the good old days

[brightspark]

last month was working for a firm with 5 other electricians a few oldies and a few young uns. the young ones were pratting on for ages tryin to isolate a supply to join some live cables in a metal box the fiuses went marked up it was in a controll room for hv switching for the national grid and a good bollocking would be had if the computer pannel went down : i asked why they dont do it live the answer was they hadnt a rubber mat rubber gloves and a spark shield face mask :laughing i said :give it here cut the cables joined in the new one job done at break time there boss asked if they had done the joint they said no the other sparky did it live one of the older guys said theres not many of the old school left the aprentice replied thats cos theve all been electrocuted

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Back in 1985 I saw a leccy board guy sat on the edge of a trench connecting up houses on a small cul-de-sac , he was wearing a blue pair of marigold type rubber gloves on his hands.

I took the Michael and said did you have to talk with a lisp to get that colour of hand protection..

After telling me to go forth and multiply we got talking.
I noticed his slightly more careful way of working and asked him why he did certain things .. the're live came the reply . I thought he was giving it back in kind but then a guy came out of the house where he was working and said OK its live inside and working.

Is that still being done by the various electric companies ??

 

[brightspark]

cable jointers are allowed to work live but the guy who changes meters arent . ive just disconected a large 3 phase feed in a school live from a 300 amp buzzbar health and safety says turn off verry inpractical . a bind eye says do it live

 

[Tigman]

old school get the job done , health and safety kill the job alltogether ! I like safe but be fair , you cant fart without a certificate these days!

 

[stormin]

Is that still being done by the various electric companies ??

No option when it's on the main grid. You can't just shut everyone down for small connection.
A recent job of mine involved diversion of 6.6 kv cables with jointing done live. Just thicker gloves and wellies.

Saw a programme on telly recently were a chap clambered out of a helicopter onto a live overhead line to do some maintenance
Rather someone else than me.

 

[brightspark]

No option when it's on the main grid. You can't just shut everyone down for small connection.
A recent job of mine involved diversion of 6.6 kv cables with jointing done live. Just thicker gloves and wellies.

Saw a programme on telly recently were a chap clambered out of a helicopter onto a live overhead line to do some maintenance
Rather someone else than me.

lol i saw that he clipped a shorting lead on from the helecopter before he went across a big ark

 

[rtbcomp]

cable jointers are allowed to work live but the guy who changes meters arent . ive just disconected a large 3 phase feed in a school live from a 300 amp buzzbar health and safety says turn off verry inpractical . a bind eye says do it live

When a brick dropped through my meter the guy fitted the new one live. It was over 20 years ago though when H&S were only a glint in Brussels' eye.

 

[mike os]

as said cable jointers work live, but only if there are 2 of them......

 

[Wedg1e]

On a certain car forum I frequent, one of the guys used to be (maybe still is) a hot linesman; basically stands on a fibreglass cherry-picker fiddling with the 44kV grid or whatever... he was driving a 40 grand sportscar by the time he was 23.
Maybe I should go and see whether he reached 24...

 

[tomsutton529]

H&S has gone way over the top... at work I have to wear safety goggles to put the plastic "cradle" in a hard hat... but I also wear the same PPE to be let loose with a blowtorch.

When Im engineering some sites ask for full overalls, Hi-viz vest and jacket with hard hat and boots.. others ask for just boots..I cant climb above 1 meter, I cant take the inspection cover off a fan etc... it takes some from Uni to do things like that.

 

[MarkMG]

hmm, good old days ehh?
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatalinjuries.htm
Graphs half way down the page.
Good to see there is now a better chance a few more folks will be getting home for tea with their families in the evening.

 

[rtbcomp]

H&S has gone way over the top... at work I have to wear safety goggles to put the plastic "cradle" in a hard hat... but I also wear the same PPE to be let loose with a blowtorch.

When Im engineering some sites ask for full overalls, Hi-viz vest and jacket with hard hat and boots.. others ask for just boots..I cant climb above 1 meter, I cant take the inspection cover off a fan etc... it takes some from Uni to do things like that.

My local scrappy tells us to wear hi-viz jackets & hard Hats (provided) and use hazard lights or yellow beacons if we have to drive past the main gate.

I wonder if anyone has done a risk assessment of wearing a hard hat that someone else has just worn.

Or the risk of suffering from a stress-related illness through having to do so many risk assessments?

 

[Angusdog]

I'm unclear as to how you work on live wires. I don't want to know so I can do it myself, just the theory as to how you don't become a charred stain on the floor. I'm still amazed I don't get shocked when I touch my welding bench when there's an arc but then again it is literally electrickery to me.

 

[rtbcomp]

It's the current that kills you, so if there is no path for the electricity to travel along you're OK.

You have to bear in mind though that the path may not be obvious, if you grab a live wire there could be a path through your body to earth due to damp air or the capacitance between your body and the earth, even though you may be standing on a rubber mat. Earth provides a path because mains neutral is effectively connected to the ground.

Your welding bench is OK because the welding return is not connected to earth so no path, and the bench itself will be at earth potential, the same as your body, and current can't travel though anything unless there is a potential difference.

 

[mike os]

more deaths per year in manufacturning and service than construction?????,,,, yet somehow we are the whipping boys for the whole country

 

[MarkMG]

more deaths per year in manufacturning and service than construction?????,,,, yet somehow we are the whipping boys for the whole country

Look at table 3, extraction and utilities are the worst.

 

[Welderpaul]

hmm, good old days ehh?
http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatalinjuries.htm
Graphs half way down the page.
Good to see there is now a better chance a few more folks will be getting home for tea with their families in the evening.

Here, here.

Daft it might be, and we all moan about it, but at least it means we don't kill as many people these days.

 

[mike os]

that is because we have some good HSE stuff & some jobsworth HSE stuff.....


couple of years ago I had to go to a factory to collect some stuff I could not wait for & carrage charge was frankly taking the p155. ( major supplier to the building trades)

before I was alowed through the gate I had to:- be wearing hi vis, safety glasses, boots and have a hard hat, and present a manifest from the loading office that said I had all the above etc. (and told me what bay to park in so I could be loaded)

While sorting all this with the guy on the boom, facing me is a sign in 2' high letters "under no circumstances will any driver exit their vehicle while on this yard"


I would love a sensible explanation

 

[tomsutton529]

My local scrappy tells us to wear hi-viz jackets & hard Hats (provided) and use hazard lights or yellow beacons if we have to drive past the main gate.

I wonder if anyone has done a risk assessment of wearing a hard hat that someone else has just worn.

Or the risk of suffering from a stress-related illness through having to do so many risk assessments?

Hard hats are designed to be work over and over.

 

[rtbcomp]

Hard hats are designed to be work over and over.

There's a possible health implication - would you fancy putting something on your head that may have been worn by member of the itinerent scrap metal theiving community?

I know when blasting helmets are shared a new tyvek liner is usually provided.