Looks like a small amount of my old pipework is still there at the bottom of the cooling towers, for now...
Looking back at my old photos, I can't believe we got away with installing all that without any lifting equipment and more to the point without getting caught
The power station were really hot on H&S and operated a mandatory reporting system; if you saw anyone doing anything you thought was unsafe, you had to tell them there and then to prevent a possible accident, then report it as a near miss. Following any near miss report, all those involved would be interviewed and disciplined if required.
As (somewhat cowboy) subbies, we kept a good look-out and worked fast when nobody was watching. Ironically, the only time I got reported for a near miss, it was for not wearing my fall arrester while "working at height" on a 3 foot high platform, that I'd just installed a handrail on! If only they'd seen everything else we were doing, and got away with!
In reality, it wasn't so funny at all. My boss was cutting corners and it was me who ended up putting my back out for the pittance he paid me. I remember lifting a huge ductile iron canister filter onto a post, after hauling it (with my caving kit) up to the platform above the settlement tanks. It was all I could do to get it into place and having got it sorted and the pipework measured up and fabricated, I then had to take it off again to take the post to be galvanised. I realised I'd had enough and handed in my notice, but during my notice period, for some reason, I still carried on and lifted the bloody thing back onto the freshly galvanised post, and that's when my back went ping...
Still, I learnt a lot and all I remember now is the good stuff, the feeling of being part of something; something big, the beating heart of the country... and that's the bit I'll miss.
