small miracle

[gew98]

Saw a small miracle today. Two guys I work with were up on a scissor lift installing a 400 amp bus plug. The "lead" fella for some unknown reason removed the flip lid cover that also serves to separate the phases of the 13,000 volt Bus. And on top of that he was not wearing the mandated arc flash gear. Well the big 400 amp bus plug in the hands of him and his helper went Kaboom as he tagged the phases together carelessly. About a 20 foot blue flame went in two directions and the $10k dollar bus plug was toast.... along wiht the segment of bus duct it was to be installed on. Anyhow the helper all but soiled his britches. The lead fella...got a helluva tan and some bilsters on his mug...his safety glasses got frosted by the arc flash. They are both really really really lucky to be with us...it's a miracle nobody got deep fried with that kind of voltage. The event tripped one of the main switchgears and almost half the factory went dormant and black. All those machines shutting down like that tend to wreck toolheads...very expensive toolheads at up to $8k a pop. What a day.

[CastingFool]

It could have been worse, it's a miracle, as you said. I'm sure the boss will be talking to the lead man for not wearing the proper ppe.

[gew98]

that "lead" man more or less took off shortly after. Pretty sure he would have failed a drug test. Wish more employers forced such issues on the spot as I have seen too many such incidents like this swpet under the rug when knowing first hand said types could in no way have passed a spotcheck drug test.
He left his tools so I'm interested in seeing what is said when he comes for them. I know personally I'd can someone over leaving with no supervised medical checkup and drug test same day as the "event".

[leeggen]

Alot depends on your company's policy as to drug testing after an accident. Then again the unions get involved and lawyers and all things change again. Let osha get involved and heads usually roll no matter what. Workmans comp ins. fees are high enough and accidents cause it to go up even more. Those guys were real lucky in many ways. They best be glad to be alive.
Cd

[BNE]

Anytime we have any accident at work we require a drug test before they return to work. The company pays for it also. It drives me crazy when people don't wear even the simple PPE.

[Bad Water Bill]

Someones job AND union card should both be toast as well as all retirement bennies to help defray damage costs.

Old electricians saying

"Familiarity breeds contempt"

After that Darwin cleans the gene pool.

[C. Latch]

I don't work directly (hands on) with electricity, but I work in the electric distribution industry, often find myself in substations, and I can pretty much guarantee that if any employee of any of my clients did something that stupid and walked off without a drug test, they'd be canned immediately. That sort of nonsense gets people killed.

[HeavyMetal]

PPE is important stuff!

I've been on our GM twice for safety gear, first time was at a lead recycler here in LA, we were down in the pit with 10 million old batteries being shredded.

His cell phone rang and he took his mask off to talk on the phone!

That was my first time I ever cussed at him and chewed him out for stupid, he was very "chagrined" that he'd done it and was glad I had the nerve to say something. That was 10 or so years ago.

Recently he started training a newbie on our soap dispenser system and took said worthy out into the field for repair work.

As they "saddled up" to leave the building I handed him a set of eye protection and a package of blue rubber gloves to wear.

That afternoon he thanked me for the gear: seems rookie popped a line with some residual chemical in it and nailed the boss in the mug!

Corrisive materials sting no matter how watered down they are! Safety glass kept everything out of his eyes and off most of his face he was a real happy guy.

Story doesn't have any thunder or lightening in it but stuff is still dangerous if you not careful with it and some of it even more so because we are so used to dealing with it.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Electricity - Not only will it kill you, but you'll hurt real bad the whole time you're dying.

dale in Louisiana
(0-500,000 volts, but I turn that stuff off first)

[smoked turkey]

Yes someone was watching out for those men on the lift today. People don't usually walk after an encounter with anything above 480 volts. If I read the op correctly he got the bus into the 13,000 volt incoming voltage. As I say it does not take that much voltage to make the heart stop. I saw one man also defy certain death with a contact to 69,000 volt transmission voltage. That never happens. So the guardian angels were busy that day too. I hope your friend will go to church Sunday and count his blessings. He needs to get himself straightened up before he kills himself and some younger and less experienced helper.

[MaryB]

I worked on electronics for a living, including nice CRT high voltage. Newbie tech at the casino just got done getting my safety lecture about what NOT to do around a live monitor including where not to put hands, keep one hand in your back pocket when touching anything etc. Showed him how big of an arc I could raw from a running anode as I tested for high voltage. 10 minutes later he walks up to me and asks what the rubber boot is for up there on the glass as he puts his finger on an exposed anode with the rubber boot rolled back(I was monitoring high voltage on that one, had a problem with drifting) with 45k volts on it. Sure low current but after he picked himself up off the floor I told him go to the clinic and get his wrist tested(he landed on it, may have broke it) and I called ahead to the clinic to get him drug tested. He had some bruises from getting tossed and could have broken something but no lasting damage. Drug test came back positive and very high for pot so I fired him on the spot.

People who take drugs and work are asking for an injury, had another tech who showed up drunk a lot, he ended up impaling himself in the chest with a piece of metal he was machining to repair a bracket on on of the big sign displays over a bank of slot machines. He forgot to tighten the vice and the cutter grabbed and flung the piece.

[MtGun44]

Folks that do drugs are pretty messed up. Going to see a lot more of this
stuff in Colorado, I'm sure.

Every so often the Almighty dumps some chlorine in the gene pool.

Bill

[DRNurse1]

Folks that do drugs are pretty messed up. Going to see a lot more of this
stuff in Colorado, I'm sure.

Every so often the Almighty dumps some chlorine in the gene pool.

Bill

What he said. I do a root cause analysis of employee injury issues every month....about 1% equipment; about 1% engineering/ design; about 1% process; and about 97% individual error. When we shake out the numbers a bit more, it works out to 88% individual error/ failure to follow established protocol.

The main answer for the failure to follow established protocols: my way is 'better'--[read as easier at the time].

I just wish Darwin could do his fine work off the jobsite. It would spare us the expense and not put other fine employees at risk.

The scariest part of the OP is the helper saw and survived this, now may not think it is such a big deal....!

[southpaw]

The drug testing thing seems to vary quite a bit. I work for a very large company. The plant I am at has ~ 2000 employes and ~2000 contractors. If an employee gets hurt or damages equipment there is no drug test unless some one suspects something. Of the few times that I have heard of someone getting tested it wasn't because they got hurt or broke something, it was because they were not sober. I am not sure but running from the job after the incident may throw some flags up.

I am glad nobody got hurt. Hopefully the new guy has learned a lesson from his sloppy co-worker. If the guy wasn't sober then I agree with BWB.

Jerry Jr.

[WilliamDahl]

Sometimes, Darwin is asleep on the job.

Come to think of it, that's probably the reason that many of us are still alive, considering some of the stupid things we did in our younger days.

[EMC45]

I got hit with 277 off a ballast. I was not on drugs, but it still sobered me up and I took a few steps down a ladder and had to rest a second to get myself back together.