Safety Story

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Pierre C Belarge

Pierre C Belarge

Senior Member
Location
Westchester County, New York
This is a story related to me by an electrician yesterday. It is amazing what can happen when current travels through our bodies.


At the end of a day, the electrician was preparing the ends of some MC cable for the following day. He scored the MC cable so that the next day all he would need to do is remove the sheath and enter it into his fixtures. The supply end was in the panel. Someone else had terminated the panel side, but had the breakers turned off.
At night, the maintenance guys saw the breakers off, so he turned them on.
The next morning, the electrician did not check for voltage and started to remove the sheathing. One hand on the cable sheath, the other hand to remove the cut portion of the sheath. The 277V went from one hand, across his shoulders past his neck and to the other hand....very, very bad.

The current did not pass through his lungs or heart, but across his shoulders and neck. His muscles contracted so violently, that he broke 2 vertebra in his neck. He survived the incident, but has permanent damage.


I thought it was an interesting story in regards to how this stuff can do some crazy stuff to us.
 
Unfortunately, it really is his own fault. This is what LOTO is all about.

I've been involved in more than one case where an electrician presumed everything remained as he left it, and found out the hard way he was wrong. It happened to me once. I was angry, but I knew it was my own fault.

The best thing would be to not land incomplete circuits on the breakers.
 
This is the type of case where the injured party really should be evaluated at an electrical trauma center. There are many things that can happen internally with electrical injury that most doctors and hospitals have never seen and don't have any idea what to look for. There are only a few in the US. The one in Chicago is run by a MD who also has a PhD in electrical engineering.
 
LarryFine said:
Unfortunately, it really is his own fault. This is what LOTO is all about.

I've been involved in more than one case where an electrician presumed everything remained as he left it, and found out the hard way he was wrong. It happened to me once. I was angry, but I knew it was my own fault.

The best thing would be to not land incomplete circuits on the breakers.
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Agreeing with Larry. The guy has no one to blame but him self. If the circ. is not complete I dont land it on the breaker.
 
Two rules I realy like. There is no such thing as an unloaded gun and there is no such thing as a dead wire that I can not see the other end of.
 
I know you are supposed to feel bad for the guy but what kind of an idiot hooks wires to a breaker without making the other ends safe?

Generally you work backwards and terminate in the panel last. Of course there are occaisions whhere you must terminate in the panel first. How can you not think to make the ends safe?

There are two idiots in this case.

#1 The guy scores the MC but doesn't take 2 more seconds to pull the sheath off ?

#2 The guy who terminates at the breaker without making sure that the other end is safe.
 
220/221 said:
I know you are supposed to feel bad for the guy but what kind of an idiot hooks wires to a breaker without making the other ends safe?

Generally you work backwards and terminate in the panel last. Of course there are occaisions whhere you must terminate in the panel first. How can you not think to make the ends safe?

There are two idiots in this case.

#1 The guy scores the MC but doesn't take 2 more seconds to pull the sheath off ?

#2 The guy who terminates at the breaker without making sure that the other end is safe.
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#3 the guy that turns breakers on without thinking. This is a construction site.
Never land wires in panels that are not atleast landed in a 4 square and wire nuted. Sad part is he now might never work again and the company he works for will likely be sued.
 
IMO the branch should not be in a live panel until complete. If it were - it should be considered live even if the breakers are off since there is no LOTO, and as the neutal is not complete it can make a paralel path for neutral current if accidently grounded. It sucks this guy got nailed, and hard from the sound of it, but...

On the topic: I know a few guys who wear gloves all the time, and one who does the Micheal Jackson one-glove lefty, and others like myself who treat all conductors as live if unknown.
 
This thread reminds me of the recent one about the abandoned HVAC whip being unwittingly re-energized.

I still feel the blame is 99% with the one leaving the danger, and barely with the one who flipped the breaker.
 
LarryFine said:
This thread reminds me of the recent one about the abandoned HVAC whip being unwittingly re-energized.

I still feel the blame is 99% with the one leaving the danger, and barely with the one who flipped the breaker.
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He did set himself for this one. Why would he even think this saved anytime ? Could just as easily got someone else hurt. 277 is never an easy hit. Had it twice and hope never again.
 
LarryFine said:
This thread reminds me of the recent one about the abandoned HVAC whip being unwittingly re-energized.

I still feel the blame is 99% with the one leaving the danger, and barely with the one who flipped the breaker.
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I agree with you completely. The guy leaving the danger was violating code. The guy flipping breakers was just an idiot.
 
I don't believe repeating stories of what happened to someone else are an effective means of teaching safety. Parking wrecked cars on High School lawns doesn't stop teen drinking. Photos of injuries have been seen by all, and yet the same accidents occur over and over, and usually for the same reasons. All the posters proclaim "safety first" and everyone signs the log book at the safety meetings, but until the first negligent employer or corporate board faces a jury of peers and locked up for a good long time in a highly publicized trial, the reality will remain that safety will never be first. Time is money, and cash is king.
 
Just a thought - it is easy to look in from the outside in on a mistake and see it as stupidity. Especially with third hand/partial information. People make mistakes that look really stupid, but are really just mistakes. Obviously I don't know about this particular situation, but I've seen plenty of mistakes and can see how this could be one - and not a stupid move by an incompetent. Not that the outcome is any different - but the understanding of the cause may be.
 
This shows how dangerous our job is. It doesnt take much to get hurt. It proves that this is a trade you dont want to be in a rush . Work things in a methodical step by step process and pay attention . If you are not sure what your doing ask. I been on alot of jobs where people are running around with there heads cut off . The tortoise beat the hair. be safe
 
AV ELECTRIC said:
This shows how dangerous our job is. It doesnt take much to get hurt. It proves that this is a trade you dont want to be in a rush . Work things in a methodical step by step process and pay attention . If you are not sure what your doing ask. I been on alot of jobs where people are running around with there heads cut off . The tortoise beat the hair. be safe
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This is one of the avenues my mind was traveling when I posted this thread.
 
This happened to me at a Taco Bell restaurant. Had a 277V MC wire blow up in my hand; the LABELED breaker was turned off but was incorrect. Since you can't tick test through MC jacketing, I had to assume that the breaker was correct. The wires had pulled back about six inches inside the jacketing, and when I grabbed it, the ungrounded conductor made contact with the jacket.

I have a dime-sized scar on the palm of my hand, and I kept the MC jacket with a hole burned through it hanging from the rear view mirror of my van.

Also, I went up one side of the GC and down the other for screwing with the breakers. Almost cost our company the contract. Luckily I didn't...but I still would have made my point the same way.
 
gladiatorbob

gladiatorbob

First electrocution I reported to as an emergency response member of a utility was to a young man terminating a new 277 volt HPS luminaire on a multi-wire branch circuit. Circuit A was properly LOTO and verified but circuits B & C still on. He opened neutral in J-Box to land first as is proper and was in a J-Bow where B/C passed through as well. Hand to hand current passed for about 60 seconds. Only one small (dime sized) blisters on both hands as entrance and exit points. Autopsy showed several parallel paths in trunk of body. Current severed spinal cord at base of neck, blew hole out of heart, liver, both kidneys and severed diaphram muscles. This guy has no idea how lucky he is to be alive!

My victim just looked like he was sleeping and revivable. It had a great affect on me as an electrician and my work practices and is why I teach safety and codes today. 2008 NEC multi-wire B/C changes are way past due requiring common disconnecting means on all ungrounded conductors (210.4 B). IMHO 210.4 (D) does not go far enough in grouping requirements limited to point of origination. What about every J-B for more than one multi-wire B/C. Ever seen them with ALL neutrals under one wirenut? What's your opinion?

Obviously this is not this guys means of injury (multi-wire B/C) but LOTO is too often thought to apply to maintenance facilities only and not construction sites. That's just not the case.

Bob LeRoy
aka gladiatorbob

"Drive and work careful. Its not only cars that can be recalled by their maker."
 
ArcNSpark said:
This happened to me at a Taco Bell restaurant. Had a 277V MC wire blow up in my hand; the LABELED breaker was turned off but was incorrect. Since you can't tick test through MC jacketing, I had to assume that the breaker was correct. The wires had pulled back about six inches inside the jacketing, and when I grabbed it, the ungrounded conductor made contact with the jacket.

I have a dime-sized scar on the palm of my hand, and I kept the MC jacket with a hole burned through it hanging from the rear view mirror of my van.

Also, I went up one side of the GC and down the other for screwing with the breakers. Almost cost our company the contract. Luckily I didn't...but I still would have made my point the same way.
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Why was the GC even touching your work ? The GC is the lucky one that you did not sue his company and push for criminal charges. I seen a panel just yesterday on huge multi panel home and almost every breaker was mislabeled. This is what we get here because of lazy careless workers that don't mark as they go. When it's finish time they mark anything just to get it pass inspectors. No power on at final so how can inspector check this or to see if all gfi receptacles work. Maybe some day Florida will wake up and start requiring licensed journeymen to be on the job.
 
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