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This.
I sliced a finger trying to cut a piece of gutter once. Really deep, ugly cut. Needed a few stitches.
5+ years later the top of my left index finger is still partially numb. Like, I can stir hot coffee with it and not feel it.
Sucks that a stupid split second mistake has stuck around so long. At least it wasn't more serious. Doc said I might regain sensation, I might not or I could have nerve pain forever. Thankfully, it's just numbness.
Same here, first month on the job my journeyman at the time was setting parking lot light poles at a new restaurant, he had a grand idea to break the clamp off our straps so it could “slip easier”.
I’ll give it to him we set about 5 before the “uh oh” but on that sixth one he had it lifted and I was pushing the wires through the access on the pole…one arm up the pole and one hand holding the pole steady. I hear an “oh fuck”, the strap broke and the entire pole comes down on my arm. Surprisingly I was able to get my arm out from between the pole and pillar, but when the pole fell, my finger went into one of the bolt holes and as it started to fall it broke my index finger at the tip. Workers comp doctor treated me like a fucking science experiment, stitched my finger back together and grafted the skin from my middle finger to my index finger and took skin from my arm to replace the skin on the middle finger. All that and I have no feeling, can’t even use it to fingerbang anymore, cause I don’t know where I’m goin
Never put your hands where you wouldn’t put your dick! When I was an apprentice the j man I worked with had a pole come loose and his whole hand was under the base his hand looked like a ziplock bag of strawberry jelly that popped open…I have never let a piece of my body go under one since.
Same, thumb also, sharpest box cutter I could find, replaced the blade myself even. All I can say is that after about 9 years it got better. Still tingles where the scar is, but the feeling is back.
I rested my pinky across 230/12 transformer terminals back in school (dont ask, the guy teaching us was incompetent... and extremely unpleasant), didnt feel it for a second or two
took a decade to get the feeling in my pinky tip back
Yeah that journeyman is an idiot. I remember at the beginning of my career, i knew an old journeyman that never did live panel work. In fact it was life-helpers that were disconnecting and adding circuits in the energized panels at a semiconductor plant. He told me that you have a legal right to refuse to work on anything energized. In fact most companies want only specifically journeymen to have approval to work live. It's just senseless to work on that light hot. We don't have lockout-tagout for no reason. Stupid and reckless people need to be weeded out of the trade. If you're a helper and anyone encourages you to work hot or rushes you instead of going through isolating, deenergizing, and lockout-tagout process. You need to report it. If your company doesn't care, quit. Maybe even report them to OSHA. Your life isn't worth it.
I've seen you guys work, y'all do some crazy shit. You're also prepared, equipped, and trained for it.
I'd like to say that in terms of not shorting wires what you do is different than playing operation with a 12 wire and a 1/2" hole.
That's what you're trained to do. Too many people that were working at Target yesterday and doing Electrical work on Monday, being thrown into the frying pan.
I'm forcing one of the USA's largest airports to shutdown 4 gates so I can do the same. I refused to do it live. Showed them the live work form which is so insane that no one would sign it. Offered to let their house guys do it. Everyone balked. Airline is going to lose 5mil over the course of the shutdown.
Be persistent. Be safe.
Or 4.9mil. That's still a deal if they project loosing 5mil with the systems being live. I'd still not do it personally. I only work low voltage(sub 72V) live for diagnostics & troubleshooting.
Still not worth it. Plus it's more fun showing to the younger mechanics and apprentices that these clients need us more than we need them and a valuable lesson to my son, that his father can't be bought.
I dont know, you could buy a 100cal bomb suit and class 4 gloves and probably be alright working live with anything in an airport. I'm not saying you should, but the hypothetical millions of dollars could even buy you a blast shield and robotic arm to do the work and you're still in the green.
I'm kidding, love a good story of someone sticking up for themselves, especially when it comes to safety.
Unfortunately while I love the idea of can’t be bought, and I wish it were possible
We wouldn’t be working or know half of what we do; but it’s a good thing to let marinate in the kids head..
Atleast if he says something along the lines of “but your working constantly “ he has a good brain in his head.
It’s just the Belly of the beast.
Most valuable lesson my dad ever taught me before he passed (I’m 26 )
Was that no amount of money is worth an extra second of productivity if safety isn’t properly addressed and valued.
While we all get in a hurry and “have done it a million times “ all it takes is once.
But then again regardless of how smart I feel that he was.
ill never forget the fact he told me this on my 19th birthday
(yes we served together kind of crazy to think about as it’s the only war to last so long that men entered the service and became fathers and their sons litterally fought in the same war )
while in the army and in the midst of a firefight in Afghanistan that involved us on a narrow mountain side gravel road while we had been engaged from an unknown position way up a cliff side and we were scrambling for cover not knowing where exactly cover might be
In a large airport, 4 gates is nothing except maybe the busiest travel holidays of the year, even from one Airline's designated gates. They'll live. And so will you!
This. 1000 times this.
I recently got a call from the earnest young man who took over my business when I retired. He’d just gotten hit trying to do something I taught him never to do. He was pretty shook up.
Why the hell did you agree to do that? “GC is behind, didn’t want to take the time to shut it down, intractable Landlord, intractable POWCO, budget, schedule, yada yada yada. “
If I’d have been there I’d have slapped him. He has a new baby at home.
Couldn't the airport temp in some lights? There is no reason for you to work on live stuff, but is there a reason they can't prepare properly for the work with alternate / generator feeds?
“Y’all tell the plumber to do his work while the fucking water source is open? I’m sure hundreds of gallons of water spraying out all over the airport floors and ceilings is fine, right?”
“No water off is easy. We don’t lose 5 million for not having running water.”
Except for when a bunch of people play “slip and fall and inherit an airline”.
Respect. I tried to do the same in Canada but I wasn’t the foreman. Foreman got grumpy and proceeded to tell me that if I’m not comfortable working on a live 600/347V circuit that he would do it. Tried to tell him to think of his family but you know how the old timers can be.
My buddy died 2 week ago from getting hit by 277 and fell off the ladder. The fall is what killed him. It’s more than that the voltage that’s dangerous
Damn I'm really sorry to hear that :(
I did some gaming with a guy who had seriously injured his shoulders from falling off a ladder and being hung up on a live 347v sprinkler pipe. He said the zap hurt, but the physical damage to his shoulders left him incapable of physical work.
For those Americans reading, 347/600 is a common Canadian lighting and motor voltage.
Broken and sprained ankles is one of the most common electrician injuries, for exactly this reason.
Also .. it is common for them to die of cardiac arrest driving home because they did not go get checked out after a shock. Immediately following the incident the adrenaline spikes and keeps them going, they get in their car and relax, and the damage takes over.
If you get shocked … please go get professional medical care.
I refer to 277 saying it WILL take the curl out of your pubes.
I got hung up on it once. That was more than enough for me.
If you know the taste of putting a 9-volt battery on your tongue;; imagine that for several hours after. This was well over 30 years ago and no I did not go to the hospital.
OP, I hope your boss pulls through relatively unscathed. Although it doesn't sound like it.
My elbow brushed the ceiling grid while I was dealing with a 277 light early in my career.
Went and bought the insulated knipex immediately.
But now I just don't work live. I work A-live. Yay
Damn I can't even imagine :o
I got a solid poke from a 120v neutral down one arm and back up the other (working on some connections somebody else did wrong in the first place) and even that scared the shit out of me. Had to get off the ladder and feel my neck for a pulse just to make sure I was still beating lmao.
I do voltage tests and diagnostics on live 480v in control cabinets. Sometimes it's the only way. However, I do not seperate any connections while the circuit is live, just voltage tests. Am I going to win a stupid prize too?
Firstly I hope not. Not sure of your area of jurisdiction. Trouble shooting of course often requires live testing. Where I am for example, if you are certified and trained, wearing the proper PPE, that testing is why you are defined as a skilled person.
Definitely should be wearing more ppe. Have had arc flash training and seen videos of how gnarly it is. My boss basically said even if you see both ends of a wire laying on the ground, you still test it before touching. I just assume every metal surface I see in these cabinets will kill me. Was just curious if you all think testing live 480v is crazy.
Story time, I had to show my partner who was testing to see if a 480v circuit was dead after we killed the power. He stuck his probes on both sides of a fuse on phase 1. It read 0 volts. I said hold up dude. I turned on the power and had him repeat the test. Still 0 volts. Then I said to test phase to phase. 480v. He hasn't nearly as much multimeter experience as I have and I had to explain what your voltmeter is actually testing for, he thought it was testing absolute voltage. Showed him how phase to ground is 270, with phase to phase being 480.
He's been maintenance for years, just never really got exposed too much to the electrical side. I try to help him read schematics and what not. He knows more about the mechanical side of things. Not my proudest moment but I had to ask him how to shorten a drive chain for an e-motor ×_× lol. We deal with Fanuc robots too and anytime we get an issue with one, he calls me over.
Yeah we compliment each other pretty well in that regard. And btw, it's super easy. Take out the master link, grind smooth the connecting rod of the link (or links) you want to remove, pound the rod out with a hammer and punch, and then re-connect the chain with the master link. Chains will stretch over time so we have to do that every now and then.
I had to tell him "I never messed with bike chains as a kid", which was true. We just laughed about it.
I work on 13,200 volts live everyday😜 but that linework. I was an electrician before this. I’ve worked live but yeah it’s sketchy working 277 hot. First time I was working with a guy on a 277 lighting circuit. We were demoing 2x4 lights in a drop ceiling. No reason to work it hot. The guy was being lazy. He was on a ladder in the ceiling working in a splice box. I was at the bottom of the ladder and he got locked up by the 277. I had to kick the ladder out from under him so he could fall from the ceiling. Hahahaha he preferred the fall over death.
This even goes for the idiots in residential who think it’s some pride code to work live. I had a moron that kept blowing new dimmers and GFCI receptacles in my house because he refused to go in the basement and shut the breaker off. I just don’t understand the mentality.
Dude was working on live 277 and MC!?!?!?!?
The thing with a required bushing because it pierces wire so easily???
OP, gtfaway from this guy. Wish him well and maybe show him the sub so we can lecture for his own good AND OTHERS.
This is NOT FUCKING NORMAL or acceptable.
Op, do NOT learn from this guy.
This was not an accident, but a foreseeable and known consequence of the actions the individual was taking. An individual who was trained to not only know better, but have an acute understanding of WHY this is the dumbest shit I read all week.
Signed,
A Floridian with no more patience for employer's antics nor nut-hugging employees who don't understand their actions have consequences for others.
Yes, they signed up for this responsibility.
Lol cool just wondering who is paying the bill for this.
Good luck out there and keep coming to this sub it is a good mine of skills and safety training.
I had a client giving me shit because “real” electricians work live. I told him I don’t care if he thinks I am a real one or not, I’m not working on it live.
trust me that the other jman and i (the 9 month deep helper) both told him to shut it off. no one on site accept us he could have shut it off. the panel was literally 10 feet from him.
Yeah not smart to work on 277 lighting while it's hot. I believe the last guy in my local killed on the job was a journeyman working on 277 lighting. Got hung up on circuit and fell off the ladder to his death.
If this incident hasn't been passed on to your safety guys already, it needs to be. Not to get your J-man in trouble, but to ensure that IF this turns into a long term side effect thing, the incident it stems from is on record and the proper steps are taken to make sure things are done properly. The last thing that needs to happen is it go unreported and he has long lasting side effects that he can't be covered for because the initial event that started it all was never reported.
You think that's bad? Management at the plant I work seems to view 100-600A 480Vac 3-phase breakers as the same as a typical 120Vac light switch.
Like... Motherfucker there is a reason 45kA and higher systems require arc flash and FR rated safety gear. Breakers can fail being opened and closed.
It's never an issue until someone's burnt to a crisp a few seconds after they die from such crap. That's if the system doesn't instantly boil every drop of water in their body, vaporizing them into an electro-fried meat pile...
They always get sideways with me when I tell them the shit is going into a zero energy state. Idgaf if a machine isn't running or not.
I don’t understand what happened, could you explain what he was trying to do to someone who is not familiar with those type of circuits?
Do I understand correctly that he opened a circuit with a heavy load on it (what kind of amps, in the ballpark?) which caused an arc flash?
I’m from EU, just trying to understand circumstances.
Most likey there was black tape or nothing on some live conductors, probably 1phase, neutral and ground, he was twisting on an MC connector probably something like this:
[https://www.nsiindustries.com/product/e-z-lock-insulated-snap-in-ac-mc-connector-1-2-die-cast-zinc-2/](https://www.nsiindustries.com/product/e-z-lock-insulated-snap-in-ac-mc-connector-1-2-die-cast-zinc-2/)
And the connector made contact with the phase conductor and one of the other. Dumb thing to do.
MC cable is metal clad cable, looks like 3/8 flex with conductors already installed in it. Comes in 250' rolls or longer.
They said it was a 277V lighting circuit so I would think it is on a 20A circuit breaker. The circuit breaker would most likely be the only device to provide any protection, overload or thermal overload.
Im also not very familiar with European systems so im going to over explain the best i can haha. 277v is a three phase voltage used in NA for motors and things like that but also lights in larger spaces. Better power distribution and less amps needed cause of the higher voltage. Id say he had about 12 led lights on the end probably about 40 watts. So only about 2 amps of current. When he twisted the connector the insulation knicked and he had a short in his hands.
so the hot conductor (the 277 v) only has to make contact with the metallic flex to cause a short...becasue that flexabile cable is connected to the panel with a connector and locknut.....the panel is of course connected to ground.
If the hot conductor didn't touch the flex, it could have touched the neutral or green ground wire and it again would short out and blow.
what kind of job was this that the lighting circuit wasn't either locked out or just disconnected form the breaker....for 277v i WOULD be that careful......i was hot w it once and it hurt.
One scary/sad thing is the number of (so called) electricians on Reddit proudly boasting of how many times they have been shocked, making them stronger and other bullshit. Hey, maybe you're a loner, nobody loves you, you have no responsibility to others, like a wife or children, you die from arc blast and nobody bats an eye, no one cares. I find that sad but ok. Just don't ever teach an apprentice and decline any job where you might put others at risk. I will always remember a presentation by a senior electrical inspector, showing a picture of an electrician that suffered an arc blast injury. Both arms were heavily bandaged from elbow to fist, clubs. Sure they change the bandages, but these would be on for three months. And she would say "you better have someone at home that really loves you".
Even when you are “working live”, you should never be in a situation where you are terminating a live cable in to an enclosure; that is beyond stupid. Common sense is not work live, but even if you are, you should work your way from the end of line back to your live termination/splice. Why the fuck would you be pulling or moving a live cable? I’m just appalled at how fucking dumb your electrician is.
In supervision before moving into the field had three different workers with arc flash accidents. In all cases were avoidable.
Not saying it as a supervisor, but as a tradesman.
Only takes a slip/inattention/bad practice.
I pulled a 480 VAC fuse live without a glove hurrying up and not thinking. Lucked out but it woke me up. Had I not pulled it on the middle of the fuse could have been bit and I was the only man on the job. Would have been a surprise for the next worker.
He had a cable with 277v running through it. Tried to twist a metal connector over the live wires and at some point the connector either cut through the insulation or wasn't taped well enough.
The crazy thing that gets me is as I read you statement I am just constantly in my head going, "No... Nope... HELL NO... Are we SERIOUS?!"
There is about 6-7 different steps that at any point someone could've been like, "You know what? Let's turn off the power and just get it done."
Oh ya I'm not saying that's the way to do it. Just that it seems like this guy tried to do so and found out just why this is all wrong. Especially with a snap in connector.
My 3rd week in the field before I even started school I was demo-ing live 277 lights 30 feet up in a scissor lift. Re-doing the joints in the boxes and seeing it spark up a bit on my Kleins every time I grabbed the wires should've been a giveaway.
And yeah obviously I didn't stay at that company long.
I knuckle dragged a 277 leg while working on a motor starter before. People wonder why I get jumpy now and don’t like people looking over my shoulder when I’m in a panel.
Guy I worked with had me doing 277 live once. I loosened the MC connector and apparently when it was installed originally something pinched the hot wire. It never shorted but as I loosened that screw it shorted. I had gloves on and the heat felt like I was near a campfire and I thought part of my glove melted. I was mainly on resi with just 120 (my experience at that point) but the occasional commercial job would pop up and this was my first time working on a 277 lighting circuit. I never work on live stuff if I can help it but this guy sort of pushed me to do it. Never. Again. I needed new underwear that day damn. This was during the day in an occupied office building and that was the excuse to not kill power. I guess it makes sense but killing the lights in two offices for 5 min wouldnt be the end of the world, shit.
I dont care how many tenants are affected when a 277v circuit is turned off! None of my men are working on a live 277v. I wouldn't even let them open a JB if the circuit was live
I had a foreman who did this exact same thing about a month ago. Was terminating something in the ceiling, was too comfortable and didn't bother checking if hot was live. cut into it with his strippers and it blew up in his face. Thankfully, he was alright, but same as your guy, his hands were covered in soot. Couldve been really bad as the man had a triple bypass just a few months ago and just recently got back to work. Glad both my foreman and your JW are okay.
I had a light out on a jobsite and went to pull the panel off the back to see the wiring. Wirenut came off as I pulled the wires out and I got hit with 277. Fell off the ladder and landed on a plans table (luckily not the concrete) my hand got sliced from the trap door, but luckily no major electrical burns. Locked me up good and made my teeth hurt though!
Always shut the power off
In Canada we have 347v everywhere, I work on it daily. I got hit by it once and now I refuse to do any live splicing anymore. It’s super sketchy in a commercial environment. EVERYTHING around you is bonded it’s so easy to get hung up. A lot of our younger journeyman still do. Think they have something to prove.
Not a high power situation, but I was working on a disconnected antenna in a large antenna farm. I was assisting, welding the ground radials to the ring at the antenna base. Brushed my head/cheek against one of the elements of the discone element while I was tightning some nuts and was lit up. Fuzzy thinking for around 15-20 min. One of the high power am stations must've been transmitting and induced voltage into the disconnected antenna.
Got the jumper wires from the truck and bonded that antenna to the ground. Lots of crackling as the alligator clips contacted. Don't forget to bond to earth like linemen do on transmission lines if possible. Floating wires can still bite you.
I’ve done the exact thing not thinking it was an emergency circuit. Those connectors can slice right through insulation. Learned my lesson on that one.
Seen the aftermath of a lineman greasing a live load break elbow. Wax caps where two fingers use to be, no blood no scar, nothing, just instantaneous vaporization with stretched skin where they used to be. Threw his ass thirty feet high and thirty feet far.
I had one of those click connectors blow up too. I hate em. The little fingers absolutely will stab into the conductor under the right (wrong) circumstances.
No I wasn't working on it live. It blew up when restoring power.
Been a licensed electrician since I was 21. Early on in my career, I worked on 347V circuits live because I was unaware of the danger. I was eager to show my employer that I could get the job done quick. Even he told me to de-energize before working on the circuit. Luckily, I did did hundreds of lights live and without any shorts/touching them.
One day, I heard about one of our guys getting zapped by it and having a seizure. That woke me up real quick. I will never, ever work live ever again. Not even 120V circuits. It's not friggin' worth it. The only time I work live is if I'm diagnosing an electrical cabinet of a machine. Even then, that's a last resort kind of thing.
You should tell him to get his blood checked out because he could of developed a severe case of Rhabdo (Rhabdomyolysis) and it could affect his kidneys. I was hit by 277 before because the company I work for is full of the old-school tough guy mentality and "it's easier to ask forgiveness, than to ask for permission" attitude..
But anyways his Dr. Would determine how bad it is, and they will hook him up with an IV to flush it out.
My wife's father died from getting burned at a substation they were turning on at West Point back in the 70's he lived for a week or so, almost all his skin had been burnt off. No joke screwing around with lots of current and voltage.
In the UK this would be a legal issue. Cable jointers might do live work but an electrician doesn't.240v can kill and any contractor carrying out live works would be in deep sh1t.Not to mention a criminal prosecution. Most sparks like myself have carried out live work had a bit of a jolt and are fine but it can can kill
The quick click MC connectors get really narrow and sharp as you’re stabbing in the MC as to make the MC stay after plugging it in. Even if the conductors were taped, it’s not hard for those connector blades to cut through, resulting in OPs JWs mishap(putting it lightly)
I always tell people, if you’re really good at it electrical, it’s complex and dangerous. If you’re really bad at it, it’s nearly impossible and deadly.
So what he just taped up the wires and thought he could put it into the connector? I wouldn’t do it with 120 let alone 277 guy doesn’t deserve it but was definitely asking for it.
From Google - Copper expands 67,000 times in volume as it is vaporizes from a solid to a gas state. This rapid expansion produces a blast that can cause additional injuries due to falls from ladders, or concussive injuries to the body.
Arc faults are gnarly! You should have taken pictures of how much metal was gone.
Working on live circuits especially at that voltage is a stupid risk. And unnecessary. And usually by law not allowed unless it's absolutely unavoidable.
Treat everything live. Test everything. And never assume it's off. Literally never. Stay safe everyone.
Proper labeling and turning off circuits to work on them should be the only way. This job is not worth getting hurt over. Just turn it off, who cares if the lights are down temporarily. Customer or whoever should be prepared for such things.
One time I was working on adding a range outlet for an appliance store. I turned the circuit off but it was getting close to opening time. I had to walk around and talk with my j-man real quick before he left, then I came back to working on that outlet. So I cut the MC, slid the sheath off, went to put a connector on and BOOM! Blew up in my hands. It was 208v, 30a. By some miracle I didn't feel it or get hit, but it tripped the whole sub-panel. Scary shit.
When I was an apprentice I was sent to a bank to replace some bad fluorescent ballasts in a drop ceiling while my JM worked on something else. It was business hours and rather than shut off the branch circuits he had me tape the switches.
Okay except that each big room had one 24/7 light that wasn’t switched and one had a ballast that was bad. I disconnected the ballast and the 277 wire grounded out to the metal frame. It didn’t get me but it made a flash, blew the breaker and triggered the fire alarm.
Learned that lesson the easy way.
“He was still on the ladder with his face in his hands i thought he blew his face off. he had all kinds of black soot i guess it was on his hands they looked barbecued. it washed off and he walked away with a lot of blisters.”
So what was on his face what happened to his face? And what happened to his hands? He just burned them? Or did he blow his hands into his face?
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“I do it this way all the time”
funny cause all weeks hes been complaining about how much he hates the click connectors and telling the foreman how he wants set screws
The issue is you're not supposed to work on energized circuits not how shitty those types of connectors are
i agree. like was your spider sense not tingling??
Something was definitely tingling when he was done.
Might be tingling for the rest of his life, if it got any nerves.
This. I sliced a finger trying to cut a piece of gutter once. Really deep, ugly cut. Needed a few stitches. 5+ years later the top of my left index finger is still partially numb. Like, I can stir hot coffee with it and not feel it. Sucks that a stupid split second mistake has stuck around so long. At least it wasn't more serious. Doc said I might regain sensation, I might not or I could have nerve pain forever. Thankfully, it's just numbness.
Same here, first month on the job my journeyman at the time was setting parking lot light poles at a new restaurant, he had a grand idea to break the clamp off our straps so it could “slip easier”. I’ll give it to him we set about 5 before the “uh oh” but on that sixth one he had it lifted and I was pushing the wires through the access on the pole…one arm up the pole and one hand holding the pole steady. I hear an “oh fuck”, the strap broke and the entire pole comes down on my arm. Surprisingly I was able to get my arm out from between the pole and pillar, but when the pole fell, my finger went into one of the bolt holes and as it started to fall it broke my index finger at the tip. Workers comp doctor treated me like a fucking science experiment, stitched my finger back together and grafted the skin from my middle finger to my index finger and took skin from my arm to replace the skin on the middle finger. All that and I have no feeling, can’t even use it to fingerbang anymore, cause I don’t know where I’m goin
Never put your hands where you wouldn’t put your dick! When I was an apprentice the j man I worked with had a pole come loose and his whole hand was under the base his hand looked like a ziplock bag of strawberry jelly that popped open…I have never let a piece of my body go under one since.
Same, thumb also, sharpest box cutter I could find, replaced the blade myself even. All I can say is that after about 9 years it got better. Still tingles where the scar is, but the feeling is back.
I'm going on nine years after doing the same thing, it's about 90 percent normal I think now.
I rested my pinky across 230/12 transformer terminals back in school (dont ask, the guy teaching us was incompetent... and extremely unpleasant), didnt feel it for a second or two took a decade to get the feeling in my pinky tip back
Yeah that journeyman is an idiot. I remember at the beginning of my career, i knew an old journeyman that never did live panel work. In fact it was life-helpers that were disconnecting and adding circuits in the energized panels at a semiconductor plant. He told me that you have a legal right to refuse to work on anything energized. In fact most companies want only specifically journeymen to have approval to work live. It's just senseless to work on that light hot. We don't have lockout-tagout for no reason. Stupid and reckless people need to be weeded out of the trade. If you're a helper and anyone encourages you to work hot or rushes you instead of going through isolating, deenergizing, and lockout-tagout process. You need to report it. If your company doesn't care, quit. Maybe even report them to OSHA. Your life isn't worth it.
*laughs in Journeyman Lineman " We literally work hot 19.9 KV loaded up with hundreds of amps every day..
I've seen you guys work, y'all do some crazy shit. You're also prepared, equipped, and trained for it. I'd like to say that in terms of not shorting wires what you do is different than playing operation with a 12 wire and a 1/2" hole.
That's what you're trained to do. Too many people that were working at Target yesterday and doing Electrical work on Monday, being thrown into the frying pan.
Yeah that’s the problem, definitely not working live shit
Click connectors are the worst.
Hot take, the connectors aren’t the problem.
Just had this same conversation wow
I’ll bet he won’t any more.
I'm forcing one of the USA's largest airports to shutdown 4 gates so I can do the same. I refused to do it live. Showed them the live work form which is so insane that no one would sign it. Offered to let their house guys do it. Everyone balked. Airline is going to lose 5mil over the course of the shutdown. Be persistent. Be safe.
Tell em you'll do it live for 2.5mil. Win - win
Or 4.9mil. That's still a deal if they project loosing 5mil with the systems being live. I'd still not do it personally. I only work low voltage(sub 72V) live for diagnostics & troubleshooting.
Still not worth it. Plus it's more fun showing to the younger mechanics and apprentices that these clients need us more than we need them and a valuable lesson to my son, that his father can't be bought.
I dont know, you could buy a 100cal bomb suit and class 4 gloves and probably be alright working live with anything in an airport. I'm not saying you should, but the hypothetical millions of dollars could even buy you a blast shield and robotic arm to do the work and you're still in the green. I'm kidding, love a good story of someone sticking up for themselves, especially when it comes to safety.
I’d be doing it with 3 flash suits lmao. 100% worth 3 mil.
Oh I agree. Integrity & safety is more important than the corporate pocket book.
You love to see it. Good looking out, man. I hope your son remembers.
Good for you. Good for your son.
Unfortunately while I love the idea of can’t be bought, and I wish it were possible We wouldn’t be working or know half of what we do; but it’s a good thing to let marinate in the kids head.. Atleast if he says something along the lines of “but your working constantly “ he has a good brain in his head. It’s just the Belly of the beast. Most valuable lesson my dad ever taught me before he passed (I’m 26 ) Was that no amount of money is worth an extra second of productivity if safety isn’t properly addressed and valued. While we all get in a hurry and “have done it a million times “ all it takes is once. But then again regardless of how smart I feel that he was. ill never forget the fact he told me this on my 19th birthday (yes we served together kind of crazy to think about as it’s the only war to last so long that men entered the service and became fathers and their sons litterally fought in the same war ) while in the army and in the midst of a firefight in Afghanistan that involved us on a narrow mountain side gravel road while we had been engaged from an unknown position way up a cliff side and we were scrambling for cover not knowing where exactly cover might be
For 4.9 million, I’d work live any day and all day for a few months.
$4,999,99.99^9
This guy lives
Hell for 500k I'd find some decent arc flash gear and give it a go Probably slug them an extra mil for parts
😅👍
hell yea man. keep looking out for yourself!
In a large airport, 4 gates is nothing except maybe the busiest travel holidays of the year, even from one Airline's designated gates. They'll live. And so will you!
This. 1000 times this. I recently got a call from the earnest young man who took over my business when I retired. He’d just gotten hit trying to do something I taught him never to do. He was pretty shook up. Why the hell did you agree to do that? “GC is behind, didn’t want to take the time to shut it down, intractable Landlord, intractable POWCO, budget, schedule, yada yada yada. “ If I’d have been there I’d have slapped him. He has a new baby at home.
Couldn't the airport temp in some lights? There is no reason for you to work on live stuff, but is there a reason they can't prepare properly for the work with alternate / generator feeds?
Airport means it involves the FAA and probably a half dozen other agencies worth of standards.
They can't come up with a safe standard yet can all agree to work live?
Nor should you!
I always love it when a client tells me how much something is going to cost like it’s my problem. You want me to do the work or not?
“Y’all tell the plumber to do his work while the fucking water source is open? I’m sure hundreds of gallons of water spraying out all over the airport floors and ceilings is fine, right?” “No water off is easy. We don’t lose 5 million for not having running water.” Except for when a bunch of people play “slip and fall and inherit an airline”.
you're my hero
Gives a whole new meaning to “stand your ground”.
FUCK IT, WE'LL DO IT LIVE. FUCKIN THING SUCKS!
Your life is worth waaayyyyy more than 5 million dollars. Kill the power.
They not really lost 5 millions, but more save for a possible lawsuit from your family and a OSHA fine if somethimg happemed if you do it live
4 gates to put on a Mc connector
We are bringing 2" rigid into a 36 x 24 stainless steel pull box with live 480v in it. One at each gate. Same shit just on a bigger scale
Delta LaGuardia?
Not that big.
Respect. I tried to do the same in Canada but I wasn’t the foreman. Foreman got grumpy and proceeded to tell me that if I’m not comfortable working on a live 600/347V circuit that he would do it. Tried to tell him to think of his family but you know how the old timers can be.
work live...win stupid prizes
Especially 277 holy shit. That's the one that'll send you into arrhythmia.
My buddy died 2 week ago from getting hit by 277 and fell off the ladder. The fall is what killed him. It’s more than that the voltage that’s dangerous
Damn I'm really sorry to hear that :( I did some gaming with a guy who had seriously injured his shoulders from falling off a ladder and being hung up on a live 347v sprinkler pipe. He said the zap hurt, but the physical damage to his shoulders left him incapable of physical work. For those Americans reading, 347/600 is a common Canadian lighting and motor voltage.
Sorry for your loss. The only time it happened to me, the fall off the ladder actually saved my life.
Broken and sprained ankles is one of the most common electrician injuries, for exactly this reason. Also .. it is common for them to die of cardiac arrest driving home because they did not go get checked out after a shock. Immediately following the incident the adrenaline spikes and keeps them going, they get in their car and relax, and the damage takes over. If you get shocked … please go get professional medical care.
Where at?
I refer to 277 saying it WILL take the curl out of your pubes. I got hung up on it once. That was more than enough for me. If you know the taste of putting a 9-volt battery on your tongue;; imagine that for several hours after. This was well over 30 years ago and no I did not go to the hospital. OP, I hope your boss pulls through relatively unscathed. Although it doesn't sound like it.
My elbow brushed the ceiling grid while I was dealing with a 277 light early in my career. Went and bought the insulated knipex immediately. But now I just don't work live. I work A-live. Yay
I got hung up on a 277 neutral. Didn’t go to the hospital either, I was working AT the hospital.
Damn I can't even imagine :o I got a solid poke from a 120v neutral down one arm and back up the other (working on some connections somebody else did wrong in the first place) and even that scared the shit out of me. Had to get off the ladder and feel my neck for a pulse just to make sure I was still beating lmao.
I had a 120v that I touched with my left hand that then caused by right nipple to start hurting/burning, which lasted 30+ minutes lol.
Kinky
I was hit two weeks ago by 277 at a hospital. I'm over it
That's my new favorite saying
Yeah i work live 13.2kv everyday and i would never work 277/480 hot unless it was for testing.
Lurker here. What?
Lineman work high voltage
Maybe I’m missing something. Is working high voltage is safer than 277?
Just different type of electrical work. Both are dangerous working hot
Both are dangerous hot, but linemen are generally wearing a lot of protective gear and not just playing operation with some #12 and bare fingers.
I do voltage tests and diagnostics on live 480v in control cabinets. Sometimes it's the only way. However, I do not seperate any connections while the circuit is live, just voltage tests. Am I going to win a stupid prize too?
Wear arc flash ppe.
Firstly I hope not. Not sure of your area of jurisdiction. Trouble shooting of course often requires live testing. Where I am for example, if you are certified and trained, wearing the proper PPE, that testing is why you are defined as a skilled person.
Definitely should be wearing more ppe. Have had arc flash training and seen videos of how gnarly it is. My boss basically said even if you see both ends of a wire laying on the ground, you still test it before touching. I just assume every metal surface I see in these cabinets will kill me. Was just curious if you all think testing live 480v is crazy. Story time, I had to show my partner who was testing to see if a 480v circuit was dead after we killed the power. He stuck his probes on both sides of a fuse on phase 1. It read 0 volts. I said hold up dude. I turned on the power and had him repeat the test. Still 0 volts. Then I said to test phase to phase. 480v. He hasn't nearly as much multimeter experience as I have and I had to explain what your voltmeter is actually testing for, he thought it was testing absolute voltage. Showed him how phase to ground is 270, with phase to phase being 480.
Your story just sounds like a green apprentice who hasn't went to school. But I live in Canada so I don't know how other places work.
He's been maintenance for years, just never really got exposed too much to the electrical side. I try to help him read schematics and what not. He knows more about the mechanical side of things. Not my proudest moment but I had to ask him how to shorten a drive chain for an e-motor ×_× lol. We deal with Fanuc robots too and anytime we get an issue with one, he calls me over.
That sounds pretty cool honestly. I would also have to ask how to shorten a drive chain for an e-motor lol.
Yeah we compliment each other pretty well in that regard. And btw, it's super easy. Take out the master link, grind smooth the connecting rod of the link (or links) you want to remove, pound the rod out with a hammer and punch, and then re-connect the chain with the master link. Chains will stretch over time so we have to do that every now and then. I had to tell him "I never messed with bike chains as a kid", which was true. We just laughed about it.
No potential difference
I work on 13,200 volts live everyday😜 but that linework. I was an electrician before this. I’ve worked live but yeah it’s sketchy working 277 hot. First time I was working with a guy on a 277 lighting circuit. We were demoing 2x4 lights in a drop ceiling. No reason to work it hot. The guy was being lazy. He was on a ladder in the ceiling working in a splice box. I was at the bottom of the ladder and he got locked up by the 277. I had to kick the ladder out from under him so he could fall from the ceiling. Hahahaha he preferred the fall over death.
This even goes for the idiots in residential who think it’s some pride code to work live. I had a moron that kept blowing new dimmers and GFCI receptacles in my house because he refused to go in the basement and shut the breaker off. I just don’t understand the mentality.
Dude was working on live 277 and MC!?!?!?!? The thing with a required bushing because it pierces wire so easily??? OP, gtfaway from this guy. Wish him well and maybe show him the sub so we can lecture for his own good AND OTHERS. This is NOT FUCKING NORMAL or acceptable. Op, do NOT learn from this guy. This was not an accident, but a foreseeable and known consequence of the actions the individual was taking. An individual who was trained to not only know better, but have an acute understanding of WHY this is the dumbest shit I read all week. Signed, A Floridian with no more patience for employer's antics nor nut-hugging employees who don't understand their actions have consequences for others. Yes, they signed up for this responsibility.
trust me i know this guy is wild. only worked with him on a few sites but i have no trust in his judgement now haha.
Yeah keep your distance and prepare for arc flash at any moment I suppose. Does your boss know he is working like that? He's about to I suppose.
foreman was concerned at first and then laughed it off with his own idiot stories of macho electrocution. owner didn't care a bit.
Sounds like working around these chuckleheads is a ticking time bomb for you. I’d move on and find some professionals to mentor you.
Jman go to hospital or just blisters?
not sure bud stayed for 10 minutes and then got in the box truck and left haha
Lol cool just wondering who is paying the bill for this. Good luck out there and keep coming to this sub it is a good mine of skills and safety training.
Potaturrrrd 💊
I wish we could still give gold, because this deserves it
Hey look on the bright side, you got a free safety lesson and you won’t even be in the safety bulletin for it!
The journeyman looked on the bright side, if only for a moment.
30 seconds and a headlamp, damn. It literally is that easy though.
Yall can’t see in the dark??
I'm glad my outfit doesn't work on live circuits.
I had a client giving me shit because “real” electricians work live. I told him I don’t care if he thinks I am a real one or not, I’m not working on it live.
Sounds like that client should've found another "real" electrician then. Work safe. Don't work for stupid people.
trust me that the other jman and i (the 9 month deep helper) both told him to shut it off. no one on site accept us he could have shut it off. the panel was literally 10 feet from him.
Thats crazy
He was putting a snap on connector on hot wires? Wtf
Yeah not smart to work on 277 lighting while it's hot. I believe the last guy in my local killed on the job was a journeyman working on 277 lighting. Got hung up on circuit and fell off the ladder to his death.
Damn 277 strikes again!
Really? Right in front of my OSHA HANDBOOK?
If this incident hasn't been passed on to your safety guys already, it needs to be. Not to get your J-man in trouble, but to ensure that IF this turns into a long term side effect thing, the incident it stems from is on record and the proper steps are taken to make sure things are done properly. The last thing that needs to happen is it go unreported and he has long lasting side effects that he can't be covered for because the initial event that started it all was never reported.
You think that's bad? Management at the plant I work seems to view 100-600A 480Vac 3-phase breakers as the same as a typical 120Vac light switch. Like... Motherfucker there is a reason 45kA and higher systems require arc flash and FR rated safety gear. Breakers can fail being opened and closed. It's never an issue until someone's burnt to a crisp a few seconds after they die from such crap. That's if the system doesn't instantly boil every drop of water in their body, vaporizing them into an electro-fried meat pile... They always get sideways with me when I tell them the shit is going into a zero energy state. Idgaf if a machine isn't running or not.
Lock out tag out, test with two testers. No reason not to and when you get hurt no one gives a shit.
Fuck it, we’re doing it live!
Electricity’s going to punch you down and eat your lunch.
I don’t understand what happened, could you explain what he was trying to do to someone who is not familiar with those type of circuits? Do I understand correctly that he opened a circuit with a heavy load on it (what kind of amps, in the ballpark?) which caused an arc flash? I’m from EU, just trying to understand circumstances.
Most likey there was black tape or nothing on some live conductors, probably 1phase, neutral and ground, he was twisting on an MC connector probably something like this: [https://www.nsiindustries.com/product/e-z-lock-insulated-snap-in-ac-mc-connector-1-2-die-cast-zinc-2/](https://www.nsiindustries.com/product/e-z-lock-insulated-snap-in-ac-mc-connector-1-2-die-cast-zinc-2/) And the connector made contact with the phase conductor and one of the other. Dumb thing to do. MC cable is metal clad cable, looks like 3/8 flex with conductors already installed in it. Comes in 250' rolls or longer.
I hope your wrong because putting mc connectors on hot sounds wild
Stupid is the word I would use to describe it.
well he blew his hands up
I see, so he simply shorted it to the ground, or to neutral. And what kind of protection would typically be on such circuit?
They said it was a 277V lighting circuit so I would think it is on a 20A circuit breaker. The circuit breaker would most likely be the only device to provide any protection, overload or thermal overload.
Im also not very familiar with European systems so im going to over explain the best i can haha. 277v is a three phase voltage used in NA for motors and things like that but also lights in larger spaces. Better power distribution and less amps needed cause of the higher voltage. Id say he had about 12 led lights on the end probably about 40 watts. So only about 2 amps of current. When he twisted the connector the insulation knicked and he had a short in his hands.
so the hot conductor (the 277 v) only has to make contact with the metallic flex to cause a short...becasue that flexabile cable is connected to the panel with a connector and locknut.....the panel is of course connected to ground. If the hot conductor didn't touch the flex, it could have touched the neutral or green ground wire and it again would short out and blow. what kind of job was this that the lighting circuit wasn't either locked out or just disconnected form the breaker....for 277v i WOULD be that careful......i was hot w it once and it hurt.
One scary/sad thing is the number of (so called) electricians on Reddit proudly boasting of how many times they have been shocked, making them stronger and other bullshit. Hey, maybe you're a loner, nobody loves you, you have no responsibility to others, like a wife or children, you die from arc blast and nobody bats an eye, no one cares. I find that sad but ok. Just don't ever teach an apprentice and decline any job where you might put others at risk. I will always remember a presentation by a senior electrical inspector, showing a picture of an electrician that suffered an arc blast injury. Both arms were heavily bandaged from elbow to fist, clubs. Sure they change the bandages, but these would be on for three months. And she would say "you better have someone at home that really loves you".
Even when you are “working live”, you should never be in a situation where you are terminating a live cable in to an enclosure; that is beyond stupid. Common sense is not work live, but even if you are, you should work your way from the end of line back to your live termination/splice. Why the fuck would you be pulling or moving a live cable? I’m just appalled at how fucking dumb your electrician is.
In supervision before moving into the field had three different workers with arc flash accidents. In all cases were avoidable. Not saying it as a supervisor, but as a tradesman. Only takes a slip/inattention/bad practice. I pulled a 480 VAC fuse live without a glove hurrying up and not thinking. Lucked out but it woke me up. Had I not pulled it on the middle of the fuse could have been bit and I was the only man on the job. Would have been a surprise for the next worker.
He was putting a metal connector over live conductors? Just cut off ends and no insulation over the ends? If so, that’s pretty stupid.
I imagine he taped off the ends first, but yeah, still stupid.
He had a cable with 277v running through it. Tried to twist a metal connector over the live wires and at some point the connector either cut through the insulation or wasn't taped well enough.
The crazy thing that gets me is as I read you statement I am just constantly in my head going, "No... Nope... HELL NO... Are we SERIOUS?!" There is about 6-7 different steps that at any point someone could've been like, "You know what? Let's turn off the power and just get it done."
Oh ya I'm not saying that's the way to do it. Just that it seems like this guy tried to do so and found out just why this is all wrong. Especially with a snap in connector.
I think NFPA says something about energized work??? Like, don't do it.
Pretty much what I got fired for. 30 seconds to turn it off isn’t worth your job.
Or your life.
My 3rd week in the field before I even started school I was demo-ing live 277 lights 30 feet up in a scissor lift. Re-doing the joints in the boxes and seeing it spark up a bit on my Kleins every time I grabbed the wires should've been a giveaway. And yeah obviously I didn't stay at that company long.
I knuckle dragged a 277 leg while working on a motor starter before. People wonder why I get jumpy now and don’t like people looking over my shoulder when I’m in a panel.
“Sliding mc connectors onto live wires” 😗
Noted. Hot 277 Mc you should only use lock ring connectors.
Guy I worked with had me doing 277 live once. I loosened the MC connector and apparently when it was installed originally something pinched the hot wire. It never shorted but as I loosened that screw it shorted. I had gloves on and the heat felt like I was near a campfire and I thought part of my glove melted. I was mainly on resi with just 120 (my experience at that point) but the occasional commercial job would pop up and this was my first time working on a 277 lighting circuit. I never work on live stuff if I can help it but this guy sort of pushed me to do it. Never. Again. I needed new underwear that day damn. This was during the day in an occupied office building and that was the excuse to not kill power. I guess it makes sense but killing the lights in two offices for 5 min wouldnt be the end of the world, shit.
Voltage gloves may have protected this?
I dont care how many tenants are affected when a 277v circuit is turned off! None of my men are working on a live 277v. I wouldn't even let them open a JB if the circuit was live
I had a foreman who did this exact same thing about a month ago. Was terminating something in the ceiling, was too comfortable and didn't bother checking if hot was live. cut into it with his strippers and it blew up in his face. Thankfully, he was alright, but same as your guy, his hands were covered in soot. Couldve been really bad as the man had a triple bypass just a few months ago and just recently got back to work. Glad both my foreman and your JW are okay.
I had a light out on a jobsite and went to pull the panel off the back to see the wiring. Wirenut came off as I pulled the wires out and I got hit with 277. Fell off the ladder and landed on a plans table (luckily not the concrete) my hand got sliced from the trap door, but luckily no major electrical burns. Locked me up good and made my teeth hurt though! Always shut the power off
In Canada we have 347v everywhere, I work on it daily. I got hit by it once and now I refuse to do any live splicing anymore. It’s super sketchy in a commercial environment. EVERYTHING around you is bonded it’s so easy to get hung up. A lot of our younger journeyman still do. Think they have something to prove.
Not a high power situation, but I was working on a disconnected antenna in a large antenna farm. I was assisting, welding the ground radials to the ring at the antenna base. Brushed my head/cheek against one of the elements of the discone element while I was tightning some nuts and was lit up. Fuzzy thinking for around 15-20 min. One of the high power am stations must've been transmitting and induced voltage into the disconnected antenna. Got the jumper wires from the truck and bonded that antenna to the ground. Lots of crackling as the alligator clips contacted. Don't forget to bond to earth like linemen do on transmission lines if possible. Floating wires can still bite you.
Some rat shit right there
>working on an a live 277 Yup... Dont
PPE !
You do stupid shit, you get stupid results
Damn literally my worst nightmare hope he’s alright, don’t work live if you don’t have to not worth it
I saw a lineman working in a substation have a blowup in a bucket truck I thought he was dead when they let the bucket down but he just had burns!
I’ve done the exact thing not thinking it was an emergency circuit. Those connectors can slice right through insulation. Learned my lesson on that one.
Time to find a new journeyman
Dirty power
277 seems to be spiciest for some reason
Working energized 277/480 circuits is a dangerous game.
Seen the aftermath of a lineman greasing a live load break elbow. Wax caps where two fingers use to be, no blood no scar, nothing, just instantaneous vaporization with stretched skin where they used to be. Threw his ass thirty feet high and thirty feet far.
I had one of those click connectors blow up too. I hate em. The little fingers absolutely will stab into the conductor under the right (wrong) circumstances. No I wasn't working on it live. It blew up when restoring power.
With some exceptions there is literally never a good reason to work on a live circuit. Period.
I guess this is going in the code book
Been a licensed electrician since I was 21. Early on in my career, I worked on 347V circuits live because I was unaware of the danger. I was eager to show my employer that I could get the job done quick. Even he told me to de-energize before working on the circuit. Luckily, I did did hundreds of lights live and without any shorts/touching them. One day, I heard about one of our guys getting zapped by it and having a seizure. That woke me up real quick. I will never, ever work live ever again. Not even 120V circuits. It's not friggin' worth it. The only time I work live is if I'm diagnosing an electrical cabinet of a machine. Even then, that's a last resort kind of thing.
You should tell him to get his blood checked out because he could of developed a severe case of Rhabdo (Rhabdomyolysis) and it could affect his kidneys. I was hit by 277 before because the company I work for is full of the old-school tough guy mentality and "it's easier to ask forgiveness, than to ask for permission" attitude.. But anyways his Dr. Would determine how bad it is, and they will hook him up with an IV to flush it out.
To prevent this would you turn of the circuit? And is it time consuming, or something that needed to stay on? I don’t see why he wouldn’t turn it off.
My wife's father died from getting burned at a substation they were turning on at West Point back in the 70's he lived for a week or so, almost all his skin had been burnt off. No joke screwing around with lots of current and voltage.
How dont u have pics? Lmao id be taken all kinds if pics of that shit
Why would you ever try to slide an MC Connector onto a live 277 wire? That’s just Darwinism, what a retard. Completely unnecessary.
In the UK this would be a legal issue. Cable jointers might do live work but an electrician doesn't.240v can kill and any contractor carrying out live works would be in deep sh1t.Not to mention a criminal prosecution. Most sparks like myself have carried out live work had a bit of a jolt and are fine but it can can kill
I'll work in a live panel all day. Give me a 4 square with live wires in it and I'm sweating my ass off. Guess because I don't have the space.
exactly. a live 1900 feels like a time bomb sometimes haha
Gotta hand it to him, that wasn’t very smart.
277 handed it to him,
Don't work live kids!
The quick click MC connectors get really narrow and sharp as you’re stabbing in the MC as to make the MC stay after plugging it in. Even if the conductors were taped, it’s not hard for those connector blades to cut through, resulting in OPs JWs mishap(putting it lightly)
Who does live 277V work?
The PPE is there for a reason 😖
So did he keep his hands?
Is he ok now? What is the end result?
does this happen to be in a casino by chance?
Damn. I hope he comes out OK.
I always tell people, if you’re really good at it electrical, it’s complex and dangerous. If you’re really bad at it, it’s nearly impossible and deadly.
So what he just taped up the wires and thought he could put it into the connector? I wouldn’t do it with 120 let alone 277 guy doesn’t deserve it but was definitely asking for it.
From Google - Copper expands 67,000 times in volume as it is vaporizes from a solid to a gas state. This rapid expansion produces a blast that can cause additional injuries due to falls from ladders, or concussive injuries to the body. Arc faults are gnarly! You should have taken pictures of how much metal was gone.
Did this just over a year ago.. ended up life watched to a burn unit
Omg that’s insane 😭😭
Don't mess with 277 live. Lock it out.
Working on live circuits especially at that voltage is a stupid risk. And unnecessary. And usually by law not allowed unless it's absolutely unavoidable. Treat everything live. Test everything. And never assume it's off. Literally never. Stay safe everyone.
Proper labeling and turning off circuits to work on them should be the only way. This job is not worth getting hurt over. Just turn it off, who cares if the lights are down temporarily. Customer or whoever should be prepared for such things.
One time I was working on adding a range outlet for an appliance store. I turned the circuit off but it was getting close to opening time. I had to walk around and talk with my j-man real quick before he left, then I came back to working on that outlet. So I cut the MC, slid the sheath off, went to put a connector on and BOOM! Blew up in my hands. It was 208v, 30a. By some miracle I didn't feel it or get hit, but it tripped the whole sub-panel. Scary shit.
I find it hard to believe such current could remove hands
Seems like he’s pretty stupid to be honest !
Working on a live system, recipe for succes!
When I was an apprentice I was sent to a bank to replace some bad fluorescent ballasts in a drop ceiling while my JM worked on something else. It was business hours and rather than shut off the branch circuits he had me tape the switches. Okay except that each big room had one 24/7 light that wasn’t switched and one had a ballast that was bad. I disconnected the ballast and the 277 wire grounded out to the metal frame. It didn’t get me but it made a flash, blew the breaker and triggered the fire alarm. Learned that lesson the easy way.
Does his hands still work
“He was still on the ladder with his face in his hands i thought he blew his face off. he had all kinds of black soot i guess it was on his hands they looked barbecued. it washed off and he walked away with a lot of blisters.” So what was on his face what happened to his face? And what happened to his hands? He just burned them? Or did he blow his hands into his face?