Thank you, fulthrottle, for the opposing viewpoint. It sure helps me draw attention to how things have changed.
I'm not sure that's a good thing.
no, it probably isn't. i suspect you've been doing this about as long as i have,
and it's just different now. the lawsuit hazard has exceeded the shock hazard.
the only reason i can direct anyone to do anything energized, is if it is more
hazardous to do it with the power off... industrial processes where dropping
voltage on a process makes it more dangerous... stuff like that.
today i was doing a load check on the primary side of a 150 KVA xfmr, so
i'm in sierra gear on the right hand side, so i've got 1KV gloves on,
and i'm using the cable CT, and snoodling it around the wires...
if i had an employee doing it, there'd have to be an arc flash certificate
telling me what level of PPE i needed to provide him, and it's gonna amount
to a suit, etc. now, i can put on a 12 calorie suit, and i'm supposed to, just
to remove that 5" wide cover and look....
and we have been on jobs where you have to have a 5 point harness on a
six foot ladder....
i have 12 calorie PPE, and also the common sense to know when i need it.
common sense and NFPA 70E don't overlap much. if i need more than 12
calorie PPE, i need to turn the damn thing off...
and pushing forty years ago i used to test hi voltage electronics with 30 KVAC
@ 10 amps barehanded, sitting on a chair on a silicone mat, depending
on technique... it's a different world now, and it's gonna stay this way.