydraulic fluid everywhere causing the machine to malfunction and the picker went straight over and landed on a gantry that I was working on. I dived out of the way just in time and it caused considerable damage to the steelwork and probably a stained pair boxers my mate was wearing! Thankfully he was unhurt, just suffered a bit of shock. Nothing a strong cup of coffee couldn't sort out.

 

[SiMCFC]

Do you grind out pointing on scaffolding pal?

I'm in the water industry mate, so i'm generally working off a tripod/winch suspended over wastewater (up to 20m below) fabricating/cutting steel etc, it's a good job but my dislike of grinders grows daily!

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

I'm in the water industry mate, so i'm generally working off a tripod/winch suspended over wastewater (up to 20m below) fabricating/cutting steel etc, it's a good job but my dislike of grinders grows daily!

Ah right. Used to use an angle grinder often, and even though I've done a course on using power tools, a disc rotating at several thousand RPM can cause damage even when wearing eye protection and thick suede gloves. I soon learned to buy good quality discs!

 

[Ban-jani]

Thinking about death. It makes me very empty when I think it would mean leaving all the people I care about and stuff like that. Very shitty feeling.

On the contrary, I feel quite good about eventually being dead. Sure I don’t wish to now and want to live a long life, if I can, but being dead is just permanent nothingness. You don’t know you’re dead and you don’t know anything, literally nothing bad can happen to you again.

We’re programmed, generally speaking, to oppose death at all times and for it to seem a weird concept to us. That’s why many people cannot fathom it, as a concept.

 

[BlueMoonRisin’]

On the contrary, I feel quite good about eventually being dead. Sure I don’t wish to now and want to live a long life, if I can, but being dead is just permanent nothingness. You don’t know you’re dead and you don’t know anything, literally nothing bad can happen to you again.

We’re programmed, generally speaking, to oppose death at all times and for it to seem a weird concept to us. That’s why many people cannot fathom it, as a concept.

You don't know that mate, nobody living does. I believe in afterlife, but I cannot prove it and you cannot disprove it.
Too many weird things have happened to me to think there is nothing after we shuffle off planet earth. It's only my belief of course that we don't just die...