Hammer Time

Several years ago, while I was working at a large refinery in southwest Louisiana, we invited a salesperson onsite to demonstrate a new cool-vest to guard against heat stress. The vest had small gel-filled plastic packs that fit into pockets when worn and could be frozen in a regular freezer and replaced when they melted. The frozen plastic packs draw heat from wearers’ bodies, keeping them cool while working.

I was concerned about how strong these plastic packs were. The salesperson explained that to test the strength of a pack, a car was driven over them, but they didn’t burst. He invited me to stab the plastic pack with a screwdriver to test its strength, which I did several times.

Satisfied that these plastic packs were tough enough, I headed out to the field to sell this new option to the workers. Sitting around in a crowed lunchroom during the crew’s lunch break, I described the advantages of this new cool vest. As anticipated, the question came up about the pack’s strength.

Being confident and wanting to make a good impression, I said, “Watch this.”

Everyone gathered around as I placed a plastic pack on the table. I raised my right hand over my head, made a fist and slammed down on the plastic pack as hard as I could. The plastic pack exploded. Gel and oily liquids sprayed all over the room, onto employees, the walls, floors and in their food.

After a momentary delay of shock, I immediately picked up another plastic pack and said, “Let me try this again.”

Needless to say it never got that far. I had to buy several people lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning their break room. There were no injuries and the cool vests never took off. The plastic pack was sent to the manufacturer’s lab for analysis and it was discovered that that plastic pack had been used in repeated demonstrations and had weakened over time from being stabbed with sharp objects and smashed repeatedly.

After that episode I was referred to by the employees in that unit as “the Hammer.”

Paul Duplachan, CSP
Manager Health, Safety & Security
ISP Elastomers Port Neches, TX

Do you have a training blooper you’d like to share? Send them to catherinej@bongarde.com and let me know if we can use your name/company name.

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