In the early 2000's back when Dayton Tire was going they had a habit of hiring nonelectricians from Guatamala to do electrical work LIVE because they didn't want to shut down any work. One didn't make it out of the plant alive.
Resulted in a 7 million dollar+ fine which at the time was the largest OSHA fine ever.
Resulted in the lock out tag out system that other companies already had in place, but for one was glad to see it.
Our workplace at Smith Tool had the supervisor mantra that said do what I say and trust me or I will go choose a replacement from the people lining up outside the door.
I have one set of linesman's pilers with a huge hole in the wire cutter portion because the supervisor told me he had cut off the breaker on some 480V three phase when in fact he got the wrong one. There was no option to check his work nor do a double check on testing for a live circuit. It was get up the ladder and do it now type of thing.
We also had to do live 480 volt three phase hookups and unhook in the welding department in the overhead buss duct that had a half dozen pig tails coming off the main line that had been skived and attached with kourney's and electrical tape. Get up on an oil soaked wood ladder, put scrap cardboard in the metal roof supports to insulate us from the live voltage, and connect or disconnect the welding machines as needed so as to not disrupt the rest of the welders putting out production. The Kourneys were brass and we used metal wrenches to attach the wiring being fully exposed to the line voltage. No electrical insulating gloves, nothing. Just bare hands. Your inside prayers was that you knew your body was at full voltage potential and didn't generate a ground anywhere.
Later, same supervisor had me remove the 480 volt motor from an Ipsen heat treating furnace trolly. Said he had the breaker off, and it was time to get it done as it was an emergency.
I reached up and around the back side of the motor to feel where the exposed terminals were located and came in contact with live 277V (one phase to ground of a 480v three phase system) between the social finger and the back of the hand.
Felt like I'd been beat with a 16 pound sledgehammer 60 times in one second before getting off of it. Big chunk of meat burned on the back of the hand and a feeling like I'd been beat to death.
That was life in the industrial field back in the late 70's at our plant anyway. I can go on forever about situations very similar in another plant when I left this one before they became compliant.
The new lock out tag out systems pretty much make it safer for the electrical personnel working on whatever. Test and verify, then test and verify one more time. Check it off and take it back to the operating authority to remain locked out until the electrician/tech says it's ready to be back in service, then have the electrician/tech go verify that it is indeed back in service.
This part of government regulations I can agree with.
Don't get me started on the "potential safety" issues these new "safety" persons out of college, never being in the industry can come up with to make life miserable in the work place without any need of doing so.
An electrical arc is just a visible plasma discharge between two electrodes that results from electrical current ionization of gasses in the air. Even low current relay's etc. do the same thing, just not as dramatic as the pic which is why we had to replace the points in our distributors in the early days of gas engines. The points finally got ate up.
Roughly one electrical death every other day. Changing out 277V fluorescent ballast while circuit
is live is a big cause. That may diminish some with LEDs arriving.
All companies have a policy of not working anything live. But they turn their back.
is live is a big cause. That may diminish some with LEDs arriving.
All companies have a policy of not working anything live. But they turn their back.
They don't turn their backs much anymore. The penalties are way too high if there is an injury or death at least in the areas I've worked for. You may have different experiences.
Sometimes, it's the employees, that work the electrical live outside of the safety rules.
I was guilty of that sometimes as it was necessary for troubleshooting.
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Yes, the new potential safety gurus reminded me of a foreman writing me up for not having my harness and 15 ft lanyard tied off at 10 ft. I appealed and he was laughed out of the room.Resulted in a 7 million dollar+ fine which at the time was the largest OSHA fine ever.
Resulted in the lock out tag out system that other companies already had in place, but for one was glad to see it.
Our workplace at Smith Tool had the supervisor mantra that said do what I say and trust me or I will go choose a replacement from the people lining up outside the door.
I have one set of linesman's pilers with a huge hole in the wire cutter portion because the supervisor told me he had cut off the breaker on some 480V three phase when in fact he got the wrong one. There was no option to check his work nor do a double check on testing for a live circuit. It was get up the ladder and do it now type of thing.
We also had to do live 480 volt three phase hookups and unhook in the welding department in the overhead buss duct that had a half dozen pig tails coming off the main line that had been skived and attached with kourney's and electrical tape. Get up on an oil soaked wood ladder, put scrap cardboard in the metal roof supports to insulate us from the live voltage, and connect or disconnect the welding machines as needed so as to not disrupt the rest of the welders putting out production. The Kourneys were brass and we used metal wrenches to attach the wiring being fully exposed to the line voltage. No electrical insulating gloves, nothing. Just bare hands. Your inside prayers was that you knew your body was at full voltage potential and didn't generate a ground anywhere.
Later, same supervisor had me remove the 480 volt motor from an Ipsen heat treating furnace trolly. Said he had the breaker off, and it was time to get it done as it was an emergency.
I reached up and around the back side of the motor to feel where the exposed terminals were located and came in contact with live 277V (one phase to ground of a 480v three phase system) between the social finger and the back of the hand.
Felt like I'd been beat with a 16 pound sledgehammer 60 times in one second before getting off of it. Big chunk of meat burned on the back of the hand and a feeling like I'd been beat to death.
That was life in the industrial field back in the late 70's at our plant anyway. I can go on forever about situations very similar in another plant when I left this one before they became compliant.
The new lock out tag out systems pretty much make it safer for the electrical personnel working on whatever. Test and verify, then test and verify one more time. Check it off and take it back to the operating authority to remain locked out until the electrician/tech says it's ready to be back in service, then have the electrician/tech go verify that it is indeed back in service.
This part of government regulations I can agree with.
Don't get me started on the "potential safety" issues these new "safety" persons out of college, never being in the industry can come up with to make life miserable in the work place without any need of doing so.
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Yeah, 277v is no joke. It hits like a freight train. It's likely more dangerous than anything south of 480v. I had a wire on a fluorescent fixture swing down and just graze my cheek once. I thought someone had punched me.
277 to a good ground sounds like a shotgun! Used to call on Mercury Marine in Stillwater for electrical supplies. One day I thought a bomb went off. No one hurt luckily.
edit: Since they are no longer there I can discuss this on a public forum. Unbelievable the things that
should not have occurred.
edit: Since they are no longer there I can discuss this on a public forum. Unbelievable the things that
should not have occurred.
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