Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

[ezbtr]

Curious - if you were working on a 480v breaker and unsure if it was hot, AND your two bosses stepped back 5 feet, told you to "test", would you stick a screw driver in it????

 

[rbh]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

YOUR NUTS!!!

Did anyone call for the lock out on that circuit????

Screw your bosses, or give them the screw driver to test if its live or dead.

To add I was doing street lighting way back, our job was to replace the mercury vapour lights with the new high preasure sodium, the incharge went into the inground tub to disconect this section of the street, well he disconnected the wrong street.
So on removal of the light fixture off of a ladder I broke ground, then became ground, then hit the ground.
Should I have tested it, YES
Should I have listen to my incharge, sure but tested the line with a meter first.

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

I would politely turn the screw drive over to them and tell them I need a demonstration! Then let them know, I will give your wife a call..

 

[bigdee]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

As an electrician you NEVER assume or trust someone else. It is up to YOU to use your VOM to confirm if a circuit is live. You cannot allow yourself to be intimidated by onlookers.

 

[royal0014]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

Hmm, think this needs to be moved over to SHT...


<<)))(((>>

 

[scipper77]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

Have you ever seen the video's of a 480 volt arc/flash hazard?? 5 feet may not be enough.

 

[JB]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

If a mistake is going to kill me it will be my mistake, not someone else's.

Your use of the adverb, "blindly", is an excellent example of programming an answer to a question. "Faithfully" would have altered the result.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

If I had put the lock on myself...and if the key were in my pocket....maybe...

Reminds me of the old joke/chestnut:

Master electrician (ME) tells the apprentice (app), "grab the end of that wire" which he does.

ME: "Feel anything"?
APP: "No".
ME: Then don't touch that other one, it's a live 600V feed.

 

[TestEngr]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

If you're seriously telling us that your management encourages practices like this, you're best bet would be to find another place to work, because you or someone else to going to end up dead. Always, always, always use proper LOTO procedures.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

yeah good advice from these guys, you never trust anyone but yourself, you do the checks yourself or you have no one else to blame, of course your also dead so who cares right?

I run a tower crew so while the dangers are much different the premise is exactly the same, but I have my guys check each other as well kinda builds a team atmosphere and gets everyone on the same page, easier to integrate a new person into the mix.

I rarely mess with anything bigger then 110VAC I figure there are people that earned their electrician titles so they must know what they are doing, but watch out for that guy who is a Master and is missing fingers!! ask me how I know!!

 

[scipper77]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

My guess is that they knew for a fact that the system was de-energized.

I work in a facility where loud noises and bright flashes are part of our work. Even when we are performing a test where there is no possibility for a bang or flash I still close my eyes and cover my ears. If you stop thinking everything could be live at all times, that's when people get hurt. Also why you should check for yourself.

 

[Corec]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

More to come...

So you said "More to come..." Does that mean we should be waiting for the punch line to a joke instead of worrying about you getting cooked at work?

 

[joed]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

Stick a screw driver in it is stupidest part of it. Use a wiggy to test it properly.

 

[jim372]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

i don't know lot about elect. but i know not to do that even if it was not hot
i used to work in steel mill for 33 years and each month we was trained to lock out ,tag out everthing .
elect.,hyd.,and anything that could come down on body parts

 

[ezbtr]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

So yeah, this guy we work with did, out of sheer luck, his screwdriver was insulated, and had gloves and boots on, screw driver melted, lotsa smoke, sparks and blew power to half the terminal for the whole day....and I'm always uneasy workin with him on cranes, what a dumbass...
Curious to see if we get a writeup on him in next safety report...
they wonder why fatalities occur......hmmmmmm, gotta be smarter than the equipment you're working on

 

[PiratePast40]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

Use a wiggy to test it properly.

Weren't those all recalled in the mid 70's?

 

[WIMUSKY]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

Just the thread I didn't need to read. I want to wire my compressor, 220v, in the electrical box today. I know, it's easy. That's what my electrician buddy said who is going out of town to see his girlfriend even tho he said he would hot wire it for me. I'll do it, but I'm flipping off the main breaker. Rather reset clocks than take a chance touching something I shouldn't and getting roasted.....

 

[angus63]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

My lock and tag on the cutoff, only key in my pocket, my 600V meter checks while wearing FR suit, tinted face shield, and neoprene overrated lineman full length gloves.
You often read about the trusting-type in the paper.

 

[Silverbullet555]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

So yeah, this guy we work with did, out of sheer luck, his screwdriver was insulated, and had gloves and boots on, screw driver melted, lotsa smoke, sparks and blew power to half the terminal for the whole day....and I'm always uneasy workin with him on cranes, what a dumbass...
Curious to see if we get a writeup on him in next safety report...
they wonder why fatalities occur......hmmmmmm, gotta be smarter than the equipment you're working on

He should be fired for being that dumb and the bosses should be fired for putting someone in peril. If the bosses own the company, the state should be called. I don't like the state getting involved in stuff, but they have a responsibility to NOT put their employees in unnecessary danger. However stupid the employee was the bosses were negligent which is even worse.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Would you blindly trust someone for below? More to come...

So yeah, this guy we work with did, out of sheer luck, his screwdriver was insulated, and had gloves and boots on, screw driver melted, lotsa smoke, sparks and blew power to half the terminal for the whole day....and I'm always uneasy workin with him on cranes, what a dumbass...
Curious to see if we get a writeup on him in next safety report...
they wonder why fatalities occur......hmmmmmm, gotta be smarter than the equipment you're working on

Your coworker is lucky to be alive. LOL on the screwdriver was insulated :facepalm: At my job there would be a stop work order until the cause of this near miss could be determines, and if needed procedures would need to be rewritten to make sure this never happens again. If it was found to be a lack of procedural compliance he would be lucky to keep his job. I can't imagine there is a workplace on planet earth where it is ok to check a 480v anything to see if it is live by jamming it with a screwdriver.

My lock and tag on the cutoff, only key in my pocket, my 600V meter checks while wearing FR suit, tinted face shield, and neoprene overrated lineman full length gloves.
You often read about the trusting-type in the paper.

+1 on the face shield for arc flash protection. There is no way I would ever work near live 480v sources. The arc from shorting that stuff can blow your arm off. They show us some pretty graphic stuff in electrical safety training at work. Many pictures of the aftermath of a 480v fault were taken in a morgue.