Did you do a vid on Alexander Litvinenko? The dose of radiation he received was comparable to this one, although obviously receiving it internally would be that much more devastating. The fact that either victim didn't die within days is a testament to the toughness of the human body...
Medical linear accelerator incidents would be interesting topics... Therac 25, the Neptun linac overdoses in Poland, etc. I'm a medical physicist, if you do videos on any of these I'd be happy to field any questions you'd have about them.
Man, this is kind of a weird one where *nothing* really broke down, the safety was reasonable and strong, the system was well-designed, the operator was trained... Cripes, just guess it goes to show that familiarity with a system breeds a lot of contempt for the risks. At least the only guy that got hurt was the one that did the stupid himself, and he didn't take anyone else with him.
The radioactive emitter was not stowed, despite the worker pressing the button that stows it. I'd call that "something major breaking down." This is why you engineer redundancy into safety-critical situations, and hopefully hire people with the wisdom not to subvert the redundant systems, on the logic of, "well, the first step should be enough, right?
It’s true. There was a guy near me that ran potato harvesters for years with no issues. They’ve got cleaning rollers that bounce the dirt off the spuds and pull out stones and roots. One day something got jammed on the rollers so he poked it down with his boot. The rollers grabbed him and ripped the meat off his leg and mangled his D and Bs. Just one dumb moment will put you in a bag.
The safety was stupid as hell, are you nuts? It is a very good example of the illusion of failsafe. This sort of this is the most dangerous because it looks smart but its terrible.
I find such accidents terrifying. That operator made a fatal mistake, and probably knew, within days, that he would die. He had three months, suffering horribly, knowing that his mistake will cost him his life. That's what I find so frightening with radiation accidents... the knowledge that you're going to die in weeks.
chronic illness is also crazy like that, you don’t recover from that foreboding feeling you get when you realize how fragile you are. i tell that to ppl who have very ill loved ones
I know right? I'm just stunned that someone would take shortcuts with such a scary piece of equipment. I can't imagine what went through his head as he realised he was exposed after having circumvented some safety systems.
ya that's the creepy part, these guys know they're going to die and have a matter of hours before their bodies start reacting to the trauma so they can walk out of these facilities 'fine' and give interviews before dying to radiation poisoning
Wodka makes things straight forward ... 😅 The guy said he was "tired and can"t remember ....." I live in Poland, and this means over here DRUNK as a SKUNK ...
@@HenriFaust Proper use of a meter is meter out front eyes on the needle and you start with the lowest scale. At 1,200 Rad an hour disorientation can certainly happen but I bet he did not check the meter or lied about taking it with him. If he was worried about time he would not go back for it. Also, he was deceptive about how he got across the plate. There is always the possibility he used the meter properly and was able to get in since the source was properly shielded then it was raised while he was inside. Could have been someone at the control panel since he left the key in. Need to get a dose map of the interior and see if the dose he got matched up with the area he was for the time he was in the room.
Nicely explained 👍 I worked in oil fields for 7 years as a crude oil hauler. Whenever some incident would happen, the driver involved would inevitably lie about how the incident happened to try and save his job or bonus. Once he was cleared to continue working, or even if he wasn't, he was always forthcoming to the other drivers as to what _actually_ happened. The other drivers wouldn't tell the supervisors and the incident was considered closed. Only if the driver ended up fired would they usually get the whole truth of what happened. Chalk that up to human nature. If you're more motivated to avoid the consequences of your actions, expect the person in question to lie. Bottom line: talk to the other employees until you get the truth. Someone else knows what really happened.
I have to wonder: Did climbing across the pit, and doing whatever he did to defeat the pressure plate really save time over doing it the right way: Pulling the key and using it to close the pit? Or was there some malfunction in the pit closing mechanism that led the worker to improvise a workaround?
As someone who works in a post soviet country I can tell you a lot of sad and dumb stories of people bypassing safety equipment in CNC machines. Ive seen so many unscrewed interlocks by simple workers because "manually adjusting a machine is faster this way and you don't have to stop the production too many times wich might get you into trouble". Most of the time they get a verbal warning thats all. Yet still we got so many stabbed hands and cut off fingers that the higher ups of my workplace decided "damn it lets weld the interlocks shut and drill the hexagon screws". For safety. Sometimes you just cant stop stupidity without welding stuff closed. Source. I was a CNC operator and now an electrician in the same company. Sorry for my bad English.
Probably removing the key would trigger a bunch of time limited locks in the restart process, and those could be saved. Also it would allow the second guy to start the restart when the first one emptied the main room but not yet left the entire maze. As usual, no amount of safety can prevent deliberate idiots to avoid it.
There is sort of brutal irony in creating an obvious safety hazard in an attempt to prevent access to a less obvious but much more dangerous safety hazard. It has some logic behind it though. Fall into that pit, and maybe you break a leg. Broken legs are no fun, but they do eventually heal. Acute radiation poisoning is a very nasty way to die. It would never fly in the US, as OSHA would require a guard rail to be installed around the pit. It would never fly in the US. OSHA would require that a guard rail be installed around the pit.
@@russlehman2070 I could just imagine what OSHA would say when that came up on the blueprints. Your not wrong about it being a deterrent but it clearly wasn't enough. Like Siller Barly49 said, they should have put spikes at the bottom.
The operator was performing a live action Indiana Jones and the temple of doom reenactment with all those safety bypasses but forgot that you can't outrun radiation like you can an enormous rolling rock.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to radioactive materials, it's either do it right or die a rather unpleasant death, or at the very least, survive with fewer body parts and high chances of other complications causing an unpleasant death... :\
Every time an operator bypasses safety to go into a room with a source I just think of the Spongbob meme "How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?"
You know you have a competent employee when he knows all the systems of his workplace to the point of managing in bypassing all the safety features of the plant he's meant to supervise... Too bad he died, he would have made a very good security inspector if he survived. "Look, this pit is unsafe, it can be defeated by using a whip to suspend yourself and jump above it. We should add snakes, and maybe a tribe of cannibals too".
Unfortunately, the longer you work in a dangerous work environment the less you think about, just how bad of a situation you are in…. I worked at a steel mill, in the continuous caster unit. Was around liquid steel day in and day out. It’s amazing what you can “get used” to……
Another excellent video John. Doesn't matter how many times one reads about exposure episodes, criticality in a U bend, or an excursion event - I'm a sucker for your diagrams and narration. And the little thingy in the corner before an advert makes me feel all nostalgic!
It's absurd that the operator forgot his key in the console. I mean, that's his main responsibility to allow no one else access. I don't they were honest. Furthermore, I think it's more likely that they did a couple of modifications to the safety system to allow quicker entry, and it's required that the key stayed in position to quickly start again. They probably reversed that before anyone could check for this in fear of punishment. The operator has had to pay the price for that - while probably not responsible.
The old saying that "familiarity breeds contempt" is absolutely true when people work daily in dangerous situations. You may logically still know that something is very dangerous, but as you get used to it your brain stops seeing it as a threat. Someone new to a danger will treat it very warily, someone very familiar with it can become over confident and careless. I'm not surprised at all that the victim here was someone who had worked there for a long time.
My first degree was in chemistry and my university had a thorium room. Wow, the safety around this room was like nothing on earth. Everybody knew that entering would mean death so we knew not to enter. I wonder what was going on in this man’s mind as he must have known too. He paid the ultimate price…
Do you have any plans to cover the recent exposure of Russian troops digging, manning and living in trenches in and around Chernobyl and the red forest?
I reckon he would have to uncover documented evidence that it actually happened and isn’t just wartime propaganda. Considering the plethora of fake stories coming out of Ukraine that have later been admitted to as being made up to boost morale and garner support, I’m leaning towards no on this one.
@@TheSaltyExplorer like the evidence gained from the radiation sensors all around Chernobyl that are internationally monitored and their increase, some even going off-line, during the Russian invasion in the region?
@@TheSaltyExplorer I wouldn't think trench-based stuff particularly likely, but the tracked and wheeled transport vehicles would and did stir up a lot of radioactive material. The length of exposure, type of exposure and the isotopes around would be very difficult to ascertain. I took your comment to mean you did not believe that there had been any increase in radioactive activity rather than the nature of the troop activity.
I'm a veterinary nurse and use many single use items that are sterilized with radiation. I never really put thought into the people who work the dangerous job of actually doing the sterilizing.
Too much time pressure, routine, sometimes incompetence and sheer sloppiness are the main reasons for such things in my experience. Have been working in industrial production for 4 years. Worked at a small chemical plant producing colours for one year - in that time I walked out of the facility in a hurry twice after warning my superiors of an explosion hazard and being ignored. My direct superior was clueless and the fire prevention "expert" was a heavy-drinking alcoholic. Top staff. ^^
@@PlainlyDifficult Uh, the man himself, what an honour! ^^ Yeah, it was a great relief to finally leave the place. I also encouraged people I liked to get another job, too.
A little story from a warehouse somewhere: A newly built part of my workplace opened a few months ago. In this department there is a long roller conveyor from which operators take items off as they work. The conveyor is about at chest level and it is about 20m long with workstations on the side. This conveyor has an emergency stop button at about every 5 meters. I approached a manager and asked why this conveyor does not have a pull cord along it? The buttons are out of reach for most of the operators and there is a real danger getting stuck. The answer: Yeah, but if you keep all the rules and pay attention all the time, you are not going to get stuck. What if you trip in something? What if there is something slippery on the floor? What if...? As long as we have these detached from reality corpo-rat wiesels everywhere who keep the OSHA lexicon on they night stand as a bible and unwilling to use common sense and make changes were necesary, minimum wage employee blood stays the prefered ink for safety rules. EDIT: I no longer work there. Followup on the story: I approached multiple managers and filed two written complaints about the matter and according to my source who works there, there are still not enouh safety buttons. Also the main drive belt of this roller conveyor (a 5cm wide wowen belt driven by five 2kW motors) is exposed underneeth wuthout any protection. Good job corporate!
Probably be a lot safer if the product were raised up into the radiation chamber or room.. that way if there was a jam, they know without a doubt- go into that chamber and your're going to die. They would know that the product must come out some other way, no matter what. Sad situation. I love the narration- it's the most pleasant I've ever heard! Thank you :)
Plainly ( John ) ,as usual a fantastic explanation of a completely preventable disaster. This guy definitely felt under pressure to get things moving as fast as possible. I feel he did grab the transport rails and simply hand grabbed his way over the pit. His stupid refusal to simply admit anything shows his method. Strange as it sounds,there is a phenomemonon with electric motion systems that I call bounceback. If a switch fails to set itself properly,the object in motion will reach the end of it's travel and it will then start back in the other direction of it's travel. Not a big deal in a electric window of a car but a horrible thing in this case. Did bounceback happen here? Who knows. But this man would still be alive if he simply followed all the rules. I cannot think of a more horribly slow way to kill yourself. May he rest in peace.
When dealing with an invisible danger...such as intelligence....or radiation.....one must think their actions through thoroughly before acting.......not after.
As a retired major-crimes investigator, my suspicion lies with the assistant, who could easily have gone to the control room when the victim entered the chamber and raised the rack. I wonder what their relationship was. Also what the professional climate was like at the establishment and whether the assistant would benefit from the removal of the victim from the workforce.
This is very good reasearch and reporting. I am sure most of us would never know about these events, but they are important for reducing risks in the future. Also, your animation dialog is entertaining, to say the least! Wonderful work. All good wishes.
A very good episode and adequately thorough. Most of these accidents appear to be in parts of the world where circumventing the rules is part of the culture. You should do an episode about the recent Chernobyl incident where Russian soldiers made sand bags with soil taken from the red forest. (Now called the yellow forest)
I'm recent subscriber, really enjoy your format and you have subjects I've not heard of before too. I actually worked at Flixborough docks for a couple of shifts 10 or so years ago, so that one was especially interesting to me! Thanks for your work 🤓!
Late USSR was plagued with negligence. Andropov tried to change that in early 80s, but failed and (rumorly) was poisoned. From this period onwards, catastrophical accidents happened all the time. Arzamas, Ufa, Chernobyl...
Most important change that may or may not have happened, but wasn't addressed: Management culture. The operator likely wouldn't have risked his life to save 5 or 15 minutes of time without some sort of pressure.
The doomed workers always look so jaunty and dapper in these videos before they walk to their unintended individual doom. And they always say the same thing: "Balls!". I would definitely say that, too. And MUCH MORE. Why am I so fascinated with these real horror stories? Am I the only one?
I love that you have pictures for this one, had a hard time visualizing the San Salvador one, that is a very corroded facility, they were in dire need of a anti-oxidant paint day.
After watching all these radioactive and industrial disasters (and wondering how many happened/happen without anyone figuring out), I'm not surprised that there are so many cancer cases around the World anymore...
I wonder if maybe the operator didn’t actually get over the plate, instead he triggered it after climbing over the pit and since the key was in the slot it raised the rack back up rather than lowering it, since it was already down.
I think... If I had to design a system to do similar exposure, I'd add a physical lock on a door that uses the same key as what is used to arm and disarm the rack. Sure you might be able to work around that by picking the lock, but it's probably easier to just go grab the key by that point.
That damn thing was incredibly secure. I was inside particle accelerators that didn't had 10% of those PHYSICAL safety devices. Incredible that an accident like this could happen.
My favorite part of this story is that apparently there are saftey interlocks that involve a freaking trap door in floor. 30 tb is a pretty strong source and a terrifying ammount of Cobalt 60 and gamma rays, but they make Cobalt sources upwards of 140 tb, no idea what for tho
As an engineer I can tell you with 100% certainty the designer was an Indiana Jones fan, AND he sucks at his job. The rack should always fall into the isolation pit when unpowered.
Not glorifying radiation disaster...but it's very fascinating..impressive that this element makes...a technology that could revolutionize a lot but we just don't know how to deal with it..! See Joema's disaster!
One report on this incident (IAEA) described how the operator felt pain in his groin (or gonads). The only report I can recall where this indicator was included. Of course, an alarming dosimeter would be a much better early indicator than aching gonads.
Considering that at the end of the USSR it went to shit really fast, it wouldn't surprise me if some parts or sensors had broken or been stolen and they couldn't find any replacements. My father used to be a truck driver in the USSR and he said that in the early 1990s he would find that overnight some people were stealing parts of his truck, not huge parts like the tires but the mechanism used to raise the bed of the truck when tipping out sand etc. He started carrying a big box filled with tools and parts as he never knew quite what would be missing each day. Even when he slept in the truck they would try to dismantle it without waking him. He woke up one night as a guy who had picked the door lock was trying to detach the steering wheel. When Dad kicked him out into the street and threatened him with a wrench, the guy broke down and started to cry. Turns out the thief was a truck driver too but someone had stolen the steering wheel from his work vehicle and that he was going to be prosecuted for not looking after state property. Dad said he looked about 60 and was desperate. My Dad gave him half a bottle of whiskey, some cigarettes, a bit of money and the address of the local truck depot where they rarely locked the doors. The man was very grateful. Dad wonders what happened to him.
Carelessness around radioactive material, improper maintenance of concrete structures, and ANFO-related incompetence are the three running themes of this channel, and by extension, man-made disasters. You'd think people would learn.
Something is not right there. When rack it up it should have 3-4 uSv/hr, operator dose was 11-18Gr. He must been working there for days in order to get such dose...
Watching another great video from PD on a pleasant Saturday morning while two of my four cats do zoomies and knock stuff over 😖 Luckily they're far away from my home food irradiation system...that could be dangerous! 🤣🤣
I really love your videos. Simply... fantastic work, educating and entertaining at the same time with really nice presentation. Thank you for all your work!
It’s amazing they Moscow institute managed to keep him alive for so long after such a high dose. Reading the official report, it seems like this was a massive learning point for radiological exposure care, but god, being that man…can you imagine? He wasn’t daft, he knew the dose he’d received would definitely be fatal. I’d be begging them to end me at the start so I didn’t have to go through such suffering. Massive testament to the medics and international advice and input at the time that kept him alive as long as they did. So sorry for the guy though…
I don't really understand how not removing the key would save any time at all. But it is a common thing for people working a long time with a machine, one thinks one is smarter than the designers.
I can think of a number of adjustments to the system that could have possibly helped, but none of them would have overcome something again and again in catastrophic failures in all kinds of complex systems: complacency. Again and again and again complacency is the last piece of the puzzle in industrial disasters.
Poor guy. All those safety systems and he passed right through them. If only there were a few more... say, after the safety pit and the safety pressure plate, maybe a few safety giant swinging buzzsaws, a safety poison dart launcher, and a safety giant rolling boulder...
Good safety measures, that have been intentionally overridden by fully qualified operator, and operator was fully aware of radiation danger. It's a Darwin Award for him.
Watching this again makes me wonder what the operator's assistant was doing when the operator went inside. He ( op ) didn't take his key and they don't know how the rack got back up. I wonder if they ever looked at the assistant.
@@PlainlyDifficult Hey! You need the thanks I have been getting entertained by this channel for a very long time! I love the consistency in quality and somehow you find interesting enough topics every week that I'm always on the edge of my seat for a new upload. Thanks for all the time you put into this!
I have what might be a really dumb question but how is it that food and products can be irradiated safely, but the operator’s clothing was contaminated? Is there a decontamination step for the food/product that I’m missing?
His clothing was not contaminated. Some materials are altered in specific ways by radiation. The effect is measured and from that data the corresponding radiation dose is calculated. In this case, the cotton/viscose fabric of the operator's vest was analyzed by electron spin resonance. This detected the amount of molecular damage from the radiation.
11:50 What would be the point of not admitting you did something wrong? His was going to lose his job at this point in any case, and charging him criminally would be pointless. He only had two things left to do, explain exactly how he defeated the safety measures in the hope of preventing others doing the same thing, and die. The dying part was going to happen no matter what at that point. All he could do was hope no one else made the same mistake he had made. Likely he had done the same thing before without an issue. People are usually able to do something stupid several times before they get bit.
I hope you enjoyed the video, do you have any suggestions for future videos? Let me know below 👇
Where did this fall on the patented scale?
hey mate, you fix that bit about the Armenian Deportations yet?
You could also do a video on why the Armenians were not "deported" and instead were the victims of "genocide"
Did you do a vid on Alexander Litvinenko?
The dose of radiation he received was comparable to this one, although obviously receiving it internally would be that much more devastating. The fact that either victim didn't die within days is a testament to the toughness of the human body...
Medical linear accelerator incidents would be interesting topics... Therac 25, the Neptun linac overdoses in Poland, etc. I'm a medical physicist, if you do videos on any of these I'd be happy to field any questions you'd have about them.
Man, this is kind of a weird one where *nothing* really broke down, the safety was reasonable and strong, the system was well-designed, the operator was trained... Cripes, just guess it goes to show that familiarity with a system breeds a lot of contempt for the risks. At least the only guy that got hurt was the one that did the stupid himself, and he didn't take anyone else with him.
The radioactive emitter was not stowed, despite the worker pressing the button that stows it. I'd call that "something major breaking down."
This is why you engineer redundancy into safety-critical situations, and hopefully hire people with the wisdom not to subvert the redundant systems, on the logic of, "well, the first step should be enough, right?
that just shows that no matter what you do the world will always find a better idiot to get around your safety systems
It’s true. There was a guy near me that ran potato harvesters for years with no issues. They’ve got cleaning rollers that bounce the dirt off the spuds and pull out stones and roots. One day something got jammed on the rollers so he poked it down with his boot. The rollers grabbed him and ripped the meat off his leg and mangled his D and Bs. Just one dumb moment will put you in a bag.
@@NinoJoel This case shows there is no hurdle slav will jump over to get in harms way. Source: russian dash cams, also am slav.
The safety was stupid as hell, are you nuts? It is a very good example of the illusion of failsafe. This sort of this is the most dangerous because it looks smart but its terrible.
I find such accidents terrifying. That operator made a fatal mistake, and probably knew, within days, that he would die. He had three months, suffering horribly, knowing that his mistake will cost him his life. That's what I find so frightening with radiation accidents... the knowledge that you're going to die in weeks.
Just give me a cocktail of drugs and let me slip into the next life at that point.
chronic illness is also crazy like that, you don’t recover from that foreboding feeling you get when you realize how fragile you are. i tell that to ppl who have very ill loved ones
I know right? I'm just stunned that someone would take shortcuts with such a scary piece of equipment. I can't imagine what went through his head as he realised he was exposed after having circumvented some safety systems.
I reckon he knew as soon as he made eye contact with the source rack. That’s a hell of a dose.
ya that's the creepy part, these guys know they're going to die and have a matter of hours before their bodies start reacting to the trauma so they can walk out of these facilities 'fine' and give interviews before dying to radiation poisoning
I guess he did't bother checking his Scintillation counter when he was actually near the check source for some bizarre reason.
Wodka makes things straight forward ... 😅
The guy said he was "tired and can"t remember ....."
I live in Poland, and this means over here DRUNK as a SKUNK ...
@@TomKappeln With a dose of 12 Gray in just a few minutes, it's also possible that his memory was affected.
@@HenriFaust His brain was Gamma Ray blasted I'll bet.
Welp nice to see you here
@@HenriFaust Proper use of a meter is meter out front eyes on the needle and you start with the lowest scale. At 1,200 Rad an hour disorientation can certainly happen but I bet he did not check the meter or lied about taking it with him. If he was worried about time he would not go back for it. Also, he was deceptive about how he got across the plate. There is always the possibility he used the meter properly and was able to get in since the source was properly shielded then it was raised while he was inside. Could have been someone at the control panel since he left the key in. Need to get a dose map of the interior and see if the dose he got matched up with the area he was for the time he was in the room.
Designers: We literally took the floor away to prevent you from harming yourself.
Operator: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Universe- "Built a better idiot!"
If it was modern day I'm sure he would have shouted "Parkour!"
Operator: hold my beer... lol
"I've seen this one on Funniest Home Videos."
The floor is not dying of radiation poisoning
Incorrect: the safest way to enter a radiation room is not to enter a radiation room
This is simultaneously the wisest and dumbest sentence I've read today.
Nicely explained 👍
I worked in oil fields for 7 years as a crude oil hauler. Whenever some incident would happen, the driver involved would inevitably lie about how the incident happened to try and save his job or bonus. Once he was cleared to continue working, or even if he wasn't, he was always forthcoming to the other drivers as to what _actually_ happened.
The other drivers wouldn't tell the supervisors and the incident was considered closed.
Only if the driver ended up fired would they usually get the whole truth of what happened.
Chalk that up to human nature. If you're more motivated to avoid the consequences of your actions, expect the person in question to lie.
Bottom line: talk to the other employees until you get the truth. Someone else knows what really happened.
People cover everything up.
They usually don't find out till spring time anyway.
I have to wonder: Did climbing across the pit, and doing whatever he did to defeat the pressure plate really save time over doing it the right way: Pulling the key and using it to close the pit? Or was there some malfunction in the pit closing mechanism that led the worker to improvise a workaround?
As someone who works in a post soviet country I can tell you a lot of sad and dumb stories of people bypassing safety equipment in CNC machines.
Ive seen so many unscrewed interlocks by simple workers because "manually adjusting a machine is faster this way and you don't have to stop the production too many times wich might get you into trouble".
Most of the time they get a verbal warning thats all.
Yet still we got so many stabbed hands and cut off fingers that the higher ups of my workplace decided "damn it lets weld the interlocks shut and drill the hexagon screws". For safety.
Sometimes you just cant stop stupidity without welding stuff closed.
Source. I was a CNC operator and now an electrician in the same company.
Sorry for my bad English.
Being it was Russia it didnt work correctly
@@poiiop2626 english is perfect mate
Probably removing the key would trigger a bunch of time limited locks in the restart process, and those could be saved. Also it would allow the second guy to start the restart when the first one emptied the main room but not yet left the entire maze. As usual, no amount of safety can prevent deliberate idiots to avoid it.
@@poiiop2626 Your English is far better than that of many Americans I've encountered!
Hello from Canada. :)
OK I love the death pit security system. I get the feeling the architect was a big Indiana Jones fan.
There is sort of brutal irony in creating an obvious safety hazard in an attempt to prevent access to a less obvious but much more dangerous safety hazard. It has some logic behind it though. Fall into that pit, and maybe you break a leg. Broken legs are no fun, but they do eventually heal. Acute radiation poisoning is a very nasty way to die.
It would never fly in the US, as OSHA would require a guard rail to be installed around the pit. It would never fly in the US. OSHA would require that a guard rail be installed around the pit.
All that was missing was spikes at the bottom of the pit, and a pressure plate that shoots poison darts out of the wall
@@russlehman2070 I could just imagine what OSHA would say when that came up on the blueprints.
Your not wrong about it being a deterrent but it clearly wasn't enough. Like Siller Barly49 said, they should have put spikes at the bottom.
@@sillerbarly4927 and a knight with a cup.
Or a giant bolder that falls from the ceiling and rolls down the maze
The operator was performing a live action Indiana Jones and the temple of doom reenactment with all those safety bypasses but forgot that you can't outrun radiation like you can an enormous rolling rock.
😂😂
And he didn't have a lead-lined fridge to hand either.
The rolling rock scene is from raiders of the lost ark, not temple of doom.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to radioactive materials, it's either do it right or die a rather unpleasant death, or at the very least, survive with fewer body parts and high chances of other complications causing an unpleasant death... :\
the absolute joy i get when i see you’ve uploaded a new radiation incident is absurd 🤣❤️
Thank you
i will get into a radiation incident to get featured on this channel because its my favorite channel
@Sam A. Murphy Does it make you feel...radiant?
Every time an operator bypasses safety to go into a room with a source I just think of the Spongbob meme "How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?"
Man, I'm from Belarus and my university roommate was from Nesvizh. Never knew about this accident. Thanks for the video!
You know you have a competent employee when he knows all the systems of his workplace to the point of managing in bypassing all the safety features of the plant he's meant to supervise...
Too bad he died, he would have made a very good security inspector if he survived. "Look, this pit is unsafe, it can be defeated by using a whip to suspend yourself and jump above it. We should add snakes, and maybe a tribe of cannibals too".
This guy was so hell bend on getting radiation poisoning he defeated a bunch of dnd dungeon traps.
Unfortunately, the longer you work in a dangerous work environment the less you think about, just how bad of a situation you are in…. I worked at a steel mill, in the continuous caster unit. Was around liquid steel day in and day out. It’s amazing what you can “get used” to……
Another excellent video John. Doesn't matter how many times one reads about exposure episodes, criticality in a U bend, or an excursion event - I'm a sucker for your diagrams and narration. And the little thingy in the corner before an advert makes me feel all nostalgic!
"Balls"
"Yes, balls"
Accurate summary of the situation. Lol
Thank you
Just want to say I really appreciate the upgrade in your subtitles recently!
Thank you
It's absurd that the operator forgot his key in the console. I mean, that's his main responsibility to allow no one else access. I don't they were honest. Furthermore, I think it's more likely that they did a couple of modifications to the safety system to allow quicker entry, and it's required that the key stayed in position to quickly start again.
They probably reversed that before anyone could check for this in fear of punishment. The operator has had to pay the price for that - while probably not responsible.
Everyone is responsible for their own safety.
I am flabbergasted at the number of these radiological incidents that you have brought to my attention John.
Well done as always !!!
The old saying that "familiarity breeds contempt" is absolutely true when people work daily in dangerous situations. You may logically still know that something is very dangerous, but as you get used to it your brain stops seeing it as a threat. Someone new to a danger will treat it very warily, someone very familiar with it can become over confident and careless.
I'm not surprised at all that the victim here was someone who had worked there for a long time.
My first degree was in chemistry and my university had a thorium room. Wow, the safety around this room was like nothing on earth. Everybody knew that entering would mean death so we knew not to enter. I wonder what was going on in this man’s mind as he must have known too. He paid the ultimate price…
Do you have any plans to cover the recent exposure of Russian troops digging, manning and living in trenches in and around Chernobyl and the red forest?
Oh, that would be really interesting
I reckon he would have to uncover documented evidence that it actually happened and isn’t just wartime propaganda. Considering the plethora of fake stories coming out of Ukraine that have later been admitted to as being made up to boost morale and garner support, I’m leaning towards no on this one.
@@TheSaltyExplorer like the evidence gained from the radiation sensors all around Chernobyl that are internationally monitored and their increase, some even going off-line, during the Russian invasion in the region?
@@saxon215 does that mean they were for sure living in radioactive trenches? Look, I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but come on.
@@TheSaltyExplorer I wouldn't think trench-based stuff particularly likely, but the tracked and wheeled transport vehicles would and did stir up a lot of radioactive material. The length of exposure, type of exposure and the isotopes around would be very difficult to ascertain. I took your comment to mean you did not believe that there had been any increase in radioactive activity rather than the nature of the troop activity.
I'm a veterinary nurse and use many single use items that are sterilized with radiation. I never really put thought into the people who work the dangerous job of actually doing the sterilizing.
Radiation devices are safe as long humans are not involved...
The Dead Hand would like a word.
Too much time pressure, routine, sometimes incompetence and sheer sloppiness are the main reasons for such things in my experience.
Have been working in industrial production for 4 years.
Worked at a small chemical plant producing colours for one year - in that time I walked out of the facility in a hurry twice after warning my superiors of an explosion hazard and being ignored. My direct superior was clueless and the fire prevention "expert" was a heavy-drinking alcoholic. Top staff. ^^
That sounds like a lovely place to work!
@@PlainlyDifficult Uh, the man himself, what an honour! ^^
Yeah, it was a great relief to finally leave the place. I also encouraged people I liked to get another job, too.
A little story from a warehouse somewhere:
A newly built part of my workplace opened a few months ago.
In this department there is a long roller conveyor from which operators take items off as they work. The conveyor is about at chest level and it is about 20m long with workstations on the side.
This conveyor has an emergency stop button at about every 5 meters.
I approached a manager and asked why this conveyor does not have a pull cord along it? The buttons are out of reach for most of the operators and there is a real danger getting stuck.
The answer: Yeah, but if you keep all the rules and pay attention all the time, you are not going to get stuck.
What if you trip in something?
What if there is something slippery on the floor?
What if...?
As long as we have these detached from reality corpo-rat wiesels everywhere who keep the OSHA lexicon on they night stand as a bible and unwilling to use common sense and make changes were necesary, minimum wage employee blood stays the prefered ink for safety rules.
EDIT:
I no longer work there.
Followup on the story: I approached multiple managers and filed two written complaints about the matter and according to my source who works there, there are still not enouh safety buttons. Also the main drive belt of this roller conveyor (a 5cm wide wowen belt driven by five 2kW motors) is exposed underneeth wuthout any protection.
Good job corporate!
its amazon huh?
@@smartmonkey777 It is not amazon, but it is owned by it 😉
Probably be a lot safer if the product were raised up into the radiation chamber or room.. that way if there was a jam, they know without a doubt- go into that chamber and your're going to die. They would know that the product must come out some other way, no matter what. Sad situation. I love the narration- it's the most pleasant I've ever heard! Thank you :)
Plainly ( John ) ,as usual a fantastic explanation of a completely preventable disaster.
This guy definitely felt under pressure to get things moving as fast as possible.
I feel he did grab the transport rails and simply hand grabbed his way over the pit.
His stupid refusal to simply admit anything shows his method.
Strange as it sounds,there is a phenomemonon with electric motion systems that I call bounceback.
If a switch fails to set itself properly,the object in motion will reach the end of it's travel and it will then start back in the other direction of it's travel.
Not a big deal in a electric window of a car but a horrible thing in this case.
Did bounceback happen here?
Who knows.
But this man would still be alive if he simply followed all the rules.
I cannot think of a more horribly slow way to kill yourself.
May he rest in peace.
Love the longer format videos. Thank you man.
When dealing with an invisible danger...such as intelligence....or radiation.....one must think their actions through thoroughly before acting.......not after.
@Miss Understanding True. I'm glad you reminded us. 👍
I love how technical you get it's very refreshing
Thank you for your work and time on this video.
I'm fascinated by radiation disasters like these. Thanks, it was a good video.
As a retired major-crimes investigator, my suspicion lies with the assistant, who could easily have gone to the control room when the victim entered the chamber and raised the rack.
I wonder what their relationship was. Also what the professional climate was like at the establishment and whether the assistant would benefit from the removal of the victim from the workforce.
You akways post when im opening on Saturdays thank you for that
This is very good reasearch and reporting. I am sure most of us would never know about these events, but they are important for reducing risks in the future. Also, your animation dialog is entertaining, to say the least! Wonderful work. All good wishes.
Balls!
Yes, balls!
I now picture everyone calmly standing around after the incident just sipping tea and quietly exclaiming "balls" "yes, balls"
A very good episode and adequately thorough. Most of these accidents appear to be in parts of the world where circumventing the rules is part of the culture. You should do an episode about the recent Chernobyl incident where Russian soldiers made sand bags with soil taken from the red forest. (Now called the yellow forest)
Thank you I recently did a video on that!
@@PlainlyDifficult link?
@@markrice41 th-cam.com/video/I78MShTR_rA/w-d-xo.html at time stamp 26:14
I'm recent subscriber, really enjoy your format and you have subjects I've not heard of before too.
I actually worked at Flixborough docks for a couple of shifts 10 or so years ago, so that one was especially interesting to me!
Thanks for your work 🤓!
Not radiation relate, but...the US CSB has a video on their channel about one that blew up. No radiation, just a lot of stupidityradition
The CSB has a lot of videos about "someone cut corners/didn't follow rules and ☠️"
I nominate all of them for the Plainly Simple treatment.
Yes I've watched ALL if them. They are so good but would be even better with John's voice and style. I second that nomination
The Canadian Worksafe videos are better.
Late USSR was plagued with negligence. Andropov tried to change that in early 80s, but failed and (rumorly) was poisoned. From this period onwards, catastrophical accidents happened all the time. Arzamas, Ufa, Chernobyl...
Most important change that may or may not have happened, but wasn't addressed: Management culture. The operator likely wouldn't have risked his life to save 5 or 15 minutes of time without some sort of pressure.
The doomed workers always look so jaunty and dapper in these videos before they walk to their unintended individual doom. And they always say the same thing: "Balls!". I would definitely say that, too. And MUCH MORE.
Why am I so fascinated with these real horror stories? Am I the only one?
I love that you have pictures for this one, had a hard time visualizing the San Salvador one, that is a very corroded facility, they were in dire need of a anti-oxidant paint day.
After watching all these radioactive and industrial disasters (and wondering how many happened/happen without anyone figuring out), I'm not surprised that there are so many cancer cases around the World anymore...
Evolution requires pain.
@@justtime6736 oh yeah, not screams evolution like DNA corrupted by radiation!
I wonder if maybe the operator didn’t actually get over the plate, instead he triggered it after climbing over the pit and since the key was in the slot it raised the rack back up rather than lowering it, since it was already down.
It's sad to see so many operators losing their lives just because they won't follow standard operating procedures for various reasons.
I think... If I had to design a system to do similar exposure, I'd add a physical lock on a door that uses the same key as what is used to arm and disarm the rack.
Sure you might be able to work around that by picking the lock, but it's probably easier to just go grab the key by that point.
Some other systems have that but operators have still managed to bypass it
"This is the lock picking lawyer and what we have for you today is a..."
"This is the lock picking lawyer and what we have for you today is a..."
They should hire out of shape people who are not parkourist. He jumped over a pit and move through the switch plate using the railing.
That damn thing was incredibly secure. I was inside particle accelerators that didn't had 10% of those PHYSICAL safety devices. Incredible that an accident like this could happen.
My favorite part of this story is that apparently there are saftey interlocks that involve a freaking trap door in floor.
30 tb is a pretty strong source and a terrifying ammount of Cobalt 60 and gamma rays, but they make Cobalt sources upwards of 140 tb, no idea what for tho
Another good one John, cheers
Thank you! Cheers!
Operator: "I've been exposed"
Assistant: "Balls"
Operator: "Yes, balls"
As an engineer I can tell you with 100% certainty the designer was an Indiana Jones fan, AND he sucks at his job. The rack should always fall into the isolation pit when unpowered.
You are not engineer. Guess why i know it.
@@commieprop Because the rack *was* powered.
Really well done. Informative and engaging. Great work.
Not glorifying radiation disaster...but it's very fascinating..impressive that this element makes...a technology that could revolutionize a lot but we just don't know how to deal with it..! See Joema's disaster!
I love to learn about radiation/nuclear disasters… always interesting
I think your videos should be included in the training for anyone in the nukeuler trades.
We have a little saying at my job. "Safety is fine, until your behind" to maintain production numbers it's amazing what people will do.
I would assume the ventilation and interlock mechanism was also in place to vent out any radon gases before entry into the labyrinth.
One report on this incident (IAEA) described how the operator felt pain in his groin (or gonads). The only report I can recall where this indicator was included. Of course, an alarming dosimeter would be a much better early indicator than aching gonads.
Considering that at the end of the USSR it went to shit really fast, it wouldn't surprise me if some parts or sensors had broken or been stolen and they couldn't find any replacements. My father used to be a truck driver in the USSR and he said that in the early 1990s he would find that overnight some people were stealing parts of his truck, not huge parts like the tires but the mechanism used to raise the bed of the truck when tipping out sand etc. He started carrying a big box filled with tools and parts as he never knew quite what would be missing each day. Even when he slept in the truck they would try to dismantle it without waking him. He woke up one night as a guy who had picked the door lock was trying to detach the steering wheel. When Dad kicked him out into the street and threatened him with a wrench, the guy broke down and started to cry. Turns out the thief was a truck driver too but someone had stolen the steering wheel from his work vehicle and that he was going to be prosecuted for not looking after state property. Dad said he looked about 60 and was desperate. My Dad gave him half a bottle of whiskey, some cigarettes, a bit of money and the address of the local truck depot where they rarely locked the doors. The man was very grateful. Dad wonders what happened to him.
Carelessness around radioactive material, improper maintenance of concrete structures, and ANFO-related incompetence are the three running themes of this channel, and by extension, man-made disasters. You'd think people would learn.
Something is not right there. When rack it up it should have 3-4 uSv/hr, operator dose was 11-18Gr. He must been working there for days in order to get such dose...
From the official report, the 4 uSv/hr reading would be expected on the safe side of the pit with the rack up, not in the irradiation chamber itself.
Watching another great video from PD on a pleasant Saturday morning while two of my four cats do zoomies and knock stuff over 😖 Luckily they're far away from my home food irradiation system...that could be dangerous! 🤣🤣
Learning about radiation accidents is the cleanest, best pleasure
Out of the loop. What does the black and white flag in the corner signify when it comes up?
It’s to tell you when the adverts are coming
@@PlainlyDifficult Ohhhhhhh. I'm on premium (no ads) and always wondered if it was narrative or timing specific 😂😂😂
I really love your videos. Simply... fantastic work, educating and entertaining at the same time with really nice presentation. Thank you for all your work!
“Should I go back and get my key? Nah… I’ll just climb the death-pit and jump over the pressure plate.”
poor guy suffered for too long - i bet he regreted that decision to bypass security measures each of those many days.
It’s amazing they Moscow institute managed to keep him alive for so long after such a high dose. Reading the official report, it seems like this was a massive learning point for radiological exposure care, but god, being that man…can you imagine? He wasn’t daft, he knew the dose he’d received would definitely be fatal. I’d be begging them to end me at the start so I didn’t have to go through such suffering. Massive testament to the medics and international advice and input at the time that kept him alive as long as they did. So sorry for the guy though…
The guy at 00:15 🥵
💀
Plus, he's got a major fivehead and woolhair.
You have terrible taste in men
I don't really understand how not removing the key would save any time at all. But it is a common thing for people working a long time with a machine, one thinks one is smarter than the designers.
Loved the new ending music!
I can think of a number of adjustments to the system that could have possibly helped, but none of them would have overcome something again and again in catastrophic failures in all kinds of complex systems: complacency. Again and again and again complacency is the last piece of the puzzle in industrial disasters.
Great video John
Thank you
If I were to construct something like this, I would do it in such a way that the counterweight blocks the access when the radiation source is up.
Fuck yeah this is the reason I subscribed, the radiation stories, the meat and potatoes of this channel
There's no way to make anything idiot-proof, because idiots have a nasty tendancy towards cleverness.
Another solid video mate. Cheers.
“Short-cuts cut lives short.” ☢️ Another BNL/AEC safety slogan from 1950’s, 1960’s.
The pit that operators have to cross seems an overly complex solution compared to a locked door.
Can't add a door as product needs to move through that space.
Stark contrast to San Salvador's incident like you covered.
I really enjoy the "balls" convo. Sadly that would be the effect of that tiny mistake
Another great video. Thank you!
Poor guy. All those safety systems and he passed right through them. If only there were a few more... say, after the safety pit and the safety pressure plate, maybe a few safety giant swinging buzzsaws, a safety poison dart launcher, and a safety giant rolling boulder...
Good safety measures, that have been intentionally overridden by fully qualified operator, and operator was fully aware of radiation danger. It's a Darwin Award for him.
I hope “Balls” is the AEC’s official code for “I have been irradiated”.
Production verses safety, a long aged battle
Sadly true
Watching this again makes me wonder what the operator's assistant was doing when the operator went inside. He ( op ) didn't take his key and they don't know how the rack got back up.
I wonder if they ever looked at the assistant.
Great video as always
Thank you
Finally one of these I've never heard of
Thanks!
@@PlainlyDifficult Hey! You need the thanks I have been getting entertained by this channel for a very long time! I love the consistency in quality and somehow you find interesting enough topics every week that I'm always on the edge of my seat for a new upload. Thanks for all the time you put into this!
this guy : "talking about serious radiation accidents"
also the man : balls
yes balls
Literally "The floor is not dying of radiation poisoning."
I have what might be a really dumb question but how is it that food and products can be irradiated safely, but the operator’s clothing was contaminated? Is there a decontamination step for the food/product that I’m missing?
His clothing was not contaminated.
Some materials are altered in specific ways by radiation. The effect is measured and from that data the corresponding radiation dose is calculated.
In this case, the cotton/viscose fabric of the operator's vest was analyzed by electron spin resonance. This detected the amount of molecular damage from the radiation.
"to little is never good, to much is not good'
I love the little faces on boxes and flags that you do haha
11:50 What would be the point of not admitting you did something wrong? His was going to lose his job at this point in any case, and charging him criminally would be pointless.
He only had two things left to do, explain exactly how he defeated the safety measures in the hope of preventing others doing the same thing, and die.
The dying part was going to happen no matter what at that point. All he could do was hope no one else made the same mistake he had made.
Likely he had done the same thing before without an issue. People are usually able to do something stupid several times before they get bit.