WOW!! You had an Angel looking over you.
WOW!! You had an Angel looking over you.
Wow, that's a story, and to have recovered from it, all I can say is you had a guardian Angel watching over you! And my family will pray for your speedy recovery!
On to my 2 cents, we have a saying on my side of the electrical industry (as I do failure and fire investigations), you can trust the local guys, but they are human. So we always follow this mantra "TRUST, BUT ALWAYS VERIFY", as I want to go home to my wife and children. No one can ever fault you for telling the local guys or your employer you want to see the line, and locked out equipment in person (as that is an OSHA regulation, and I think it is also in the NESC regulations as well). I have worked investigations in subs, mains and at Nuke facilities, and I have always spent the better part of a day in an investigation walking all the tagged out equipment, including breakers, re-closures, etc. prior to getting anywhere near equipment, and a lot of times this involves reviewing paper documents, sometimes driving to other portions of facilities, walking lines, etc. prior to getting anywhere near my site of interest. Plus I always place my own personal lockout/tagout padlock (that even my employer does not have a key to, per OSHA regulations) on the last point of disconnect to whatever I will be working on or near. Lockout/Tagout policies on paper mean nothing, they are only a way to track WHAT people have locks on the energy source that all must be removed prior to re-energization. OSHA requires physical lockout with you the worker as having the only key to unlock the source energy (or in combination with other workers, and their own individual locks). Ultimately, your safety is in your hands, people are human and make mistakes, and I've seen enough human error to never, ever trust someone else's word as to the status of a force that can end my life, This is in no way a digression against the author, I was young and trusted people in the past, but I must see and TEST for myself. Also that is one of the major reasons "Lockout, Tagout" regulations under OSHA become law, to save human life from human mistakes. Unfortunately employers often times try to push employees, against safety regulations, to get it done NOW, whatever the task maybe, because it directly affects their bottom line. Never put a corporations profits over your personal safety, EVER! Again, take your time, be safe, and ALWAYS "Trust, BUT, Verify".
Sorry for my long rant, but I have seen too many fatalities due to workers trusting other workers, as humans make mistakes, we are only human.