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I had 2 first was a well known pottery place in Derbyshire I had done the work and now my job was to power it up ,the company I was working for said now the tails are at the busbar your job is to connect this up , but the problem was you cannot switch it off as it takes 24hr to power up again and get the kilns up to temp before they can start using them , a shed load of money if switched off .
so heres a thick rubber matt and some gloves a vet would be thankfull for , well I was sweating the bus bars were humming , this involved for peeps who dont know using a ratchet metal on one side (live by the way) and a ring spanner on the other to tighten the nut holding the lug ..
and to get to the back nut putting my hand through the live busbars that were buzzing without touching the 2 other conducting copper bars ,,,well all went well for the first 2 then I dropped the spanner shorted blue and neutral , one almighty bang a flame shot up and I turned away ,I could not see as the blast turned everything yellow and I did not know which way to walk to get away from panel as I could be walking into live bars as sometimes as a spark sometimes its still live after a blow so I just stood there screaming untill someone came , no need to worry about that as it knocked power off to the whole building ,that was before hs came into the industry .I ended up at night in hospital as the blast had give me arc eye and I had to have my eyes scrapped as the film just rolled up on my eyes horrendous experience never again would I work live after that
 
In that particular instance the most dangerous part is that there is no one in the forklift in control. :)
probably safer that way than having a hairy arsed, brain dead FLT driver anywhere near.
 
probably safer that way than having a hairy arsed, brain dead FLT driver anywhere near.
I was actually long ways in the MEWP and it was fully extended out. So when I walked out to the edge it was sort of bouncing.

The forks were not fully under the MEWP either, there was about 2ft between the mast of the flt and the MEWP

Also the fork lift driver was stoned. He was the only one I could talk into doing it.
 
I was actually long ways in the MEWP and it was fully extended out. So when I walked out to the edge it was sort of bouncing.

The forks were not fully under the MEWP either, there was about 2ft between the mast of the flt and the MEWP

Also the fork lift driver was stoned. He was the only one I could talk into doing it.
thanks guys I dont feel as bad now hahahhaa
 
Many years back I installed a RJS beam into a roof space. The only problem was the scissor lift was an old knackered one which had no weight limiter on it and it was 2mtrs short of reaching where we needed to go. Our boss at the time was too tight to pay for the correct access and lifting equipment, I was 17 and naive. We strapped a couple of tall sets of step ladders inside the scissors lift carriage at each end, stood on the rungs with the very heavy beam rested on our shoulders as my boss operated the lift from below. It creaked and strained with the weight and only just went up, it was rocking really badly from the loose scissor joints. We then had to lift the beam over our heads into position off as we ascended the steps to the next to top rung, no harness no ropes just luck and good balance.
Crazy when I think back!
 
Drilling and connecting onto live busbars is pretty straightforward task if you follow a safe system of work with the correct equipment and protections.
It would probably work out cheaper just to plan the shutdown in your particular case though.
Never work live!!!! Not worth your life or anyone elses, get a grip Son
 
how many of you guys back in the day remember having to walk along purlings dragging cables in without a harness ,it was common practice where I was a pup
you walked the purlins.... lucky sod... we had to swing from them, both arms in use, cables tied to our feet.. had to use teeth to pull cables into place.
 
Never work live!!!! Not worth your life or anyone elses, get a grip Son

Disagree with this Pete, there's a time and a place.

However it is rare, and shouldn't be done by someone who's not had proper training.

I've connected and drilled live bus bars before. With all the procedures in place I wouldn't have said it was dangerous, sure there was still a risk. This is reduced with correct tools, PPE and methodology.

After all, cable jointer's work live most days for the DNO.

As to the thread, I think my most dangerous experience was working on a remote silo, during a thunderstorm. Got down pretty sharpish once I felt the hair on my arms an neck stand up. Was a strange feeling.
 
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