So much for not pointing the cutter arm at anyone... Happy Halloween, here's some scary workplace safety violations.
Transcript
While Talita looks off in the distance, Phoebe and Dominic are in the modular front loaders. Dominic moves the cutter arm around dangerously close to Phoebe's vehicle and one of the hydraulic lines catches on a sideview mirror.
Phoebe: Watch it, Dom!
Dominic: Is the arm broken? It won’t move.
Talita: Dominic, ease off. Let me make sure you’re not about to—
Dominic moves the arm up and the caught hydraulic oil line snaps.
Talita: …break something…
Later in the workday, the crew and their vehicles re-enter the airlock of the recycling plant.
Dominic: I—I’m sorry—About earlier—
Talita: It’s fine. Those hydraulic lines were due for replacement, anyways.
42 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 90”
Darth Biomech
I like how the fluid is clumping into balls because vacuum. Though it probably means the pressure in those tubes was fairly low?
JoB
> Happy Halloween, here’s some scary workplace safety violations.
Now that I look for it, panel three *does* look like Talita was planning for a Ghostbusters moment.
Too bad it turned out to really be but a *moment* …
I am a little high rn hehe
God damn I can not wait for the future and I can own this comic as a book set. it’s gonna be so sick.
Jay Eaton
Well, humanity in RttS developed cold fusion power in the year 2000, so sadly this is more of an alternate history setting than any earnest prediction of the future
JoB
Weeeeeeellll, the Fleischmann-Pons Experiment in 1989 *did* prompt a flurry of further experimentation. All you need to un-alternate the storyverse is someone finding that CF can be done, but not (yet) *controlled* when scaled up, making it a prime candidate for an ultra-secret military WMD program still under wraps today. 😉
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_fusion#Fleischmann%E2%80%93Pons_experiment
Rad Internet Stranger
It seems like Dom isn’t really… cut out for this kind of stuff
Fallingfeather
Y’know, I wonder- how many replacement lines DO they have for their equipment? imagine keeping parts in stock isn’t cheap, especially for an operation like this, but considering how isolated they are and how dangerous the environment is, I imagine they have redundancy measures out the wazoo too.
JoB
Well, they *have* heavy materials *shipped* to them regularly; even if there are no reusable hydraulic hoses in the scrap from the get-go, the ships hauling it to Shikaviil could probably drop in a set of spares with a rather negligible effect on tonnage. They’ll just need to be *told* (and paid) to do so well in advance, at the latest the last time prior they visit someplace they can add such a set to their cargo bay.
evileeyore
Also, since they have food printers and other 3D printers, I presume they have the capacity for printing things like hoses if needed, so they might just order the materials in bulk and print parts as needed.
JoB
3D printed meals are said to be unappealing and barely sustenance, though – whereas high-pressure hoses need things like well-aligned and -meshed fibers providing the tensile strength. The temperatures involved in vulcanization, if any is done, also are different from what you’d use for culinary purposes …
Apollo235
Anyone else here played Hardspace: Shipbreaker? Dominic seems to basically just be Kaito, and I love them both.
Also Hardspace is a game about salvaging space ships but its zero g rather than planetary and I don’t think Ixion is as shady as LYNX. LYNX is hard to beat in that regard
Dicemonger
Since Ixion don’t appear to Own their workers, then yeah.
Phlosioneer
I had the same thoughts, but hardspace is dystopian while this setting is not a utopia but an extremely good society.
OceanLady
I wouldn’t go that far. They’re pretty much just us now + aliens. The whole GMH situation is pretty… divisive, to say the least.
Lilac
I’m afraid I’ve been the Dominic in many a situation before…
Lilac
Ok well I did not expect the next page to happen in retrospect I have in fact Not Been The Dominic good lord
JoB
Speaking of “due for replacement”, Dominic … >:-/
(That’s a *sturdy* rear view mirror, though!)
Claire
Now I’m curious: How much tension could a pressurized hydraulics hose be subject to before it ruptures IRL? (All the basic search results are for strength vs bursting…)
Jay Eaton
Talita’s anecdote about them being worn out is correct. The rearview mirror ought to have lost that fight.
JoB
Well, the high pressure of the hydraulic fluid exerts not only radial, but *also* a *longitudinal* force, so …
Searching for “hydraulic line tensile strength” netted me this document:
https://mastek.ie/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Snap_tite-tensile_strength.pdf
which suggests test loads from several metric tons upwards …
Tyrone the Miner
its usually the crimped end that goes when pulling a hose. Also on new ones. If the hose burst instead then its because the rubber has deteriorated and the steel netting inside has rusted. A sharp jerk under load will pop a hole due to the oil pressure spike. The hose is still intact though but leaky.
evileeyore
Yup, I’ve blown out hoses in the past. On purpose once even, just to prove they were desperately past the point of needing replacement (when you can see a fuzzy halo of oil spraying out of the hoses, it’s past time).
JoB
> (when you can see a fuzzy halo of oil spraying out of the hoses, it’s past time)
I’d guess that that also telegraphs “you shouldn’t have gotten your peepers *this* close anymore, either!!!” 8-*
hal9000
significantly more than a mirror should provide lol, they were definitely in need of replacement because that hose was shagged
Sen
In defense of the temp workers. It takes a lot of practise to get a feeling for heavy machinery. Doing the same while being in a situation that limits dexterity, visibility and your hearing is a whole lot harder.
They still could have been more careful of course, but I wouldn’t hold it against them. And I don’t think Talita will too.
Packbats
Also, subjecting people to additional stress by berating them doesn’t actually make it easier for them to learn – ideally, they would go over what happened, how to recognize when that kind of thing happens, and how to avoid making the same mistake in the future.
Arcstone
I mean, add to that that theyre basically in a damn near vacuum. The only thing these guys are hearing is vibrations, their own breath and the radio.
Guest
Ooh. That’s bad.
evileeyore
Kinda wish Talita wasn’t lying to spare Dominic’s feelings..
Also, did these temps even take a basic heavy equipment safety course? Those vehicles shouldn’t have been anywhere near close enough to have bumped into and snagged each other. Which means either there were no basic salvage safety courses or Dominic is ignoring everything taught in them and shouldn’t be allowed on another vehicle at all.
In other words “NOT IN FRONT OF MY OSHA MANUALS!”
Viashino_wizard
I mean, she’s not really lying- there’s no way hydraulic cables would snap on a rearview mirror like that unless they’ve been worn *very* thin.
evileeyore
Okay, granted, I should have realized that as well. So Talita isn’t lying, but… this is very much a ‘verbal warning’ type of mistake. Followed with a retraining course. Neither of which are happening here.
Talita has unfortunately been Peter Principled. She’s not middle manager material and it shows. She could be, I’m sure she could learn the skills if they were offered, but I’m betting this company (like most companies) does not offer management training and Talita has just avoided finding (or doesn’t realize she needs to find) those courses online on her own. HR should really be getting involved at some point and aiming her in the right direction if HR is any good (and if anyone ever bothers to tell them what is going on).
Chrysalis
On the bright side, Dom probably won’t make that one specific mistake again!
JoB
Talita’s going to outfit *him* with an RC sooner or later …
Paroxysmall
If they all came back later in the workday, did Dominic just help spray things or were there any other vehicles?
JoB
Seeing where that hydraulic line is, chances are that the cutter arm wasn’t *entirely* immobilized by ripping it. (The rotation of the blade is *not* powered *by hydraulics*, is it … ?) I guess that making *Dominic* limp along with that impediment for the entire shift would actually be *better* for both morale and security of the rest of the team than having him kicked to the sidelines. :-3
Hyratel
it could be either electric, or main-circuit electric-over-hydraulic. Hydraulic motors are easier to make powerful at small sizes: This is why even in all-electric Small Heavy Machinery, they’ll have one big electric motor driving a hydraulic pump, with hydraulic motors for Actuation of rotary tool ends
Claire
Huh. I wonder what that oddly phone-shaped object is.
’(΄.-.„Î) ? ?
`\? ?/´ ? ? ?
”””\/ ? ? ? ?
Synthaphone
Its the rearview mirror of the other vehicle!
Claire
I Want To Believe (That Bip Is Inexplicably Responsible for Any And All Inconvenience)
JoB
… I take back my reply to Chrysalis above. It’ll be *Bip* installing an RC on Dominic.
Planetfall
Ooooh! That’s what happened! The line got hooked on the mirror, and it snapped when he tried to pull the arm back up. I completely missed that.
hal9000
also, Talita wasn’t lying about the hose being worn- IRL that absolutely should’ve been the mirror snapping off lol