what was your most dangerous job peeps

[bonjovi]

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

 

[Pete999]

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

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

No worries Rob none at all. You make a valid point

 

[Intoelectrics]

Sometimes is not the most dangerous jobs that catch people out with accidents and injuries. When you are aware of the high risk and danger, you tend to focus and concentrate much more especially if you know the potential risk with one mistake is death.
I've seen many accidents, some very serious where the person wasn't expecting the risk/danger to be that bad so they have been a little more carefree and over confident resulting in less concentration and focus which in turn allowed them to be caught out.
This happened to me 30 years ago and the resulting injury cost me the loss of part of my left thumb.

 

[Midwest]

Many years ago, I worked on large industrial project at a car factory. We used the long arm cherry pickers to access work areas.

As a jolly jape, it was practise to drop the cage/cab suddenly, using the base controls, whilst the user was unawares in the cage. Had it done to me a few times, frightened the life out of me. Decided to do it myself one day, and the fellow sparks came down and berated me for being stupid & very dangerous behaviour. In those days, nobody did any formal training in them, & usually operated them on your own.

Literally a few days later, the same guy was reversing the dame thing on his own, when he got wedged between a large steel beam and the cab. His foot was kept on the dead man switch. He unfortunately died.

Needless to say, things changed after that, as well as my attitude to health & safety. He was only in his early twenties.

 

[Simon47]

... your job is to connect this up , but the problem was you cannot switch it off ...

Someone I was at school with very nearly died through contact with live bars - stories said 11kV, but that doesn't fit with other details. He was very badly burned and nearly died. I don't know the details, but from what I can make out it was supposed to be switched off and had been tested to be dead - then between verifying it was dead and my schoolmate sticking his hands in, a generator fired up. It completely changed his life and his temperament. He's covered in very obvious burn injuries.

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

You were lucky. A while sgo I came across a website setup by a guy that only just survived when his phase rotation meter exploded and caused a flashover. He now campaigns to raise awareness - not least of the need for proper PPE which would have vastly reduced his injuries. Can't find it right now.

 

[Lister1987]

A while sgo I came across a website setup by a guy that only just survived when his phase rotation meter exploded and caused a flashover. He now campaigns to raise awareness - not least of the need for proper PPE which would have vastly reduced his injuries. Can't find it right now.

Donnie's Accident

E-mail: [email protected]

www.donniesaccident.com

That should be it

 

[Simon47]

Yes, that's the one. Should be mandatory viewing/reading before anyone is let loose with electrickery.
Note what he found out about the meter AFTER the accident.

Back to bonjovi's incident ...
While it shoukd almost certainly have been a switch off job, he should have been using sutable tools. As an apprentice, I worked briefly in the shore battery room for a well known submarine manufacturer in Cumbria. This was a big battery - we're talking capacity measured in thousands of AHr and hunfreds of volts, so I thinknyou can imagine the sort of arc energy possible.
We had a set of customised spannets/ sockets where the whole tool was encased in Paxolin except for the working faces that fitted the bolt heads. Bonjovi should have been given similar tool for the job if live wirking couldn't be avoided.

 

[Lister1987]

We had a set of customised spannets/ sockets where the whole tool was encased in Paxo.

If the encasement failed, were you...stuffed?