scary incident today

[northeastbeast]

was on the roof of this restaurant doing pm's and found a unit with its second stage cooling low on gas. I quickly found the leak on a flare connection for the high pressure switch. fixed it and charged the unit up everything was good. I unhooked my gauges from the unit and flipped the jug of 410a over so it was upright closed the valve and unhooked my hose from the jug. i took my eyes off the jug for a second and was picking up some tools when I hear BANG!! I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down and saw my jug of refrigerant laying on the ground all dented up and this woman who was waiting in the drive through line yelled "that could have been a real tragedy dude!" I ran down to make sure sure she was okay, which she was for the most part the jug ruined her driver side mirror and hit her arm. she was pissed (which is understandable ) and i expressed how sorry I was she eventually agreed that it was an accident. so i gave her my bosses number to call for insurance info and everything. It really hit me hard i was pretty upset with myself, thought i was going to lose my job. my boss was pretty understanding (thankfully ) and Im just glad no one was more seriously injured. What a day

[Capz]

Guessing it rolled off of roof?

[northeastbeast]

Guessing it rolled off of roof?

yea it must have tipped over when i wasnt paying attention and rolled away

[Joehvac25]

I was working on a rtu one time, it was a windy day and I didn't have a place to strap my ladder. Well wouldn't you know I look back and my ladder is missing. I called the shop and got someone to come over. I didn't even want to look over the edge but when I did it was nothing. I was in a side lot so no cars or people.

[Tommyz23]

One times turbo torch got clogged where it extinguishes the flame. I was brazing in an attic. Set the torch down. Talked on the phone for a few minutes. Got down. Went outside. It started pouring so I was chatting with the homeowner inside. My helper went into the attic and yells "fire!" I ran up stairs with a bucket of water I had filled and started shoveling insulation into it. Nothing damaged. Would have burnt the house down if my helper hadn't accidentally moved the stack to the furnace and the rain didn't help put out the fire. Hose was burnt midway down the hose. Craziest thing. Lets just say I won't forget to turn off the bottle all the way.

[wolfdog]

I once watched a maintenance guy drop a partial drum of R22 off the roof of some 3 story apartments.
The drum had enough liquid in it that it rolled.....across to the parking lot, bounced at the curb and across the hood and roof of a parked car.
It was funny from where I was standing.

[2sac]

I was working on a rtu one time, it was a windy day and I didn't have a place to strap my ladder. Well wouldn't you know I look back and my ladder is missing. I called the shop and got someone to come over. I didn't even want to look over the edge but when I did it was nothing. I was in a side lot so no cars or people.

I was working on a roof with a guy from the alarm company. We both set up separate ladders. I strapped mine down. He did not. Guess who's ladder smashed the hoods and windsheilds of 2 cars? I would hate to be the guy calling the boss saying "I don't know what happened. First the ladder was there, then it was gone." If I wasn't there he be calling another tech to come get him off the roof.

[ryan1088]

I hate hearing about stuff like this. Although some of the other stories are comical.

[ryan1088]

I was working on a rtu one time, it was a windy day and I didn't have a place to strap my ladder. Well wouldn't you know I look back and my ladder is missing. I called the shop and got someone to come over. I didn't even want to look over the edge but when I did it was nothing. I was in a side lot so no cars or people.

You should have just texted dude, I would have got you down from there.

[Joehvac25]

You should have just texted dude, I would have got you down from there.

Ha ha you prolly know the tricks of the trade after being on roofs for years.

[Turtleman]

had a helper w/ me , end of the day lowering stuff from roof. Brand new vacuum pump takes a swan dive, he didnt secure it properly!! missed me by inches. word to the wise at the end of the day when its haul a$$ to get home. slow it down. there will always be time that way.

[ryan1088]

Ha ha you prolly know the tricks of the trade after being on roofs for years.

I'm actually pretty lucky that 95% of our stuff is on the ground! I don't care much for extension ladders personally.

[isyeskeert]

I accidentally lost an H767 motor down a ladder once. Well, I was rope lowering it down and lost it. Good thing it was the bad motor, those 667 and 767 1.0 and 1.5hp motors are pricey! The helper that was untying and unhooking the stuff was smart enough to stand back and we were lowering around the corner from other equipment. Nothing bad happened, it pays to pay attention!

[hvacker]

Sometimes it's hard to connect the dots. A friend was trying out a new coil cleaner on a rooftop unit. Here many buildings don't have rain gutters but have canales or short extended metal troughs off the roof. He failed to notice that the coil cleaner was spilling on the cars below. That stuff is hard on clear coat.

[Kevin_1963]

I don't think there's a tech in this field that hasn't had a major face palm incident. I've taken off a cover to change filters, only to have a sudden gust of wind come out of nowhere, blow the cover off the roof and right through my windshield. Luckily it was the company truck and not some customer. I got lucky there, and I make sure I'm standing on the cover for now on. Consider this a lesson learned.

The worst thing that almost happened to ME was working in a restaurant where they had the friggin air handler up 20' in the drop ceiling. I had my extension ladder through the ceiling and had it all coned off; but they had a legally blind employee pushing a giant dish cart through and slammed into my ladder. The ladder held but was waaaaay off center and here I am in the ceiling yelling down at anyone who could hear me to try to straighten the damn thing out or I'm coming down the hard way.

[buzhall]

I got locked out on a roof of school once.I was there three hours before someone could get there.it was summer and school was out.everyone left and there I sit.

[Jeremybednarsh]

Couple years ago I had a helper on the roof loading recovery gear and tools down a hatch. He was lowering the vacuum pump and it slipped off the rope and fell 25 ' onto a cement floor. Needless to say the vacuum pump didn't make it. I was just glad there where no people underneath. I am so cautious now , before I lower anything down I make sure that people are aware that equipment is being lowered down and to stay clear . Safety first!

[jpsmith1cm]

Couple years ago I had a helper on the roof loading recovery gear and tools down a hatch. He was lowering the vacuum pump and it slipped off the rope and fell 25 ' onto a cement floor. Needless to say the vacuum pump didn't make it. I was just glad there where no people underneath. I am so cautious now , before I lower anything down I make sure that people are aware that equipment is being lowered down and to stay clear . Safety first!

While the other precautions that you're taking are wise, I would suggest learning and or teaching apprentices proper knot craft. With a couple of fairly simple knots, you won't have that problem anymore.

[ararams]

was on the roof of this restaurant doing pm's and found a unit with its second stage cooling low on gas. I quickly found the leak on a flare connection for the high pressure switch. fixed it and charged the unit up everything was good. I unhooked my gauges from the unit and flipped the jug of 410a over so it was upright closed the valve and unhooked my hose from the jug. i took my eyes off the jug for a second and was picking up some tools when I hear BANG!! I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down and saw my jug of refrigerant laying on the ground all dented up and this woman who was waiting in the drive through line yelled "that could have been a real tragedy dude!" I ran down to make sure sure she was okay, which she was for the most part the jug ruined her driver side mirror and hit her arm. she was pissed (which is understandable ) and i expressed how sorry I was she eventually agreed that it was an accident. so i gave her my bosses number to call for insurance info and everything. It really hit me hard i was pretty upset with myself, thought i was going to lose my job. my boss was pretty understanding (thankfully ) and Im just glad no one was more seriously injured. What a day

I still keep all my refrigerant in their boxes. Now thinking about it,at one time it was printed on the boxes "do not remove cylinders from box until empty". Does anyone remember this?

[hurtinhvac]

Four by fifteen foot service rail for RTU close to the edge of a three story. Made of about two inch angle iron as I recall, maybe 3/16 thick...idaknow. Heavy. We had craned it up. Everything had gone wrong with this install and the Mfg. Rep. was out with our service manager to assist. This thing had one monster of a bower wheel; and when they got it to come up the vibration rattled that rail (as of late still leaning against the lip of the wall and uninstalled) right over the side. Fortunately all it took out was a security light mounted on the wall, no cars or people in the vicinity.

To this day, I regret asking "and that thing is supposed to keep a man from tumbling over the side?" upon hearing the story. They weren't used to my sense of humor back then...the silence was long and pronounced.