Ok so ive been working with my current employer for about 2 years. Never worked on anything yellow before then. So about a month ago they hired a new mechanic supposed to be experienced so me and him worked on an very old 815/816 packer. We put new bearing in the saddle bags and replaced o e saddle bag. The machine also had an oil leak at the oilpan so the oil pan gasket got replaced I started helping the new guy with that by scraping gaskets. After the gaskets where on and a few blots in to hold the pan up I called off that. To help put together a 963 that just got an engine put back in it. So the new guy finished the 815. Few days later the oil drian on the 815 works lose and dumps the oil out and you guessed it screws up the engine. So now im in deep **** for something I had no part in. :Banghead what's one to do
Be upfront and honest with your boss. If you got called away to work on something else BEFORE it was fully assembled or before the oil pan was on how could it be on you? Accidents do happen and I'm sure it's not the first time an oil plug wasn't snugged up after some work. I would be more concerned about the new guy promptly tossing you under the bus if he is too afraid to be honest with the boss. Either way it's a crappy deal.... Good luck
My uncle told me years ago if you put a drain plug in tighten it or leave it out. When I was working at the airport I know a guy that got pulled off a job doing some service on a Boeing 717 and never latched the cowls. Airplane took off and cowl came off inflight. Stuff happens but it's never fun
Lock out tag out fellas! Even if pulled off, my tag came off when the job was done.
How can you do that..? You have only one tag with your name on it so that tag has to come off when you get pulled to move on to another job and to which you attach your tag when you start work there. Is there something in your post I'm not understanding..?
LOTO, here in the states when you leave, (for the day) you remove your tag (and lock) and apply a "transitional lock" meaning I'm not in danger, but the machine is still not done being serviced.
Presumably your time cards or work orders will back up your story. Sounds like a bit of a clown if he has loaded you into the firing line. And, Even if not your fault, mistakes happen from time to time, it's a bad deal but that's being human. As for locking out, I don't believe that it would have helped on this event. I've been instructed by supervisors and foremen to remove locks when it was against policy and should not have been done. Anything happens there was no way they were going to just sit back, I would have been on hot coal. A person just had to cover himself from time to time.
We do LOTO a bit different. Any machine that is not going to be in and out of the shop in the same shift gets a "Departmental Lock" put on it by a Supervisor. When you specifically are working on the machine you put your own personal lock on the lockout, and remove it at the end of your working shift. At the end of the maintenance work the Shift Supervisor on duty is the one who has responsibility for removing the Departmental lock before the machine is returned to service. Either way I still don't see how a mechanic leaving a repair job part-way through and putting a transitional lock on the machine is going to affect how blame is apportioned for something that went wrong after he left the machine unless he can prove that he had already left before work got to the point that the oil pan drain plug (in this case) should have been tightened. Simon, I've cut my share of locks off as well, usually for people who had either gone off shift or gone off on rotation and forgotten to remove their lock. But the paperwork is a bear .......
I was going to post something to the same effect. We had a guy work for us for a few years who in previous life ran his own over the road truck shop. He was bit once by one of his workers leaving a drain plug finger tight. After that he was very vocal about not putting a drain plug in anything unless you had the wrench in the other hand to tighten it. I always tried to impress that same idea on anyone I worked with after that. Better to leave the plug out and make a mess on shop floor when you go to fill it than make a mess out on the quarry floor or somewhere on the Interstate when parts come flying out. We know operators and drivers who will just keep down shifting if it starts loosing power to try to get back to shop or the next coffee shop! I would also agree with Tags on all counts.
I had a mechanic that had two other mechanics that shared work with him. Asked him why he had a starter laying on the floorboard, His replay "No-ones starting that engine until I'm there with my manual oil pressure gauge, that's for sure" Guess he had prior experience similar to this, Got called off the job? Took the starter with him!
Chris>> I don't know what kind of shop your in.. you might not use tags at all.?? I don't.. I just take the keys.. and disconnect the battery.. if someone is that desperate to use the machine, to hook-up the batts and jump the machine from the starter.. its their ass not mine.. My BEST ADVICE is to clear the situation up with your boss 1st and foremost..!!! Drop that new looser in the grease & watch him fry.. 2 years on the job is VERY EARLY to get a reputation for shi**y work.. Don't be afraid of your boss..!!! He probably hired you..?? after 2 years, you should be able to walk in his office and say, HEY.. THAT FNG dropped me in the grease.!!! IT WASNT MY FAULT..!!! HE finished the job.. I left before the pan was on.. BLA BLA BLA... LOOK and SEE what his expression is.. THEN listen to what he has to SAY.. THEN go to the F'n new guy and tell HIM to pack sand.!!! BUT HEY.. that's just me.. LOL
chris there are a lot of ways to deal with this BUT IMHO I would go to the boss & say you know my work history & I don't do things like that, it wasn't anything I did!! if you want this "super mechanic" to do this stuff that's fine but I want to stick to a job till its finished from now on & not jump from this to that!! the thing is this "super mechanic" will screw up again & you will do good to steer clear of him iv saw it happen many times over the years to some very good guys!!
The damage is done. Tell the truth and move on. In my shop all engine drain plugs must be checked by two people. The one that tightens it first, must immediately call for second person and they must actually check it. This establishes responsibility, emphasizes the significance of a small step, and reduces the chance of me having to eat the rebuild or replacement.
Tighten and paint mark, every time. Remove the old paint mark before draining oil.
There's always safety wire as an alternative.
Guess I was very lucky, especially the last several years at the quarry. I worked 95% of the time by myself so did not have to worry about what some other person had or had not done. The few times I did have "help" I made sure to double check critical things like drain plugs. On the occasion that I got called away in the middle of a project if I could not finish tightening something I would try to leave the wrench on the fitting or bolt I was working on to remind me where I was when I left. Can understand completely the need for all the extra steps of LOTO where a project may be worked on over several shift changes. Check lists if actually used and followed accurately would also be a good help. But I have seen where a guy would just run a line down the page through every box indicating everything was done without really checking each item. I did make up my own check lists for doing service on each piece of equipment that included filter numbers, type of oil needed, quantity of oil and even what size wrench for many of the drain plugs or filter cap. Even had the location number for the shelf the filter was on in the store room.
Yair . . . As digger doug posted . . . All our sump plugs were wired as a matter of course and signed off as secured in the machine service book. Cheers.
Working with other people often ends up with some issue, I nearly always work alone for the last 40 years so if I do work with another person I am on the ball and keep my eyes on things, regarding sump plugs doing up and undoing the rule is, the man that fills the sump/tank checks the plug, firstly, that its in the hole, secondly, that its set to the standard required, I changed a spin on filter with a new item, just as I went to spin the new filter home I spotted the old filter was missing its rubber seal, the new filter might have sealed for a small time who knows? but lucky for me I spotted the drama thing before any issue, I always check sump plugs and filters, I also will not ever fit a dented filter as they will fail. tctractors
:thumbsup I do this and I do all my oil changes on my equipment, I check torque and mark, my way of second checking. My dad ran a auto repair shop for over 40 years and did this for almost everything he removed and replaced, that way he knew if someone else messed with stuff after it left the shop. He also etched the date into a lot of parts and all lifetime warrantied brakes that left the shop, be surprised at the folks that would go home and put an old set of brake pads on the truck and bring it back in a few months complaining they wore out. BTW- if I have someone works on my autos, I paint mark the stuff they are suppose to work on, keeps everybody honest. I have actually caught a well regarded shop not changing the transmission filter on my truck, after showing the service manager, he at first wanted to say the tech did the marking but when I showed him the second color paint mark and asked him to go get the paint markers they use, he admitted they did not mark them and it was possible they did not change the filter. To the OP, be honest and up front. I know in over 30 years of supervision, I have never fired anyone for mistakes, but I have for lying about them.
As far as the lock out tag out and time sheets the company doesn't use them. Other places ive work did have a time u locked in and out of jobs . This company does not. This really sucked I was looking foward to help as for two years I was the only full-time mechanic. We have one guy who comes in and does rebuilds engine's pumps ect so I had been looking forward to the help. Now im busy doing my work checking behind a more experience mechanic. I try not to let him touch much but hell in doing so what good is he. About being honest anything I screw up as soon as it happens before they even hear about. I even brought that up I said yall know everything ive messed up ive been honest about everything.