Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Don't go into mahholes!!

there are pick holes along the edge of the manhole, but the ring that the lid sits on prevents any kind of gas detector from going into the manhole without first popping it open.

Test, ventilate, test again, and continue to ventilate before even thinking of entering a manhole. In our safety training we were shown examples of people who died because they were in a hurry or the job was for "just for a minute".

I used to work in the telephone manholes. If you consider most of them are under a street and you have the added danger of distracted drivers it can make for a nervous experience. My biggest fear was an auto accident blocking and sealing the entrance. Thank God I don't have to go into them any more.

Prayers for the family.

Several years back a couple of employees of a Tyson poultry processing plant over here in west KY die after being overcome by noxious gasses from decomposing poultry leftovers. First one passed out and fell into a large vat full of chicken effluent. Second fellow died trying to rescue the first.

No, the life in the sea water decomposes. first aerobically taking up the o2 then anaerobically causing the deadly gases. Part of MY Hull Tech training, testing and venting bilges. Been in a number of the back then.

I was there. I saw the old candle stub. I talked to their father.

That's what Obama will be doing now that he's got some free time...

Why did I think this thread was about Travis?

Usually these end us as recoveries, not rescues.

If a person thinks they can hold their breath, try it some time.

Try dragging a person on level ground and see how far you can go on a single breath.

Thats the scary part about H2S. At high concentrations you cant smell it, take a couple deep breaths and its recovery time again.

Crazy that utility crew did not have a 4 gas meter......crazy the fireman did not either.

Ha! I thought about that too, well not about Travis personally of course.....hesitated to click on the thread.

years ago when i was younger and faster i was doing a cable survey down at the marine corp base in albany georgia and one of the base good-old-boys was working with me and taking his good old time so i got ahead of him. came up on one of the manholes that was old and the walls were dry-laid field stone with big gaps in them. i popped the lid and dropped down into this nasty fuggen hole, did my thing and crawled out just as the old boy was coming up on the hole. while i'm dusting myself off he says, "ya, there's usually some big old rattlers down in them ones." needless to say, i slowed down. it probably made for a good story for him and his buddies.

Same here, went in them for over 30 years.
Many times we used to set up a truck as a blocker, when possible.
One incident stands out.
Had an 18 wheeler making a turn from a side road on to the main road.
I heard a noise, and when I looked up, I saw the 2 rear axles of the trailer going over the manhole. That's after taking out cones,manhole rack and rim.
The cop we hired was "down the road" BSing with another cop and didn't see a thing.

Had 2 guys in my company die back in the mid-80's due to rushing a job and not testing and purging.

we have to wear monitors when working on wells that might have H2S. you don't have to be underground for it to get you.

h2s - 10ppm

Yep.

Standard issue.

Casualties....

It's just flat heartbreaking trying to recover em' with conventional CPR,....their blood will no longer carry O2.

BTDT.

Been in a bunch of deep ditches too!

Used to go in one that you needed a 28 foot ladder to reach the bottom. Chimney alone was 15 feet. Four lids on it and we ran two blowers to purge it, and that's after pumping several feet of swill out. Good Times.

ONE thing that was stressed time and time again in our industrial first aid course was, SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
to obvious and especially less obvious dangers, ..to be very cautious NOT put yourself in the same situation as the victim
and make things worse....Fumes and electricity, unlike fire can easily become out of sight out of mind immediate threats.

I can understand the will and desire to 'rush' to someones aid, but its the professional fireman rash actions
that surprised me most.

but hey, commercial pilots still manage to run out of fuel and crash.

Permitted confined space entry for over 20 years. Saw a lot of strange things. Rusting will use up the O2 in a closed carbon steel vessel. Over come by N2 it the hardest to recover from. N2 is heavy and hard to displace from the lungs. Hasbeen

https://youtu.be/kNcaiTM77cM


Here is a much better use of our sewer system. Even if it is a storm sewer it's still cool!