TorpedoFish posted:

For those who don't know, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport is (was) supposed to open in 2011, replacing two older airports and serve as a regional hub for Air Berlin. It still is not open. It is now probably approaching €10 million over budget. Air Berlin no longer exists. It...has not been a particularly successful project, and there's a fair bit of OSHA-esque fuckery.

Miles of cables were installed improperly. They - somehow - built escalators too short, such that the escalator took you up to a short, two or three step stairway. Hundreds of doors were mislabeled, meaning that in an emergency there would be chaos. The roof is alleged to weigh twice as much as it should.

Also, the fire safety system did not work - smoke extractors did not extract smoke, alarms didn't work (see above re: wiring), etc. It turns out that the engineer tasked with designing the fire safety system was not in fact an engineer, which may have been related.

In a desperate attempt to get the airport open, though, a plan was conceived. Instead of a functional fire alarm system in what was hoped to be one of the larger airports in Europe, the airport would hire about 800 minimum-wage workers to be stationed throughout the airport with bullhorns and mobile phones. If anyone saw a fire or smelled smoke, the employee would call 112 and lead passengers to safety.

Fortunately, the government accurately described that plan as idiotic and refused to certify the airport to open.

Today the airport is still not open. As I mentioned, they've had to start replacing some display screens and lights which have been running non-stop since 2011. There is a daily train service, which no one can buy a ticket for, because the ventilation system depends on trains moving air through the tunnels. I can't find any information about whether they've installed longer escalators.

Schönefeld airport, which shares a runway when Brandenburg and was meant to be closed when Brandenburg opened, has since completed one renovation and begun a significant expansion.

TorpedoFish posted:

Yeah, http://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/ that did a really great (English) multi-part podcast about it. It's definitely the most entertaining podcast about loving up an airport (airportfuckling?) that you'll ever hear.

TorpedoFish posted:

Yeah, http://www.radiospaetkauf.com/ber/ that did a really great (English) multi-part podcast about it. It's definitely the most entertaining podcast about loving up an airport (airportfuckling?) that you'll ever hear.

There was also a lot of corruption with bribes and kickbacks and such, which is how they got to the point of building an airport without involving anyone who knows how to build an airport.

Duzzy Funlop posted:

This doesn't quite do it justice. Where regular smoke extraction systems (you know, the ones that work) are designed to vent smoke up and out, generally through the roof, BER had a system of lateral smoke extraction vents leading to ducts that were meant to move the smoke DOWN THROUGH THE AIRPORT and out through the basement. The design was picked because the oversight board was impressed with the engineer's audacity. Oh, and that engineer? Yeah, turns out he wasn't a real engineer. Shocker.

I did an effortpost on BER a while back in another subforum, and I'll try to dig that up, but the smoke extraction system beautifully encapsulates the idiocy of that project.

Duzzy Funlop posted:

This doesn't quite do it justice. Where regular smoke extraction systems (you know, the ones that work) are designed to vent smoke up and out, generally through the roof, BER had a system of lateral smoke extraction vents leading to ducts that were meant to move the smoke DOWN THROUGH THE AIRPORT and out through the basement. The design was picked because the oversight board was impressed with the engineer's audacity. Oh, and that engineer? Yeah, turns out he wasn't a real engineer. Shocker.

I did an effortpost on BER a while back in another subforum, and I'll try to dig that up, but the smoke extraction system beautifully encapsulates the idiocy of that project.

Trabant posted:

The Wikipedia entry on BER has a Statistics section and it's just

The Lone Badger posted:

So it was a smoke intraction system?

Platystemon posted:

This is up there with the old Emu War infobox.

Humphreys posted:

For those unfamiliar:

C.M. Kruger posted:

PurpleXVI posted:

The Germans may make decent consumer goods but holy poo poo I've never been part of any enterprise or project involving a German veto that hasn't been a shitshow. Also Jesus any buildings that Germans have a say in designing are universally trashtown.

The Lone Badger posted:

The Italians in WW2 were... not good at war.

Drone_Fragger posted:

Or in WW1, there was something like 11 battles in a row they lost at the same river and mountain pass system because it was the only way out of Italy to armoured vehicles.

Also logically Italy’s army has always been a mess, they kept focusing on things like huge tanks ad artillery pieces, despite the fact the entire north of the country is mountains and mountain passes, where such equipment is too slow to be of use.

Platystemon posted:

That’s the current one, which is an improvement from last I saw it, but before the No Fun Brigade arrived, it used the “military conflict” infobox.

Drone_Fragger posted:

Counterpoint: I work with a lot of German heavy industrial companies and they actually seem to care a lot about what they’re doing and making sure it actually works.

Duzzy Funlop posted:

I did an effortpost on BER a while back in another subforum, and I'll try to dig that up, but the smoke extraction system beautifully encapsulates the idiocy of that project.

TorpedoFish posted:

For those who don't know, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport is (was) supposed to open in 2011, replacing two older airports and serve as a regional hub for Air Berlin. It still is not open. It is now probably approaching €10 million over budget. Air Berlin no longer exists. It...has not been a particularly successful project, and there's a fair bit of OSHA-esque fuckery.

Miles of cables were installed improperly. They - somehow - built escalators too short, such that the escalator took you up to a short, two or three step stairway. Hundreds of doors were mislabeled, meaning that in an emergency there would be chaos. The roof is alleged to weigh twice as much as it should.

Also, the fire safety system did not work - smoke extractors did not extract smoke, alarms didn't work (see above re: wiring), etc. It turns out that the engineer tasked with designing the fire safety system was not in fact an engineer, which may have been related.

In a desperate attempt to get the airport open, though, a plan was conceived. Instead of a functional fire alarm system in what was hoped to be one of the larger airports in Europe, the airport would hire about 800 minimum-wage workers to be stationed throughout the airport with bullhorns and mobile phones. If anyone saw a fire or smelled smoke, the employee would call 112 and lead passengers to safety.

Fortunately, the government accurately described that plan as idiotic and refused to certify the airport to open.

Today the airport is still not open. As I mentioned, they've had to start replacing some display screens and lights which have been running non-stop since 2011. There is a daily train service, which no one can buy a ticket for, because the ventilation system depends on trains moving air through the tunnels. I can't find any information about whether they've installed longer escalators.

Schönefeld airport, which shares a runway when Brandenburg and was meant to be closed when Brandenburg opened, has since completed one renovation and begun a significant expansion.

onemileatatime posted:

There was a problem with the check-in desks in the new terminal. During real-world testing in the lead-up to the opening, each check-in counter was supposed to handle 60 passengers an hour, but staff members were only able to deal with half as many people.

The proposed solution to the check-in delays was to erect tents outdoors for passengers to check-in until additional permanent check-in desks could be built. Only those ‘second-class’ airlines who FBB described as ‘ethnic,’ would be subject to using the outdoor tents. German tenants Lufthansa and Air Berlin would be given preferential treatment to use the desks in the terminal.

The Lone Badger posted:

The proposed solution to the check-in delays was to erect tents outdoors for passengers to check-in until additional permanent check-in desks could be built. Only those ‘second-class’ airlines who FBB described as ‘ethnic,’ would be subject to using the outdoor tents. German tenants Lufthansa and Air Berlin would be given preferential treatment to use the desks in the terminal.

chitoryu12 posted:

Those are super common in New York City because there's no room for storage except basements, so every business needs to be able to load directly in and out. I recommend against walking on them because sometimes they're old and broken and just collapse inward under you (which happened to a family friend's wife).

CleverHans posted:

Just watched one of the most spectacularly (non) OSHA things ever: perhaps you would like to know more about the National Pyrotechnic Festival in Tultepec, Mexico?

http://www.pbs.org/pov/watch/brimstoneandglory/

Lucid Nonsense posted:

I'm the nub hand at 50s.

Pyroclastic posted:

Trying to paste from the imgur app, not sure if this'll embed. Turn on sound.

https://i.imgur.com/zxkZz7b.mp4

EvenWorseOpinions posted:

Got some osha today, supposed to be working inside a box, but the box is full of moving belts and fans, and the switch to lock out the 480v power supply isn't connected correctly to the breaker itself. 'Just open the panel and open the breaker, I do it all the time' says my boss who isn't the one who will end up turning it off. How do you diplomatically inform your boss 'hell no'?

Lucid Nonsense posted:

I'm the nub hand at 50s.

EvenWorseOpinions posted:

Got some osha today, supposed to be working inside a box, but the box is full of moving belts and fans, and the switch to lock out the 480v power supply isn't connected correctly to the breaker itself. 'Just open the panel and open the breaker, I do it all the time' says my boss who isn't the one who will end up turning it off. How do you diplomatically inform your boss 'hell no'?

Funkysauce posted:

Growing up in the Bronx, we used to dare each other to jump on them because we figured if you fell through you can just sue the building owners. Yep, the poo poo we did for fun in the late 80s - early 90s, pretty not smart.

EvenWorseOpinions posted:

Our spicy electrical work gets handled by contractors, so I'm not sure we have space suits. I've been doing other things until our contractor shows back up to finish something to get his thoughts on it.

E: coworker who also doesn't want his fingers near that told boss so boss is gonna stick his fingers in there instead.

EvenWorseOpinions posted:

Our spicy electrical work gets handled by contractors, so I'm not sure we have space suits. I've been doing other things until our contractor shows back up to finish something to get his thoughts on it.

E: coworker who also doesn't want his fingers near that told boss so boss is gonna stick his fingers in there instead.

EvenWorseOpinions posted:

Our spicy electrical work gets handled by contractors, so I'm not sure we have space suits. I've been doing other things until our contractor shows back up to finish something to get his thoughts on it.

E: coworker who also doesn't want his fingers near that told boss so boss is gonna stick his fingers in there instead.