I know some people (absolutely no names here) who, for some reason decided to run a 1500 hp, 900 rpm, 12' diameter fan without the top half of its housing. No one was seriously injurred, but a very serious look is being taken at their employment status.

Somebody among the group had said that they had seen it done before and it would be ok. I think I would have insisted on a 1/2 hour head start

Sure, look at the employment status of the employee(s) who did this.
But somebody also needs to take a hard look at the management / supervision / safety culture of this company.

Very insane on the safety side.

Besides protecting something (and someone) to come in contact with the fan blades, do the housing have another function

What benefit, or reason the nuts had to modify the equipment design?

Danny,

I guess that without half of the housing it only produces half the air flow!!

It is much easier to get balance weights in place with case off!!

Talk about meeting the critical plant start up date!!

So, how long did it run and how well did it run??

What happened to lock out and tag out??

I guess the electrical guy won the battle to do a rotation test!!

I hope the alignment laser was removed from coupling in time!!

Did you get your baseline vibration survey completed?

Plant must be down South, since the weather in New England is too bad to remove fan case!!

Walt

Mornin all
There is only one question that comes to mind for every thought I have about this scenerio.I believe we all have the same one in mind.WHY...
WHY...WHY..This reminds me of the day way back in 81 when this place was built.To say safety was a little relaxed would be a huge understatement.Thank god we have evloved.It is times like this you wonder what goes through the mind to arrive at a decision like that.
What ever transpired the persons statement to run like that should go down in the books as famous last words.Or you should have seen the boner I made to-day.

quote:

Originally posted by Ron Hartlen:
But somebody also needs to take a hard look at the management / supervision / safety culture of this company.

A change or modification to the design of an equipment must be preceeded by proper engineering analysis and approval before implementation. This analysis must include all technical, operational, and safety concerns.

Do the plant has a written procedure/policy in place regulating how plant changes will be managed/controlled?
* If the company does not have such written procedure this is a wake up call to start writting one.
** Do the company has a safety department?
* If the procedure exists, and the "insane" group simply obviate it, then why?
** They did not knew it? Training program needs revision.
** They were trained, but they thought that "it will be ok"? Training effectiveness must be reviewed. Training materials may require editing.
** They were trained, they knew that an authorization was required, but "who cares"? they must be fired at once, people like those (regardless how skilled are, or how many times have been the heroes) are a treat to themselves and to their co-workers.

A complete Cause-Effect analysis shall be carried out to identify all root causes to this event, they may be more than one.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Eugene,

Root Cause: Stupidity!!

How much analysis is really needed?

Walt

Ron,

This was was a management decision.

Eugene,

The fan housing functions to channel the air into the ducts. I have no idea why they chose to do this unless it was to create a horizontal tornado.

Walt,

Very funny, but I have heard or said most of those jokes already.

Lee,

They are lucky that those last words were not carved on their headstones.

Eugene,

This was not (at least I hope not, but...) intended as a permanent alteration to the fan. Most probably just a shortcut. I think Walt has completed all the root cause analysis required here.

Danny

A gross and a peck number of fortnights ago I balanced a large fan as subject by wrapping the squirril cage to block the flow of air; it worked. But had the wrapper flew - being in the next county over would have been a privlidge... being young and lucky I guess got me by. Once was enough though.

I was called on to do a balance job about a year ago and when I got there they had the top half off as you described. The fan was about six feet in diameter and high speed was 900 RPM and low speed 450 RPM. When I asked what they were doing, they replied that there was no access cover for me to put weights on the fan to balance it. I told them not to run it like that and they also said it would be ok. The fan didn't even get up to full speed (450 RPM) and the motor burned up. I told them they were lucky. They replaced the motor and cut an access hole. One of the supervisors asked me why I didn't want them to run it like that. Besides being really unsafe, not restricting the air flow put way too much load on the motor and the overloads, if there weren't bypassed , didn't do there job. Personally, I am glad the motor burned up and no one got hurt.

Ronnie

Hmmm ... blade tip velocity at nearly 34,000 feet per minute ... that's over 550 f.p.s. in terms of ballistic projectiles ...

Ballistic projectiles, for those unaquainted, are the globs of goo (I love technical terms) that build up on fans during use. They have a tendency to suddenly come off during periods of high vibration or aerodynamic turbulence (like when some moran leaves half of the fan housing off!)

Someone needs nominated for the Darwin Awards!
Or to quote Jeff Foxworthy ... here's your sign!

PLEASE Take Care!

Chris,

That is the guy who looks like Jeff Foxworthy-Bill Engvalds I think.

Foxworthy's "You might be a redneck" definitely applies here, too.

Danny

Unfortunately, the Darwin Awards require a death or serious injury. Otherwise, I agree.

It appears most of the replies were from up
North and most agree this must have occured
down South.

First that is rude at the least and second my 38 years in this busines has been managed by
people for up there that try to make
decisions like that daily.

Pardon my ignorance, not trying to sound rude, If you were in their situation... How do you have done it? Do you agree with "somebody?":

"Somebody among the group had said that they had seen it done before and it would be ok."

Darth,

I'm not sure that I understand your questions or know to whom they were directed, but if you are asking me if I would have run the fan without the cover on, the answer is emphatically no. And when I was told that somebody had done this before, I believe that my exact words were, "Well that makes him a fool twice."

Danny:
The question was directed to Barry; and yes, you understand my question correctly regarding running the fan without the cover. From your post and the title you choosed for this thread I knew your answer will be No.

It is Barry's post the one I did not fully understand (maybe because English is not my first language).
* Is rude to say people who remove safety protection parts (cover/housing) of an equipment and run it against the manufacturers design are not using all of their brains? Or like Bill Cosby would say, have "brain damage!" ?
* Is rude to nominate then to the Darwin Awards? Or propose to review how safety and maintenance management are doing things at that plant?
* What was rude? redneck reference? I simply do not pay attention to origin, racial, or location jokes. I'm from Puerto Rico (Florida is up north from our point of view).

Darth,

I assume that Barry was offended by the reference to this having occurred in the south. I think the comment was made in reference to the weather rather than intended as a slur against Southern Rednecks.

His retaliatory comments about "people from up there" were more offensive and unnecessary. Particulary given the fact that these were all people of local origin.

You are probably wise to continue your policy of ignoring such comments.

Danny,

I stand corrected:

http://www.snopes.com/humor/jokes/heresign.htm

I guess I was paying more attention to what was said and less to who was saying it. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

And for those of you that get offended by "redneck" comments have obviously never enjoyed an episode of "The Red Green Show", either.

http://www.redgreen.com/

Take Care,

And then are those of us who are genuine north Louisiana rednecks like me and my cousin Waylon.

;-))

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Duncan Carter,