last year in 2008.... early 2008, in march or april....i think, i have a near death experience...
well i dont know if i can put it dat way.... what i encounter can kill people....
here goes... back then, the company i worked for had a contract of replacing perimeter fencing of ASEAN Bintulu Fertilizer-ABF, and dat was my first project there as an engineer and supervisor (im doing two job!!! still im underpaid!!!)....
i dont know why but this project period was realy long because it had been delayed so many times... it started on may 2007 and supposed to be completed on the end of 2007.... how ever due to unreliable sub-con, late supplier, heavy rainstorm, confused ABF plant operators, lazy ABF inspection personnel, late work permit authorization...bla..bla..bla.... thus the work lasted until july 2008, though on the last 2 month of it i was sent to another site...
Anyway... as we know or should know... ABF was a fertilizer process facility.... chemical kind of fertilizer- urea.... soooo, their main ingredient were.....
nitrogen(niiiiice...),
chlorine (exxxcellent...)
and ammonia (fanthaaasstick!!!)
yuuup... they combine all three very dangerous and lethal killing gases in on place....
very fascinating doesn't it....
well, honestly its not dat it scares me.... i know im in good hand, the plant operators are very capable men and women..... plus, our working area are quite far from these lovable gases concentrated...
nitrogen was nothing much... it just combustible and prone to explode... would it be cool....
explosion man.... awesome...
and chlorine gas..... quite scary stuff... in gas form, it nearly scentless, not like when it was liquid u can smell the chlorine smell... u will never know when it start the killing, maybe if u see people suddenly fell down, then u might know... hahaha...
finally ammonia... u can smell ammonia easy.... take a leak, and try smell ur urine...kinda like dat... of course it is 10 times more pungency.... and of course ammonia have the capability of taking ur life....
ok... and came one day, normal day.... everyone working deligently, and im a happy supervisor....
then problem occur.... during dat week we need to lift the excavator to cross fire dept pipeline to the other side.... i need my lifting permit and plan signed....
so after lunch, im on my quest try to find ABF useless "kaki ular" lifting supervisor (can't remember his name).... i search everywhere...everywhere.... didn't he know im trying to do urgent stuff here!!! i try looking for him at his office twice, and pusing2 around the process plant like taking a stroll at india street.... when i finally decided check his office again... i walked to the workshop where the office was... went in the workshop, step inside the ABF mechanical supervisors' office..... sonuvobitch!!! he still not in..... im pissed and worried....
its almost 4 pm, imposible to catch him now... i delayed my hunt for him today, and try again tomorrow, i got oit of the workshop.... walk with quite a fast pace, frustrated, pissed, annoyed, cursing......
then suddenly i felt like a gush of wind on my face, i cant breath.... i stop walking, the air suddenly become so difficult to inhale, then my nasal become cold and stiff for a second... my throat feel the same way to...
after the couple of second nasal n throat stiffness, i tried to inhale some O2 then a strong pungent came rushing into my nose..... i froze.....for awhile...
"what the......" i cover my mouth and my nose....
"its fucking ammonia!!!!"
"need to find shelter!!! thank god im near the workshop!!!"
in process facilities like ABF, toxic release shelter or bomb shelter can be found at certain area and luckily i was near one....
in ABF, it is usual sometime dat the ammonia gases released but in small amount, u can differ the amount by the concentration of the pungency....
on dat day...it was so heavy....
if i try to breath... i coughed....it hurts my nose, my mouth. my throat and my chest!! feels like cold burn....
when i open my eyes, it hurts it and tears started came out...
....i really feel like the posibility to die was 55%....
on my way to the workshop shelter i can see, other people running towards the same way as i am... im not running though, i swear!! i just brisk walking while covering my mouth n nose with coverall sleeve..... then i saw my fellow supervisor running like hell to the workshop.... he was this really skinny tall obnoxious lepeh dat concern about his healthcare at max!! though he smoke a lot and drink and look very funny when he runs......
we ran through the door and inside like dozen people coughing and breathing heavily....
there are bunch of idiot ABS staff still having their ciggarette break at the smoking shelter outside, i dont know why they still there... maybe they immune or they hate their job so much dat they wanna die..... hmmmm.. possible....
later, couple of minute after, finally they went in, coughing, breathing, rubbing their eyes... what an ignorant moron...
i asked one of them which were my junior during at school..."whats going on....?"
"gas leak...gas leak... ilek lok ctok, boh gi kuar dolok....""well ok...."
we sat at the corridor... time to time i took a peak outside just to check the situation, everytime i open the door step outside..... GUUUUSSHHHH!!! uhuk....uhuk....uhuk...!!! i cough, my i eyes stinging.... now im a moron......
the ABF operators lalu-lalang and talk among themselves and other ABF staff like all important.... "toxic realease!!!" "ammonia leak tok!!!" "area ney??!!" "brapa concentration nya?" "LEL camne??" "threshold sik tinggi gilak, tp stay lok" "aku mok jd hero!!!" "aku paling raget time tok!!" and other stuff.....
"WHOAAAA!!!! was there an alarm?" i thought...... they didn't sound the emergency alarm....
why???why??? why didn't they? aren't ammonia leak like, kind of, suppose to be an emergency.... the alarm didn't make a single sound.... silent... and we, who r sheltering inside here r isolated.... "waaaiit.... LEL ? threshold sik tinggi..... sik serious la tok" i said to myself after listening to the operators yabayabaing....
now i know it is safe, i stay there untill everthg clear... now i have time to take a nap inside an well-airconded facility....
after almost 2hours inside the workshop shelter, everything clear up... no more pungent smell, air was clean... im a happy man again....
well dat wasn't actually a near death experience right??? im so stupid...
i suddenly remember the "event" because when i went to MDD office these afternoon at Menara Kidurong, the sensation of the ammonia pungency returned to my nose and throat maybe bcause ABF Complex was just across from Menara Kidurong.... maybe another leakage i thought.......
I HATE WORKING INSIDE ABF FACILITY.....
