Hard earned lesson

James said:

Welcome to the club.
we all make mistakes every now and then, not all of us admit to them.
use it as a learning experience.

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One of the things that age and greying hair has taught me is actually the value in 'owning' our own screwups. Not only does it stop us from getting complacent but I genuinely think it raises others' opinions of us and our professionalism.

For example, I don't as a rule make too many mistakes but when I do they're normally spectacular: last week I 'dropped' a 2000L bunded diesel tank off the end of my telehandler. There were mitigating reasons as to why/how it happened, of course there were and I'm not careless, but, fundamentally it was my watch, my load, my fault. And 2000L of red diesel isn't to be messed with - thankfully the tank held and it didn't do a full flip over and there was zero spill but it's the kind of thing that has Environmental Agency fines and investigations written ALL over it. I had two choices - I either trusted a colleague who'd witnessed it to keep quiet (and, he probably would have done) or I..... took a bunch of comedy pics with me smiling like a loon in the background grinning like a Chesire cat and posted them onto my teams whatsapp group before proudly walking into the site office and announcing that I needed to report myself to the dept of idiots and mishaps before firing myself immediately.

Rather than spend days enduring being the butt of jokes and the usual 'what an idiot he was' stuff, instead I got ten mins of sympathy and was I OK and don't worry crap happens everyone's been there.

HOWEVER.... don't get me started on accidents that happen due to other peoples laziness or general lacking, there is absolutely ZERO excuse for that at all, and it costs lives.

Just to add to @Rockingit and his excellent post,

I have found that a screw up and subsequent chat in the customers office along the lines of
"I have made a mistake and this is broken now"
It's my fault, sorry, This is what I am going to do rectify it.
obviously, It is important to actually follow through and fix or replace it.

More often than not, You will have earned a customer for life, Most people accept mistakes happen and by applying honesty and integrity to the problem you gain more Trust and customer service brownie points than simply doing a job well without anyone noticing.

Nice booby trap

If you screw up, always own up!
Many years ago, putting new bathroom light in a Wimpey house, I switched off the FCU and went into the loft...I do not know why I did what i did, but I checked the L was dead...the checked the N...it was live.
Now I check eveything...
Twice!

It's definitely easy in hindsight saying what you should have done

I've done a lot of stupid stuff

But that voltstick comes out now and lights up on a live source first everytime, probably a lesson learned along the way

Mikegh said:

It's definitely easy in hindsight saying what you should have done

I've done a lot of stupid stuff

But that voltstick comes out now and lights up on a live source first everytime, probably a lesson learned along the way

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Some knock the voltstick they do have their uses I have one, however they should not be used to officially prove dead.

Thats scary assume was fitted to a insulated surface

It is an occupational hazard receiving and electric shock to a spark and you should plan for it. Hence the use of thick rubber soles, being dry before working on an installation, and using fibre glass ladders. All of which I explain to trainees. I am not being cavalier about this it is just a fact of life it is not if it is when it will happen. Observing the above i.e. increasing resistance so that we become the biggest 10 million ohm resistor possible, reducing the risk when it does happen to the difference between fatal and a "belt" When working on three phase boards, not holding the door with one hand and the casing with another, things like that. Strategies that make a big difference in the event of shock.

I was taught, a long time ago, that when working 'live', whenever practical, your 'spare' hand should be in your pocket.

As to screw ups...Fitted an Ariston water heater and boss said to liven it up. I said I can't until the plumbing was commissioned and water in the tubes. He insisted I do. Inevitable happened and the thermostat safety cut in and switched it off so when the plumber came it was not working. Cound not figure it out. Got Ariston in, he said someone put power in before it was commissioned water wise and the safety has set off. I owned up. He then said good for you most guys when I get on site lie about it. For that I won't charge the the £180 service charge I will just say the thermostat was faulty and put a new one in. He gave me the old one which was fine. The reset button for your information is the tiny tiny white dot in the middle of the thermostat which I did not see. It was no bigger than a pin head.
EDIT sorry I know thats off topic. Wont do it again mister

freddo said:

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is that T/E on a plug? if so it's a first alarm bell. DIY Dave or Bodgit the Builder has been to boldly go where no idiot has gone before.

I remember a good few years back I had to plaster a ceiling. I turned the CU off at the main switch to remove the light from the centre of the room.
Luckily I used one of them cheap light up screw drivers and was gobsmacked when it started to glow. Their was another CU in another part of the house which covered the lighting circuit I was at the top of a step ladder fiddling with.

telectrix said:

is that T/E on a plug? if so it's a first alarm bell. DIY Dave or Bodgit the Builder has been to boldly go where no idiot has gone before.

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no, 3c .75 flex. This was installed by an electrical company. The list of defects was staggering. It was clear from the way the wiring had been substantially altered (even though it didn't need to be) that they had no idea what they were doing. There were 2 groups, each with 4 circuits interlinked with one another. The control panel had been messed about with, it was clear they didn't understand how it worked, connector blocks added all over the place. Excessively high Zs readings as undersized conductors installed. The level of crapness was mindboggling, completely ruining the original install which had been installed to a very high standard. We are half way through putting it back to how it was originally. It was nice that the emergency lights were wired so their supplies were cut by a time clock at the end of each day, the batteries were being fully discharged at night, 365 days a year...

That is too funny about the time clock ???