Vacuum Cleaner Burns 19th Century Ship

[Rum_Pirate]

Read this on another site and wondered if there is any truth in it. Is there?


Vacuum Cleaner Burns 19th Century Ship

After initial rumors of arson relating to the blaze that nearly destroyed the Cutty Shark it was finally revealed that the culprit was an overused vacuum cleaner.
It was believed that the vacuum cleaner was left on over the weekend and then caught fire.
The fire was said to have added $18 million to the cost of the restoration.

 

[jhr]

Yup.

Iirc, the vacuum cleaner had been "modified" in some way and the safety cut-off had been over-ridden, or didn't exist. Someone left it on when they went home on Friday night, with inevitable consequences......

 

[mattw]

Cleaning contractors

Cleaning companies are a nightmare, they will expose any slight weakness in your electricity supplies. Mostly the only thing you can do is follow them around and keep careful count of how many hoovers they plug into each socket. They certainly won't.
The cleaners themselves are given no instruction or training and are paid a pittance. The equipment generally sees very little maintenance.
I have found numerous examples of 'nail in the fuse holder' type bodges but it's very difficult to get the company owners to take any kind of interest. Personally I hope that the company is sued out of existence and that the directors are left penniless. Maybe that will be a wake up call for the rest of the industry.

 

[sailorman]

Cleaning companies are a nightmare, they will expose any slight weakness in your electricity supplies. Mostly the only thing you can do is follow them around and keep careful count of how many hoovers they plug into each socket. They certainly won't.
The cleaners themselves are given no instruction or training and are paid a pittance. The equipment generally sees very little maintenance.
I have found numerous examples of 'nail in the fuse holder' type bodges but it's very difficult to get the company owners to take any kind of interest. Personally I hope that the company is sued out of existence and that the directors are left penniless. Maybe that will be a wake up call for the rest of the industry.

so much for "P A Testing" then.
the main contractors saftey man should have inspected the kit shouldnt he

 

[mikehibb]

IIRC the security watchmen on the job had not been doing their regular patrols either, perhaps earlier detection of the fire could have resulted in a lesser loss.

One report ( OK it was in Telegraph) said that they regularly filled in the check sheets, where they sign the time of each patrol, when they arrive on shift, then watch TV and have a sleep. The Fire officer who checked the records noticed that the sheets had been filled in and signed off for patrols that had supposedly been done after the time of the fire.

 

[Rum_Pirate]

What is the name of the cleaning company and/or the owner of the vacuum cleaner ?

NAME AND SHAME.

 

[BrendanS]

IIRC the security watchmen on the job had not been doing their regular patrols either, perhaps earlier detection of the fire could have resulted in a lesser loss.

One report ( OK it was in Telegraph) said that they regularly filled in the check sheets, where they sign the time of each patrol, when they arrive on shift, then watch TV and have a sleep. The Fire officer who checked the records noticed that the sheets had been filled in and signed off for patrols that had supposedly been done after the time of the fire.

That's why in many large offices and shopping malls, if you look closely, you'll see small bar codes affixed to walls at strategic positions. Security and cleaning staff have handheld bar code scanners which they have to scan the barcodes with, and it date and time stamps the time of scanning, so they have to be there to scan.

 

[timtap]

18 million pounds worth of damage ???

Surely we could build a new one for that !!!!

A matter of personal interest . Does anyone know what happened to the clipper Thermopyle ? I'm sure the Cutty Sark and Thermopyle used to race each other to the Indies and back on a regular basis.

 

[Impaler]

When in the South China Sea not long ago we found a cleaner gallantly pushing the hoover around. It had to be explained to him that it would work better when plugged in.

 

[peter radclyffe]

now thats just the sort of security conscious crew the cutty sark needs

 

[BlueLancer]

Does anyone know what happened to the clipper Thermopyle

Sunk with full military honours by the Portuguese Navy 13th Oct 1907.