Houston area (along with DB's not from Houston) BS thread

Whether this is worth walking away from is your call, but my opinion is that you will constantly have to deal with strange, unrealistic, or just plain un-understandable work/regulatory/gov't requirements especially around plants and "critical infrastructure", so you can deal with it there, if you want to stay, or leave and deal with something else somewhere different.

Again, just my opinion,,, that is worth every penny you've paid for it,,, maybe even worth twice as much.

 

In my experience, the hourly rate for maintenance is higher than that for operations because maintenance works fewer hours per shift than operations. So, to equalize the pay between the two groups, the maintenance rate is higher.

Regardless of where you work, quitting because you won’t shave is either fucking foolish and indicative of a combative personality that management probably already has a problem with, or you have a substantial amount of money in the bank and a hiatus from working won’t affect you.

From a safety aspect, as @Hemibee & @Lurkin alluded to, having a clean shaven face is necessary to ensure a hermetic seal when wearing a mask in a IDLH or hazardous (e.g. high particulate) environment. I don’t know what a coal-fueled power plant is like, but I can easily argue that there are areas were the above could not only be a possible but also probable concern.

Safety, as much of a pain in the ass it can be, should be of paramount concern to you. There are times where you have literally zero notice before a disaster. I have been in two major explosions in my life, one of them as recently as not quite two weeks ago, and in both cases, had I stayed in the area for fifteen twenty minutes longer, would have had direct impact on my life. I can’t tell you how many lesser issues I’ve observed or been affected by because there are so many I’ve lost count. I have had to wear an SCBA before to escape an area where a flange seal started leaking and allowed the release of sour water with a concentration of >20,000ppm of H2S.

I am absolutely convinced that I’m still alive and well, able to bring home the milk and cookies, because I focus on safety, perform my job tasks conservatively, and adhere to formalized safety and operational protocols. I’m sure that others here who work in the same or similar industries will attest to the same philosophy. Am I perfect? Absolutely not. I have had my fair share of “oh shit” moments. We all have. The one thing I refuse to do is circumvent safety protocols and procedures.

Like I said, the safety procedures can be a pain in the ass, especially when you’re trying to get things done and you have your superiors breathing down your neck, and when what you’re doing is highly visible (managerially or literally) safety protocols can be downright paralyzing. I get that; I feel the same pressure and frustration at times... but the one thing to remember is that every.single.protocol that is safety related has been written in blood. Realize that, in the history of mankind, damned few companies have ever done anything for their rank and file. Every single procedure, every single protocol, every single benefit that we are affected by exists simply because of the negative economic impact that NOT having those procedures, protocols, and benefits has had on companies. Think about it: equipment is damaged because poor manufacturing or operating procedure? That’s money. Someone gets hurt? That’s money. Someone dies? That’s money. Avoid those issues and money is saved. Money is made. Kind of shitty, yes, but as long as we as a society prioritize profit margins, bonuses for cost reduction without proper study long-term impacts, and satisfaction of shareholder expectations over the employee and environment, nothing will change. Period.

If my response is too long and you didn’t read it, that’s fine. If you feel like it’s too preachy, I apologize. Safety is something that I take damned seriously because I have seen first hand what can happen out here and the finality of injury, disfigurement, and death.

So if TL;DR is your thing: Shave. Honor the memory of that person who probably had to die for that policy.

 

Damn jack. That was a lot lol. I'm gonna end up shaving. I'm just salty cause they preach safety but then half ass it.

When I worked for PCL, they told me to me shave and get fit tested so I did.
But they made sure you didn't grow a beard back after

This policy is just stupid down here cause they make you shave once so it looks good on paper and then that's it. Grow a beard again if you want.


We don't have any h2s or many toxic gasses where we are. It's mainly just for being inside chutes where the coal dust is heavy and gouging.

I'm not combative or fight safety lol, it just gets annoying when people preach safety but then pick and choose when it's worth following. Like either you're all in or you're not. Waste of time to just be like "meh, we will be safe today. But probably not tomororw"

 

Also super salty cause they want me to shave next week and I'm flying to Chicago the following week for mi jovial graduation and Ima look like a little bitch with a baby face lmao

 

Andddd I'm dragging up to goto Kentucky in the fall as well so at this point, anything stupid makes me wanna quit

 

We're all a bunch of plant trash tho. And that's pretty cool.

 

Abso-fucking-lutely. That right there, and the practice of using safety as a hatchet, are the two number one reasons why “safety” has a negative connotation. Believe me, I have become embittered by that behavior. As much as I wish I could say I wouldn’t work for a company that had that culture, that I’d quit, I can’t. Things aren’t that simple and clear cut sometimes lol.

What I can do is reinforce what I said above: no matter what, I don’t circumvent the policies, period, even if everyone else is. I have been chewed out, threatened, cussed at, and I don’t give a shit. I will not be fired, hurt, or killed because I did something stupid, like take a short cut because someone else was too lazy or too focused on making themselves look good.

 

Downstream life.

 

I'm gonna be leaving this life pretty soon hopefully. Got one big job to hit at the end of this year to pay off whatever debt I have left and then I'm starting off fresh.

 

What are your fresh start plans?

 

Something more mentally trying rather than physical. I'd like to be more than just a strong back for the rest of my life.

 

Become a welding engineer.

 

OR a CWI or something similar. Something with welding technology would be cool too. Either way, id like to pay off the tundra and whatever little dumb debts I have and be free again. This current life of working to live and not be able to enjoy life ain't for me lol

 

We have to be fit tested annually also even though my job does not put me in a respirator required environment. Even those that will be required to use a respirator are not required to be clean shaven but they must be clean shaven prior to using the respirator.

With all that said, I'm not clean shaven and I will not be at my annual fit test. All I have to do is pass the test.

 

And if not being clean shaven makes you fail?

 

If you die becuase the respirator doesn't work properly....

 

I’m proud of you Kase.

 

Our little man is growing up so fast isnt he?

 

Yes. Yes He is. His eyes have finally opened to what we have been telling him for years.