Lessons learned

[silverromex]

I have learned some valuable lessons while working as an electrician. 1) Allways use your tester to check for that 208V high leg before landing a 120V circuit in a panel :roll: 2)When someone is on an exstension ladder have someone holding the base of it. I saw a guy have the base slide out on him on a concrete floor and he broke his forearm in 2 places. 3)When working out in the field lace-up boots provide more anckle support than slip-on boots. I cant tell you how many times I rolled my ankle in my slip on red wing boots and nearlly snapped my ankle. Does anybody have any useful tips that they had to learn the hard way?

 

[charlie]

Re: Lessons learned

One of the most painful things I learned is that the grounded conductor is not grounded if it is opened. Bottom line is to de-energize a circuit before working on it especially if you are on a ladder.

 

[hurk27]

Re: Lessons learned

Charlie It only hurt's If you are grounded.

 

[charlie]

Re: Lessons learned

No, I opened the grounded conductor while hanging lights with the circuit hot. Since the grounded conductor was at ground potential, it was safe . . . right? The circuit was completed through my hand from conductor to conductor. I was careful to stay away from the box so I would be safe but I ended up on the floor.

 

[iwire]

Re: Lessons learned

You never did that again did you?

I actually got hung up on 277 a long time ago. A grounded box in one hand and a live 277 conductor in the other. I can remember watching my hands shaking but not being able to control them. The next thing I remember was landing on the floor, I had been standing on the top step of a 6' ladder.

I did not feel right for at least a day or two my arms felt like they had been at the gym working out.

If I had not fallen from the ladder I am sure I would not be here.

 

[hbiss]

Re: Lessons learned

You make a good point about the possibility of extension ladders "kicking out". Happened to me once on a painted concrete floor. Fortunately I was only about 10 feet up when it started to go. I was able to ride it down but still couldn't land on my feet. Didn't break anything but it was close. Now I look back on how I used to set 28 foot ladders on ice in the winter, climbed to the top then off onto the pitched roof then back on again, and think how I must have been crazy.

Since this happened it's been like being thrown from a horse. Gotta get back on but that insecure sliding feeling is forever etched into your mind. Now I always try to tie the bottom off to something or otherwise block it so it's not going anywhere. Might even be an OSHA requirement?

-Hal

 

[electricman2]

Re: Lessons learned

My time was about 35 years ago. Happened so fast, didnt have time to think. My fault though, didnt take time to position ladder at proper angle. Next thing I know I land on concrete floor on knees. Left knee still gives trouble today. We live and learn.

 

[jimwalker]

Re: Lessons learned

1. keep a hot stick in pocket
2. never trust a 3 way switch
3.just because a white wire has been remarked with tape don't assume it is a hot.
#3 got me once on a panel change,10-2 for air handler white had black tape . 220 volts ? nope some one changed unit to 110 but did not take tape back off.OOOOOPS
4.Don't be in a hurry.just not worth it

[ September 06, 2004, 08:18 PM: Message edited by: jimwalker ]

 

[hurk27]

Re: Lessons learned

Talking about ladders. I learned a good one.
I was running a NM switch leg from the front door to the lights on the front of the garage had a 10' step ladder and couldn't place it close to the wall because of some doors and windows stacked against the wall. While I was climbing it the NM slipped out of my hand, so instead of climbing back down to get it again (lazy me) then one of them just had to ask if I was ok!

Picture this me laying on the ground belly scraped up and bleeding, and the wind knocked out of me and he had to ask a dumb question like that. The nerve of him LOL

Well it's funny now but then:

IT HURT!!!

 

[sparky 134]

Re: Lessons learned

Originally posted by iwire:
You never did that again did you?

I actually got hung up on 277 a long time ago. A grounded box in one hand and a live 277 conductor in the other. I can remember watching my hands shaking but not being able to control them. The next thing I remember was landing on the floor, I had been standing on the top step of a 6' ladder.

I did not feel right for at least a day or two my arms felt like they had been at the gym working out.

If I had not fallen from the ladder I am sure I would not be here.

I did the same thing. I was working in a crowded j-box unsplicing some circuits and well I thought I had the "dead" side of a 277v splice but I was VERY wrong. I too was standing on top of a 6' ladder, 277v hot in one hand and a ground wire in the other. I was tied on for what seemed like forever and luckily I got my hands free.

A co-worker was standing next to the ladder and saw the whole embarrassing incident. He aksed if I was OK and I remember saying " I don't feel well " He said " You don't look too good "

He said he was just about to tip the ladder when I got my hands clear.....

[ September 07, 2004, 06:50 AM: Message edited by: sparky 134 ]

 

[69boss302]

Re: Lessons learned

Don't trust anybody when they say something is deenergized. Treat electricity just like a loaded gun. If you haven't checked it dead. It ain't and you will be the one that gets bit. Learned that in the Navy when I trusted a gray haired old chief and he guaranteed me a lighting circuit was dead. He even used my meter. Got up on a step stool and went to disconnect the light, next thing I knew I was laying in the passageway.

 

[rbalex]

Re: Lessons learned

Originally posted by hbiss:
... Since this happened it's been like being thrown from a horse. Gotta get back on but that insecure sliding feeling is forever etched into your mind. Now I always try to tie the bottom off to something or otherwise block it so it's not going anywhere. Might even be an OSHA requirement?

-Hal

It is indeed: 29CFR1910

Sections 1910.25 (Portable wood ladders) & 1910.25 (Portable metal ladders). Do a "find" (Control-F) on "secure."

Of course since it doesn't mention them specifically, I can see some folks saying fiberglass ladders don't need to be secure.

 

[cselectric]

Re: Lessons learned

Some things I've learned while working service.

1. always assume the previous electrician was a complete maniac. It's generally not true, but until you know otherwise it is the safest assumption to make.

2. The only "person" qualified to tell you a circuit is dead is "Mr. Fluke."

3. When working on a circuit, check for voltage, then recheck everytime you step away and return (go to the truck for a part? recheck for voltage. Stop to talk to a customer? Recheck for voltage.) A lot can change in a matter of seconds (for me it was a three phase exhaust fan feed. checked it, it was dead. Got distracted by a phone call. Two minutes later, I came back and didn't recheck the circuit. Wound up going leg to leg, one in the right hand, one in the left. 208VAC for better than 10 seconds. Almost lost my life that day.)

4. fixing the damage caused by an electrical failure does not necessarily fix the failure. Always trace a problem to it's source, always fix the root cause problem. Anything less is an invitation for disaster.

 

[MONOLITH]

Re: Lessons learned

A semi-funny story about how 'communication counts'.

I was a foreman on a large commercial project. I had several guys working on various circuits in the field (de-energized), and a couple guys working in the main electric room.

Whenever I contact someone via nextel or walkie talkie, I get their attention first, then say what I need to. It's annoying when your radio is hanging from your hip, and someone just starts talking to you before you can even hear them.

In the noisy construction environment, I heard the voice of my guy in the main electric room begin to come from my radio, hanging on my belt. I couldn't tell what he was saying, and after a minute of finishing something else, I took the radio off my hip, and responded with the words "go ahead", which to me meant, "Speak...what do you want?"

The next thing I heard was another electrician down the hallway yelling and cursing.

The electric room had called and asked "Can I turn on the circuit", to which I had replied "Go ahead"

As for shocks, I have been shocked several times with varying voltages, and I have seen some nasty things like 480 causing someone to momentarily blackout, and he fell face down and chipped a few teeth.

But the worst I ever recieved was a simple 120. I was on top of a six foot ladder in a tight corner, with my head just above ceiling level, opening a J-box that was only 6 inches in front of my face. The back of my neck was against either the grid ceiling or some EMT, I can't recall. Upon removing one of those wire nuts that has 7 wires crammed into it, I found the previous hero had not twisted the wires, and a hot wire immediately sprang out and touched me on the forehead. I took the current directly thru the brain, saw a white flash, and found myself at the bottom of the ladder. For the balance of the day I felt physically shaky, and actually had some minor memory issues, actually having to consciously think about what people's names were as I spoke to them. Strange and dangerous stuff.

Stay safe out there.

[ September 11, 2004, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: MONOLITH ]

 

[bigjohn67]

Re: Lessons learned

1. To de-energize a ciruit in a large building where the panel is far from the work, take the wire off the breaker. Their may be another electrican working on another tenant problem while you are there.

2. Use a 2 lead tester to trouble shoot. Those pin testers can get ya killed if you have a lost neutral.

3. Always do a continuity check between Neutral and ground to see if a circuit that is not working is hooked up in a panel. Refer to #2 above.

4. Alway tape a device when installing it in a metal box. If the wire is insulated, shouldn't the portable terminations be also.

 

[Ed MacLaren]

Re: Lessons learned

A lesson that I never forgot, while not safety related, is in the category of "things that could get you fired".

Ed

 

[jimwalker]

Re: Lessons learned

I am sure once was enough to learn that one.Did work for an EC that was so tight that he only bought exactly what he measured.On one house with long under slab service we came up 1 inch too short.We spent several minutes pulling back and forth to gain that inch.I know copper is high now days but even with a true tape we must add a few feet.
Sometimes we are pushed too fast to do jobs and simple math is messed up.But to fire a guy over this would be wrong.

[ October 10, 2004, 11:02 AM: Message edited by: jimwalker ]

 

[gndrod]

Re: Lessons learned

My first experience of flying off a ladder was a learning curve for sure. While drilling a cutout hole for a lamp fixture on a second story siding, the hole hog self feed bit hit a nail and jerked the drill out of my hand. The hog hit me on the forhead during it's second rotation and knocked me off the 16' ladder. I did a perfect backwards swan dive into a newly dug septic tank hole. Luckilly the excavated dirt heap slope matched my falling trajectory angle to slow my landing impact gently. I watched the drill reel up the extension cord until it unplugged itself. Lesson learned was to use a cookie cutter instead and remove the handle lock-on button that Milwaukee used to have on their old power hawgs. I never again have drilled a 3 9/16" hole without being balanced above the work area on a ladder. In my prayers I also thanked God for septic tanks.
rbj, Grassvalley, CA.

 

[tshea]

Re: Lessons learned

Service call to repair a sign. Checked power at the source had 120v. Set the Cherry Picker up, had metal out riggers, metal boom, metal controls, fiberglass basket. Opened the sign and fluorescent tubes had a slight glow. Snuck one lead of the wiggy under the white wire nut and one under the black...less than 100v. THEN I had my hand on the metal sign frame and reached back to lower the lift. The next thing I remember was the fluorescent lamps went to full brightness and I almost passed out. Some how I was able to release my hold on all metal.
Turned out the neutral was brole between the source and the sign and a trickle was present from the earth. I completed the circuit with low resitance and I'm glad to be here!

 

[dereckbc]

Re: Lessons learned

Hate to admit this. A scene from Dumb and Dumber. I was sixteen working a summer part time job in a freezer warehoure with a 2-wheel dolly. As you have probable guessed, I just had to stick my tounge on the dolly .