Dumb ideas kill people. Let's all learn from this.

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Dumb ideas kill people. Let's all learn from this.

andrewNZ

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#240391 5-Sep-2018 20:47

We all probably heard about the shed explosion that killed a guy recently.
The cause of it turns out to be almost unbelievable.
Oxy acetylene, under pressure, in the same (LPG) bottle.

Please folks, if you see someone doing something dangerous, STOP THEM.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/fatal-explosion-when-i-turned-around-shed-was-flat

Edit: added graphic content warning. Apologies to anyone caught off guard.

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#2084553 5-Sep-2018 21:03

I can not believe what I just read. How stupid can some people be?

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richms

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#2084554 5-Sep-2018 21:05

I would have thought that the pressure would have made it go off as soon as the gasses were put in the same vessel.

I just hope that the coroner doesn't end up suggesting more regulation of things as a result.

Richard rich.ms

gzt

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#2084557 5-Sep-2018 21:13

My thoughts are with the person's family and friends. That's a really horrible thing that happened.

Maybe not an educated guy and could have benefited from some training. He clearly loved his life and his friends, that's the part that stands out to me.

andrewNZ

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#2084560 5-Sep-2018 21:17

It's surprising someone with any kind of access to an oxy set, doesn't know just how crazy the experiment was.

It's amazing he managed to get the mix in the bottle.

It's a miracle it didn't explode during transit and kill other road users.

It's a shame the other person didn't take action to

Dial111

978 posts

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#2084561 5-Sep-2018 21:20

I had to double check the source as it read like a satire article, being so graphic and well pure idiocy.

You gotta be a few cans short to be mixing any highly volatile substances let alone the likes of LPG and acetylene.

throbb

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#2084562 5-Sep-2018 21:24

He was a qualified welder.

andrewNZ

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#2084566 5-Sep-2018 21:32

Which means this could possibly end badly for his employer.

God I hope his co-workers and/or employer weren't aware of this.

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hio77

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#2084571 5-Sep-2018 21:38

That's a horribly graphic story.

my thoughts are with the family, Horrible way to go.

to some degree, I'm glad the story is out and clear. the local opinion that it was a lab was very strong..

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Any comments made are personal opinion and do not reflect directly on the position my current or past employers may have.

Dial111

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#2084578 5-Sep-2018 21:54

I still can’t believe it was reported in that way, what a horrible way to go. Thoughts with his family and his friend who no doubt will be traumatised by that

Lias

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#2084581 5-Sep-2018 22:00

Jeeze he's got to be a candidate for the 2018 Darwin awards...

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andrewNZ

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#2084595 5-Sep-2018 22:08

I don't really want this to turn into a "what a dickhead" thread.
The guy died in a pretty horrible way. There are a lot of people left to deal with the aftermath.

I just wanted people to read an example of what can happen when you do dumb things, and why you should step up and stop people doing clearly dangerous stuff.

When someone here is trained in a field and says "don't do that, it's really bad", maybe consider the advice.

networkn

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#2084628 5-Sep-2018 23:15

andrewNZ: I don't really want this to turn into a "what a dickhead" thread.

Unfortunately, for some in this forum, it's the done thing to jump on things like this in such a manner. It's slowly making the entire site more and more negative.

Linux

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#2084636 5-Sep-2018 23:56

Very sad and stupid at the same time

John

sonyxperiageek

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#2084639 6-Sep-2018 00:17

I'm wondering why the guy who was physically closest to him at the time (Josh) said that it was only a small blast, not very loud, yet the neighbours said it was a huge bang and could be felt from neighbouring streets!

Sony

Aredwood

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#2084644 6-Sep-2018 01:08

throbb:
He was a qualified welder.

This is the crazy part. How did he learn how to weld, without getting any training around safety with acetylene?

Main points being that acetylene has a really low auto ignition temperature. It has a really wide flammable mixture range. And it also burns with a fast flame front speed.

So doing what he did is far far more dangerous, than even things like pouring petrol between open buckets, while smoking a cigarette.

If the government really wants to make more rules as a result of this incident. They should look at how safety training is delivered. That guy was probably only taught safety rules along the lines of: Don't do that because it is dangerous, and don't do that because rules say don't do it. And there was probably zero training around WHY something is dangerous (including the base science as to why it is dangerous).

As currently, safety training seems to consist mostly of trying to tell you every single little thing that you should or shouldn't do. Without explaing the How and Why. So things still go wrong, when someone does something that the safety inspectors and/or lawyers haven't yet thought of.

For example. I don't recall ever seeing any rule or policy etc, saying that you shouldn't combine acetylene and oxygen together in a cylinder. But anyone who has some understanding of combustion science in relation to acetylene. Will know that doing so is just extremely stupidly dangerous.

Knowing the How and Why, including the base science. Means that you will easily recognise new hazards. Even if the people who write the rules have never considered those particular hazards.

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