we just had an office party - courtesy of the guy on the roof with a leaf blower

OK, so I'm at my desk with the door closed because I'm interviewing some guy for a magazine article and I hear our director of operations ask someone in the sales room, "What's the matter? You smell something?"

Then I hear some commotion but I continue the interview. Then I start smelling exhaust fumes - faint at first, but then they get stronger. And my notes are starting to get ... wiggly.

But I didn't feel it until the DOO said, "OK, everyone get your coats on, we're going outside."

And I stood up. And I felt a rush and woozy and I was real shaky.
The whole second floor evacuated. I got downstairs, and outside and took several deep breaths of 27-degree air. Within a few minutes I was better - still a little lightheaded.

Oy. I've never experienced anything like that before.

We're all out in the parking lot. Fire department comes, police come.
Some guy's on the roof with a leaf blower; I guess trying to get the snow off and he doesn't realize that the exhaust is filtering into the building's ventilation system.

Don't do this at home. Good to know.

My o my.

From what I was told the guy had a leaf blower - seemed sort of odd to me but I guess the snow was light enough to blow off the roof - but the point being: has anyone ever done anything so stupid at work that your health was threatened?

Ambrosia said:

The reason the guy on the roof would have been using a leaf blower is because a snow blower is heavy and has tines that turn in the snow to dislodge it, then the loose snow is sucked through the machine and blown out of the way. The tines would have torn the roof apart. So, he was right not to use a snow blower. He should have chosen a snow shovel, though. No exhaust fumes. He obviously put some thought into his actions, just not enough thought.

Click to expand...

Yes, now that I think of it - makes sense not to use the snowblower. Didn't think the leaf blower would have been powerful enough to blow snow that's been packed and frozen on a roof for a week but what do I know?