Electrician Fatalities 2004

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I was going to say, "well, at least more people are dying from falls than electrocution" and was reminded of Archie Bunker:

"Do you realize that handguns account for xx% of all homicides in the U.S.?"
"Would you feel better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?"

Guilty confession: I did recently stand on the top of a 16' to hang a fixture in an awkward spot. :oops:
 
Saw a sprinker guy standing on the top of a 16' ladder last week. I turned around and walked out of that room and found something else to do.

Dodgy unsafe ladders and improper lift equipment are a sore point with me that will have me walking off a job real quick.

Seriously, it just isn't worth it. My dad fell off a ladder on the job, got a concussion, was in the hospital for a week, and lost his sense of taste for the rest of his life.
 
georgestolz said:
Guilty confession: I did recently stand on the top of a 16' to hang a fixture in an awkward spot. :oops:
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16'? Wow, you really are fearless George.

I've done it on 12' years ago, but I quit it now that I'm older, fatter, and wiser (well at least older, fatter, and scareder{yea, I know it's not a word}).
:lol:
 
hardworkingstiff said:
16'? Wow, you really are fearless George.
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Not fearless. Stupid.

The day before I fell off the bottom step of a 4' ladder, did the 45-second stumble and finally landed in the fixture box of the light I had just hung, and skinned my elbow. I am pretty clumsy, which is why I try to steer clear of service work. :oops:

The box for the entry fixture in this house was in the ceiling directly above the front door. The ceiling over the front door extended out over the porch, creating a 4' deep plant shelf over the front door. I had an assistant hand the fixture to me, and support the weight, while I drove the lags into the fan box. I could only steady myself with the ceiling and fan box while I bolted the light to the box.

I could then get down and get the 16' ladder out of the way, and climb up on the plant shelf to put in all the globes and bulbs, on a 4' ladder on the plant shelf, spinning the fixture.

I mulled it over for a long time, I couldn't see a better way to get that fixture in the air. I'll try to cruise by the house today and get a picture of the entry, to make it clearer.

It's not that I have a disrespect for safety, I just could not think of a safer way to hang it. Maybe some discussion on this would really help, because I was short of ideas. :?

tonyi said:
Seriously, it just isn't worth it. My dad fell off a ladder on the job, got a concussion, was in the hospital for a week, and lost his sense of taste for the rest of his life.
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I'm sorry for your father. Hopefully, some discussion will increase awareness and curb my (and the lurking multitude's) behavior. :)
 
It was a black saddle box from Arlington. The lags were into the 2x4 that runs through the center of the box.
FB415-step1b.jpg
 
macmikeman said:
Notice the count on exposure to harmful substances or enviroments.
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There's some pretty nasty stuff in some industrial environments.

One example I'm quite familiar with is electroplating shops. Lots of potassium/sodium cyanide baths and various acids that don't mix well at all. If the owners didn't clue you in on what was safe to touch and what to stay away from, its real easy to get killed in a plating shop.
 
77401 said:
macmikeman said:
Notice the count on exposure to harmful substances or enviroments. Is this on the job or at the bar after work?
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I was wonder it my self as it doesn't elaborate.
Could the harmful subatance be energized buss bars? :eek:
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Or maybe it's like where I work (sewer) Lime dust, clorine, and methane.................. plus many more. I have always had sinus problems but when I went to work there 10 years ago they got MUCH worse!
 
Yuck, and here I though attics with clordane dust sprinkled in was bad. Get this one, I do jobs in a biotech labratory. They study Dengue fever, West Nile Virus, Bird Flu, and best of all that African nosebleed stuff (can't remember the name right now). Oh yeah, Ebola. They have a few rooms with glass walls and doors, and lots of danger signs. The entire ceiling for each floor is air handling flourescent fixtures.(including them rooms) I keep pointing that fact out to the responsible party's. They poo poo the issue every time. One guy told me they study it up there, but they don't have the germs around. Yeah right......
 
tonyi said:
There's some pretty nasty stuff in some industrial environments.

One example I'm quite familiar with is electroplating shops. Lots of potassium/sodium cyanide baths and various acids that don't mix well at all. If the owners didn't clue you in on what was safe to touch and what to stay away from, its real easy to get killed in a plating shop.
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Amen to that.

An account with an plating shop was one of the many reasons I got out of the dirtier end of the business a year ago. You're out there working in that environment, and you have a look around at what it's done to all the steel gear over the years and you have to wonder what it's doing to *you*.

Battery manufacturing runs a close second. Nothing like insane temperatures, clouds of lead dust, and random puddles of various acids.
 
Look at the mason's ... I have seen mason's take the bite on accidents more than any trade, since I have started. Haven't actually seen any fatalities but quite a few accidents. They must have 9 lives. We're even higher than the sheet metal and plumbing guys. errrr knew I should of been a plumber. I just couldn't handle putting my hands .... well you get the point.
 
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