Comment by BuildTheRobots
9 years ago
The friends I play Urb-X with are hyper aware that it's the heavier-than-air gasses that pool and that kill you. I find it amazing and depressing they didn't have any sort of safety gear or air monitoring. In the UK, I'm sure this would have breached both working at height and enclosed spaces working regulations.
Even if we're exploring something as pathetic as an old ROC bunker only _one_ of us (usually me) goes down first and is attached to the end of a rope. If I stop talking then the person topside can do what they like to try and get me out, but under no circumstances do they come down behind me. We've also usually got a third person sat in the van (so just off site) communicating with us via radio and with GPS coordinates and road directions written down ready to give to the emergency services should it all go entirely to hell...
Sorry for the ramble; It's a horrible tragedy, but as what I've stated above is the level I expect for an unplanned slightly drunken Sunday-afternoon explore, I _really_ expect people in a commercial setting to know better. Probably more to the point, whoever ordered them to go in there deserves to be strung over the coals....
tldr: it's _really_ easy to go from 1 person slightly injured to multiple people dead :(
Absolutely. This is also well known in the amateur caving community too, who follow similar practices to those outlined by yourself. I too find this crazy.
As they say in the diving industry about water and confined spaces: a deceptively easy way to die.
I've just realised that the word document linked to actually seems to be dated 1974 (google makes it seem possible that the incident was 1971). It doesn't excuse anything but I like to think we've gotten a bit better since then. I get the impression in caving circles at least, "bad air" is much better understood these days.
(irrelevant, but for the record, cave diving scares the pants off've me =) )
An PDF scan[1] shows that it's from the Vol. 11, No. 3 ("Spring 1966") issue of "Michigan's Occupational Health".
[1] http://www.michigan.gov/documents/lara/lara_miosha_moh_bulle...
I've thought about getting a used H2S detector on eBay, but ideally you'd want to test and calibrate them, and there's the rub.
I've looked into it in the past and keep looking at atleast a £500 cost -usually more if you want O2, CO, CO2, H25 (I think those were the ones I decided I was interested in).... and _then_ there's the certification cost, so I really can't justify it (though I'd love to).
My friends dad used to be a safety inspector duwnt' pit in the 70's and he's been trying to convince me to get an old Davy Lamp and to just pay attention to what the flame is doing, but I've yet to find a nice one (or inherit his). I have been known to ignite my cigarette lighter on every other rung when going down a ladder but in hindsight, that has the potential to end extremely badly.
Fun fact about CO, that may sometimes be overlooked: not only is it odourless and poisonous - but it's also highly flammable!
8 replies →
Alibaba's got them from about $150 single gas http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/NEW-K60-handheld-0-200...
$400 multi http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Portable-diffussion-ty...
1 reply →
>used H2S detector
gas detectors usually use active element and expire