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

 

[telectrix]

working on a factory crane, 3 phase. 20ft. up a ladder. live unshrouded busbars. the 3 fuses were in my pocket. notice on DB "sparks working etc.".d1ck head of a foreman got 3 new fuses from stores, and put them in. ladder blasted into bits, i'm hanging off the roof girders, the idiot was sacked same day.

 

[bonjovi]

working on a factory crane, 3 phase. 20ft. up a ladder. live unshrouded busbars. the 3 fuses were in my pocket. notice on DB "sparks working etc.".d1ck head of a foreman got 3 new fuses from stores, and put them in. ladder blasted into bits, i'm hanging off the roof girders, the idiot was sacked same day.

jesus thats as bad as mine

 

[Pete999]

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

Sorry Mate, you know the rules, your fault for not arranging a shut down and attempting to do the work live, down to you no sympathy whatsoever. A lesson learned the hard way I'm afraid, done some daft things in my time, but not poncing around in a live Busbar chamber.

 

[Sintra]

I’ve had to drill live bars back in the day with a 110V drill. Rubber mat rubber gloves and a lump of wood behind the bars in case the bit went in to far and hit the casing. Luckily no mishaps.

 

[Lister1987]

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

As Pete999 said, ultimately you might lose the job, but rather that than eyesight/life etc

 

[bonjovi]

yep as I was just 21 and just out my time and the bosses told me this is your job and it has to be done what was a fresh faced young lad to do .my bosses were my livelihood and my wages .nowdays you would not even think about it ,im not saying it was big or clever im just reeling of my experiences as a common or garden spark if more people reply you might find this was not uncommon in the day early 80s .. there was a lot of non health and safety in those days stuff we would not dream of nowdays ,nowdays if your wearing the wrong boots not midsole or ankle protection your not coming on site ,so dont think to harsh

 

[Robson689]

Probably extending the earth nest on a 400kv substation upgrade. Had to wear all sorts of HV related PPE as the substation was still live.

 

[bonjovi]

Probably extending the earth nest on a 400kv substation upgrade. Had to wear all sorts of HV related PPE as the substation was still live.

it was not uncommon how we all survived to tell the tale it was make hs as it is now

 

[Moley]

Working in live 400Kv subs in a cherry picker always keeps me on my toes

 

[Pete999]

AP/HV duties, got called to isolate a leg of a HV ring to allow contractors to install a new 11KV sub station.
Identified and isolated, the cable that needed spiking agreed with Contractors that I Had the correct cable, fitted spiking gun all ready, along came Mr Spotty from HQ, contractor looked at I looked at him, no words were exchanged, the look was all that was needed.
The ensuing argument forced me to cancel the Permit, transfer AP duties to Mr Spotty, who refitted the spike to the live cable, this caused me to hide behind the pile of spoil from the trench, furtive looks of uncertainty followed as I took my contractors with me, to take cover, matey pulled the land yard, which drove the cold chisel in the spike into 11KV, silence apart from the initial short circuit noise, and silence as the fault tripped the OCB at the intake sub, can't explain what occurred nest as we were all locked un a room for the debrief, I was exonerated, Mr Spotty got the biggest cussing of his life AP ticket revoked, a quick change of underwear on my part, new day tomorrow.

 

[bonjovi]

AP/HV duties, got called to isolate a leg of a HV ring to allow contractors to install a new 11KV sub station.
Identified and isolated, the cable that needed spiking agreed with Contractors that I Had the correct cable, fitted spiking gun all ready, along came Mr Spotty from HQ, contractor looked at I looked at him, no words were exchanged, the look was all that was needed.
The ensuing argument forced me to cancel the Permit, transfer AP duties to Mr Spotty, who refitted the spike to the live cable, this caused me to hide behind the pile of spoil from the trench, furtive looks of uncertainty followed as I took my contractors with me, to take cover, matey pulled the land yard, which drove the cold chisel in the spike into 11KV, silence apart from the initial short circuit noise, and silence as the fault tripped the OCB at the intake sub, can't explain what occurred nest as we were all locked un a room for the debrief, I was exonerated, Mr Spotty got the biggest cussing of his life AP ticket revoked, a quick change of underwear on my part, new day tomorrow.

yep we all have them and all live to tell the tale

 

[littlespark]

I once screwed in a lightbulb with the switch was on.
It’s was bloody hot
Next time I’ll use a locking off kit, rubber gloves and a quick prayer.

 

[davesparks]

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

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.

 

[rapparee]

Something like this.

Only a smaller forklift, which was very skittish at the back.