I nearly end up as minced meat

Dave calls me in the office and wants me to drive to the Rouna Hydro-electric power station in the hills of Port Moresby, and service the underground ventilation system.

The steel plate gets sucked into the fan

Metu and I grab the new filter roll, which has to be replaced at the same time. The roll is fairly heavy and has two large quarter inch wheels, one at each end, holding the filter material into place. We remove the old roll while the fan is running and put two ladders in the conditioner and start lifting the new roll into position. But just as I lift the roll past the one metre diameter tube that supplies the air to the one metre diameter fan that pumps the air underground, the suction of the fan sucks the large quarter inch wheel at the end of the roll into the duct. I hesitate to crawl after it but decide not to. Just as well, by now the plate has reached the fan and there is this almighty mechanical noise as the fan and the plate meet.

I turn the fan off and make my way downstairs to the fan and when I open the access hatch, I find the plate all mangled and chewed up and the fan blades all twisted and bent. Needless to say, that was a very bad mistake.

We return to the office and I put the mangled mess on Dave’s desk. Oh, my God, what happened he asks. I tell him and he orders a new fan and tells me …don’t do that again!


Next - I meet Diane