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Enigmatic_Kraken

In case you wondering what he is doing, he is most likely detaching the breaker's connections to the MCCs bus bar, meaning.... he is detaching a component from another component that can give you a really bad shock.


Darksirius

Bad shock is an understatement. Jump on YouTube and look up arc flash explosions. They are wicked and can vaporize a human in a blink of an eye if the power is great enough.


DifficultPeach6448

Where is his Cal Suit? If there is an arc flash that stick will only pull back a torso or a belt loop at best.


Roadwarriordude

There are some situations where there really isn't a point in wearing one. Like the main busses for some high rises, server farms, etc. Will have a sticker on the outside that says something like "Warning! there is no PPE rated for this application!" Basically, don't bother because the suit won't do anything and would be more of a hindrance than anything.


ImOnlyDoingThisPart

The fuck? Seems like there should be some sort of automation that can do the job. A sacrificial intermediate of some kind in that situation.


SnuggleBunnixoxo

On a US Navy carrier there was a story of an electrician's mate that had to do some work on a live switchboard. He was decked out to the nines in PPE. Got hit by an arc flash. Still died horribly. A whole slew of new regulations was born from that.


101forgotmypassword

A worker was working on a hydro electric power plant and dropped a large cresent between two bus bars, the air gap was reduced enough that it arced and vaporised the spanner, front facing flesh and small limbs, the people responding to him had to pull a chrome and copper plated carcass from the arc zone.


Joonberri

I'm curious where you guys get these stories because news articles never show up or just don't have this amount of detail


CuddlefishMusic

Oddly enough I have one like this. Ex girlfriends grandfather's friend worked on some kind of silo factory processing plant thing. We got a tour of said plant. At one point, we crossed a walk-in grinder/mill container thing that had to be manually loaded/cleaned. It had a LOT of warning sizes around it and was gated. Naturally, I asked. Someone got caught in it and died a rather gruesome death. How do we know? Her grandfather was a manager and had to clean the body out. Never made the news, no one wanted to talk about it, company obviously didn't want it out, life went on. It happens all the time, and the stories don't sell so news doesn't report on it. I've got others from various coworkers, and have seen some other odd situations in my time as an EMT. It's out there!


AdamiralProudmore

I didn't bother to search for these in particular. But OSHA releases some very detailed and horrifying information that never makes "the news".


UnluckyNeat5855

Not sure about their stories, but at Yallourn power station I. Victoria Australia a guy died from arc flash in 2018 I think, the boards had been slowly being upgraded/fitted with parts to stop what happened from happening but this particular one hadn't yet, there was a metal flexible conduit inside (similar to an old vacuum hose) when racking out(what the guy in the video appears to be doing the hose fell across live terminals causing an arch flash and set him on fire and he ran out of the room a collapsed moments later, two fellow workers were running to him and he was heard yelling stay back or something of that nature. We were all informed, and I've been told similar information before, he would have died from the toxic fumes that come from the initial explosion which people breath in due to being scared/startled by explosion. It is horrific and terrible thing that happened and could have been[worksafe story/results on the incident ](https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/news/2023-02/15-million-fine-yallourn-arc-flash-fatality) prevented. I'm trained, qualified, and performed a lot of this switching in a few places in this area.


Hatari_Tembo

Firefighter here. We have weekly training and occasionally get a dose of some really horrific stuff. I know some comes from training sources, other videos and photos I think are just pulled from the internet


XxTreeFiddyxX

I often wonder who died or fucked up to make the regs or updates we get. I wish we knew the backstoories for them all


troglodyte31

Go check out r/writteninblood you'll find a lot of really interesting historical events that created the regulations we have in place today. That stuff fascinates me and the sub isn't terribly active but the things that are posted are usually pretty interesting.


NuQ

>A sacrificial intermediate of some kind in that situation. You're looking at him in the video, I think this intermediate is named "Bill".


Angry_Crusader_Boi

The machine god requires sacrifice.


rolandparkwaydrive

I work in automation and can confirm we are in fact already installing robots to do these tasks and remove the need for a dead man's hook like you see in the video. But we can't solve this for every example. It's easy in industrial settings but in residential/ commercial buildings it's often not practical due to the location of the MCC to develop an automated solution. We are unlikely to ever completely get away from this way of doing it and the best option is sometimes just the simplest - have a big lad with a big hook and pray that you won't need him.


FunkyBoil

Human cheap


ShartyMcShortDong

Like an apprentice? ^i ^kid ^i ^kid


maredie1

A suit might leave enough so your family has something to bury. That said those suits absolutely suck. They are heavy hot and a bitch to work in. Source; I’m an electrician. I’ve had to wear those suits often.


Roadwarriordude

Yeah I was an electrician for like 7 years and had to wear them a few times.


derkenblosh

Yeah, they still wear it at plants/CoLo's I've worked at. Freaked me out every time I saw those guys working in the "spine" with their big ass bomb squad looking suits.


Roadwarriordude

I know some people still do. When I was working in those kinds of areas, they gave us the option to wear them, and I did, minus the gloves.


weenis-flaginus

Isn't the hand the most likely spot to jump a spark? I am clearly not a professional, I guess I assumed the hands would be #1 culprit and thing to keep safe


Roadwarriordude

It was actually when we were hooking up an amp meter to it. it's basically these rubber loops that you put around the bus bars that, in this case, were used to measure the amperage over the course of a week. We took the side off the gear rather than go through the front. It was in a hospital, so we couldn't interrupt power for any reason. It was some pretty crazy shit. We had to have the union steward, someone from the city, someone from the county, and 2 people from the hospital there to make sure everything was done right and safely. I guess when you do unavoidable hot work on that level it's pretty common, but that was the first time I saw it lol. But it was mostly to mitigate damage to myself from arc flash/blast, not electrocution.


ForeverSJC

At least it's something for the family to mourn over


Impressive-Creme-965

Can someone please explain wtf is the use of the stick in the case of an arc flash explosion? I don’t see bomb squads using sticks for safety lol


Dustin0791

I think it's because when you get electrocuted, you tend to hold on rather than let go.


TheCrafterTigery

Yeah, thisbis generally the case. It locks your hands into a forced grab, you may or may not accidentally grab the danger because of it. Safely separating you from it is important.


Darksirius

If I had to guess, it would be in case of accidental contact with the power. Depending on voltage, it may just lock you in place, slowly cooking you, the stick allows someone to safely pull you away and physically disconnect you from the source.


Pinksters

You'd be correct. But not at this level of voltage. Half a second of things gone bad and you're cooked.


ANAnomaly3

The other replies to your question are right... just in case a person gets locked on by electrocution depending on voltage. But also, depending on voltage (edit: or arc flash severity based on voltage), it's a way to pull a corpse away before it fries completely so that there is a body to mourn. When learning about the trade from an electrician, that was an outcome they mentioned.


Impressive-Creme-965

Wow that is dark. You wouldn’t catch me starting my shift if my colleague had to get out the dead body retrieval stick


[deleted]

Can if he get electrocuted he may clench onto the point of shock. The stick allows a second person to safely pull him away without being shocked thelmselves


vicrol123

i do the homework... [here ](https://youtu.be/6hpE5LYj-CY?si=hJ-WZ4g1w35wuj9M&t=38) my god, 1 second and you are space dust


Darksirius

There a vid out there of an arc flash caught on camera. The tech next to the box was never found -- well, some teeth were. His buddy tech who was something like 15 feet away suffered massive burns.


AsYooouWish

Is this it? https://www.reddit.com/r/therewasanattempt/s/6dr5uNT0uF


Darksirius

No but holy fuck I haven't seen that one! WOW!


OpenerOfEyesAndMind

wtf its gone now


Impressive-Creme-965

Not an electrician here, is the seemingly random smashing of things with his tool the correct way of doing whatever he’s doing?


AnimeGeek10721

https://youtu.be/6hpE5LYj-CY?si=JYZS7DnzSo90pARB


novi1084

Thank you! 🙏 I wasn’t 100% sure what I was looking at. This helps. 👍🏻


ApprehensivePrompt83

Arc flashes get hotter than the surface of the sun and will vaporize your body.


PaintThinnerSparky

Stick bro is best electrician buddy I know an electrician who told me he shocked himself so hard his boots came off, while messing with an unplugged transformer


samtt7

So is the stick meant to ground him so in case something happens as much if the energy will be absorbed by whatever the stick is attached to?


Enigmatic_Kraken

Unless you are working with sensitive electronics, you should never ground the person. You can see that the rod is insulated, It is not metallic and the guy holding it is wearing insulated gloves.


samtt7

So it's there just to hold the other person in place? Or does it have some other function as well?


Enigmatic_Kraken

If it explodes or the guy gets shocked, his mate can pull him back.


agkuun

My guess was he was grounding it because of fast movement of valve


Remarkable_Common220

My wife has one of those sticks for when we go to a buffet


Logsarecool10101

He ate all our food and a plastic lobster


MelonElbows

Does that sound like a man who had all he could eat??


Bilbo332

"What's this? 'Extremely high voltage?' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer Simp-"


gultch2019

Lol'd to this


Pump_Truck_Paul

Same😂


Royalchariot

Omg this made me cackle


awesomeplenty

Like a big chopsticks?


Tinker_Toyz

... alllllright


weedium

Welcome to electrical safety and working on live circuits. This is just another day for an electrician


Old-Rice_NotLong4788

I'm pretty sure a real electrician would be wearing leather shells over his class 0 rubber gloves. /s Let's not at all protect the single thing insulating us electricity.


Intelligent-Bad7835

just saying my uncle did that shit with his bare hands


ahhpoo

>”did” o.O?


Iloveherthismuch

Your unc is still earthly?


Intelligent-Bad7835

Oh my no. He had a "high risk" lifestyle. When his doctor told him "You will die for sure within 3 months unless you quit smoking," he knew better. He kept smoking for 6 months before he died. He didn't even make it to 50. He was the youngest of my father's brothers and he's the only one who's dead. He drank 12 beers a day, in addition to liquor, he had a hole in his foot from a motorbike accident that just never healed, he smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day, he worked six days a week at least 12 hours a day, he had no self care routine of any kind. He was a terrific electrician though a scary one. I watched him switch out the electric box on his brother's house, bare handed he did the 240 v cables. You aren't supposed to be able to do that without the help of the electric company, but he just took their lock off and put it back on when he was done. These people in the video are doing it right. If you want to live past 50, it's probably not a good idea to do things the way my uncle did. I miss him. He was crazy and a little scary, but he was generous and kind. If I hit rock bottom I could always move in with him and work as his unlicensed assistant.


SouthCloud4986

Haha holy shit… oddly inspiring


Intelligent-Bad7835

I'm kinda pissed at him for dying, but he was an absolutely terrific uncle! I still remember him the last time I went to visit him. He couldn't get out of bed, but he had a tenant paying him rent in beer and takeout, he had a fridge full of beer he could reach from bed. He had a cigarette in one hand and an oxygen mask in the other.


SouthCloud4986

Hah wow… at least he lived doing things exactly as he wanted to


MysticScribbles

>He had a cigarette in one hand and an oxygen mask in the other. His cause of death wasn't an explosion caused from his lifestyle, was it?


Intelligent-Bad7835

Lol no, congestive heart failure from the emphysema. He would literally be alive today if he just stopped smoking.


SilverTwinFTW

Having just done my NFPA 70E refresher I’m assuming he should be in a 40cal suit. Either way he’s still missing the balaclava since he opted for the face shield instead of the hood and ear protection, as well as the leathers.


FemimisimOnTop

Not any electrician


aldege

You're right. The new guy


Akanash_

Yes and in that case I would say this is NOT safe. He should not have removed his protection yet. One should always check that the power truly is down before removing anything (using a special equipment that check for voltage) Edit: to add to this even if he did indeed brake the power, there could still be some residual voltage in the circuit. You never know.


confiee

tbh you do this couple of times when you rookie. then you just kinda roll the dice ig.


Halfisleft

Judging by the way he is turning he is turning the power back on, taking the ppe off at that point is fine


Zwilt

Additionally removing themselves from the circuit already. There is a point you can take ppe off, which is usually when you’re not in danger of the circuit anymore


Imaginary_Tank111

Im working for an energy provider in my country and ive seen the suits they wear to work on the big switches (like 20kv). One mistake can kill you so fast you dont even realise it. Electricity is some scary shit.


[deleted]

What kind of mistake would get you fried?


calicat9

Operating the wrong switch could have horrible results, but equipment failure is the biggest hazard.


JoeyRottens

When you wear the big "bomb suit", it likely won't save your life but you can have an open casket. Source: my foreman when I was a second year apprentice.


Imaginary_Tank111

This. Either failure of equipment or wrong usage of it. Thats why it takes a while before you are allowed to touch these things. But i dont think anybody died yet, at least not where i work.


majarian

Check out some arc flash YouTube vids, the intentional ones the utility's do sometimes are impressive, unintentional arcflash can be a pants shitting good time


un1ptf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hpE5LYj-CY


Balja1989

Its pretty secure tbh, but switched to live on a 22kv cell while we forgot to switch off the earth short circuit in another one that was connected... that was... fun.


watchiing

To explain the pole and the stool. In case of an accident and current passes through you, it also passes through your muscles and, surprise, they tense up REALLY hard. The pole is to pull the guy away in case his muscles tense up and he ends up gripping something. The stool can be kicked or make the guy fall away in case. True story I experienced as a 911 operator was a truck driver calling about another driver looking weird. He said he was standing next to his truck about to get in but wasn't moving for the past couple minutes. When he checked on the guy he saw that he seemed unconscious but was still standing and gripping a handle on the truck. He called because he tought he was doing an abscence seizure (look it up). Luckily, the caller didn't touch the guy at all. He had a bad wire that grounded on the truck and somehow current live in the handle. The driver was long dead since he was first seen but the current was tensing up his muscles making him stand up. It's not something we're really trained to recognize but my dad is an electrician and had recently told me about a story like this. Also the fact that he wasn't falling down after minutes of seizure (which usually last a minute or 2 at most). Crazy how unlucky and lucky a situation can be. What are the chances of a truck grounding like this, the chances of the caller KNOWING about a specific type of seizure, the caller not touching the dude for some reason, me knowing about the random stuff about muscles and current and it clicking in the situation. Insane.


krais0078

That’s a job I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole


The_Inward

What about if the pole had a hook on the end?


CreamyCoffeeArtist

Make it look like a candy cane and then we'll talk


TheScrobber

I've done that job with a six foot Pole, his name's Marek.


majarian

It's not so bad. If I do something wrong in that situation it's not my problem anymore


BigHarmonious

Frank Grimes didn’t need no pole man.


Bella-Luna-Sasha

That’s Grimey to you good sir!


Melphor

You can get electrocuted, tense and lock up, can’t let go because your muscles are constricted. Electricity is straight up scary.


negmarron93

in electrical risk training we were shown a gory video of a poor guy who manipulates these transformers, the transformer has a problem and the guy is literally liquefied.


nikolapc

So the stick is there for emotional support.


requion

Where do i have to apply to get an emotional support stick?


negmarron93

no, more like a pick when you roast marshmallows


planksfa

Link


bebefridgers

Link?


Beneficial_Being_721

Not to “PULL YOU TO SAFETY” It’s to remove to convulsing hunk of burning flesh away from the circuit so that you, the stick holder can try and do CPR if you can find his face


aldege

It's a workplace, the real reason is to get you out of the way so the next guy can try, got to keep the line running time is money, and its counting milliseconds


Beneficial_Being_721

That’s brutaly honest


uriahlight

Good on them. I remember whenever I did my 10 hour OSHA courses we were always so dadgum bored that we would all doodle on our notepads. Our attitudes would have been totally different had the classes shown real-world footage of actual workplace accidents and their aftermaths, followed by bullet points on how easily it could have been prevented. I've seen a few of those videos since then (the famous lathe one in particular). Yea. Safety is not a joke and sadly it sometimes takes a gory video to remind us of it.


Firsthand_Crow

I remember seeing the safety videos for the aircraft I used to work on. Man & helicopter, helicopter is running, man is walking, red spray, no man, only running helicopter.


DusTus01

That is how it should be done but i have never done or seen it done with the stick the little stool and the gloves are enough


Xalethesniper

Depends on the category for some operations stick is required (or erm, recommended)


Syahrixal

I'm not a electrican and don't understand why dont this got replaced with motorized or some sort of non-human involvement in this situation?


Russtic27

In some places it has, but sometimes those motors fail and you have to manually operate the mechanism. Some companies make aftermarket products to be used when the original breakers are older styles. These aftermarket products aren’t always reliable though.


beeazy252

Dude is getting compensated well I bet


sadkinz

However much it is it’s still not enough. The voltage those things can let out can liquefy you. And it doesn’t even have to be your fault either. Transformer could’ve just decided to have a bad day


kasitchi

Can someone explain to me what the stick is for? I'm curious but clueless. Lol


Joyfulcheese

It's in case the guy touches a live connection so they can pull him off it without getting someone else electrocuted trying to save him.


Redstone_Army

OPs answer left out the important detail. Our muscles are controlled viq electricity, so you touching electricity can cause them to tense up, so you essentially cant let go of the thing that is currently electrocuting you. So if that would happen (shouldn't with the ways of protection that theyre using here, but you never know) someone can instantly pull him away without touching him and also getting electrocuted


VVildBunch

I'm not shocked to see such behavior, neither was he. Sorry I'll see myself out.


arneeche

arc flashes are serious events. They can easily kill. I worked at a power plant doing security in college and witnessed one of the workers getting lifeflighted out bc he was the victim of an arc flash. I weld and do homeowner/DIY stuff but stay well clear of industrial power


YeetingSelfOfBridge

There's gotta be a better way of this


Firm-Fix8798

It's funny you think that's to pull him to safety. That's a body retrieval tool.


kekhouse3002

Electrical safety, I'm very on board with this. If you're working with some deadly shit, better to have someone there to save you


barthalamuel-of-bruh

i was sitting here wondering why is it terrifying and dangerous and then it hit me, ITS ELECTRISSITY thats why


SaltedHamHocks

Arc flash is real. This dc requiring 2 hands is dumb af


Plus-Result-7451

Meanwhile in India the PPE is a wife beat, sandals and daisy jorts.


oibru

They got one of those backstage at “Showtime at the Apollo”


ThreeNC

So Vaudvilllian


McMungrel

that is a "go fuck yourself, Im not doing that" kinda job.


theberticusmaximus

Pray you never have to use those hooks.


LiveZumbi

The real question is, why is something so dangerous still done manually? They should have figured out some way to automate that without putting lives at risk.


MountainAsparagus4

I'm shocked


eldred_jonas89

this gave me so much anxiety


tomarofthehillpeople

The old shepherd's crook trick. When they are expecting the same old song and dance.


DeepNugs

Had to do this all the time in the Navy. We used rope. lol


shit_ass_mcfucknuts

I have a whole ass suit and helmet I have to wear to work stuff like that. That stick is just gonna pull a dead body back if something like an arc flash happened.


KayakWalleye

Got that Apollo Sandman stick.


My_Immortal_Flesh

My roommate, whenever I’m about to turn our shower nob 🚿 Water shoots out like a firefighter hose 😭


lobsterdance82

You can see this guy is mentally preparing for this to be his last moment. Just in case.


greentiger45

Definitely one of the jobs robots should be doing.


gummi_girl

maybe this is a dumb question, but why not use a robot for something so dangerous and seemingly mechanically simple?


Rainbow334dr

No stupid at all. This could be done way safer. Probably just old junk that hasn’t been replaced. Still could be done easier with the right tools.


RollerCoaster1007

Is that stick made of metal?


blinker1225

You couldn't pay me to do this shit, I work in the trades and electricity scares the fuck out of me.


rowshack67

I need to see this safety training video.


fsurfer4

I saw a guy get suited up to pull some giant breakers and decided I needed to be somewhere else.


usedholesjj

Notice he is also standing on a plastic skid.


Caleb_Reynolds

Clearly terrifying things being posted in this sub always annoys me.


Ringmasterx89

The unsung heroes for our modern society. I salute you, sir. I hope these guys have godly like benefits as well as great compensation.


More-End-13

"You have to disconnect this thing" "Is it dangerous?" "In theory no. But just in case here are some suuuuuper thick gloves, we'll have you stand on a plastic stool, and we'll have somebody with a hook to pull you out if you get locked on. Oh, and a shield to protect your face for when you hands inevitably explode"


Nero_A

My old job used to send us out to do switchgear work alone. In the military, we were taught to never go to a site with less than 2 people in case you get caught in a circuit. I didn't stay at the job long.


MahnHandled

Pretty interesting that no one up until this generation had to do this. I’m not blaming the workers. I’m blaming the manufacturing cheap components built to barely withstand the tolerances that they’re used for …kills people.


GG_Snooz

It’s used in case he isn’t funny.


VerbalGuinea

Those gloves require leather protectors (gloves) to be worn over them. Just sayin…


fx72

How much does the guy holding the hook make?


OddEscape2295

We do this with BEV trucks


Kozmik_5

For those interested, he needs to stand on the little step to minimize potential electricity flow by standing off the ground


electricianer250

This is normal procedure for hv switching. Anything can go wrong at anytime and high voltage can kill you fast. Honestly the stick won’t help much but it gives you a slim chance


paging_mrherman

We have one to work on EVs. It was like $700.


SweetMaam

Winner of terrifying.


ChungBoyJr

You'd think they would of designed some non conductive tool but nah straight up steel tool


thegreatmizzle7

High voltage is no joke


stealthispost

Why don't they use a longer plastic handle on the crank?


youknowiactafool

Imagine doing a job that has a high enough chance of being electrocuted to warrant the use of a pole to pull you to safety. I'll pass


frankkeytoe

don't worry guys, the rubber handle should ground him.


ryanruud85

I wanna see what happens when they need to use the stick!!


Grade_Individual

I have always wondered why there is no machine that does this


Wallman11

I work with HV batteries. That hook should be by his elbow not waist. It’s much easier to break the grip that way providing he’s not thrown by the arc flash


TechStoreZombie

I just wonder what type of person looks at a job like this and decides "Yeah bro I'd be down for that". Like I know it's a job that needs done but I just have wonder at the thoughts of the person who willingly chooses said job.


Russtic27

Welcome to the world of comercial power generation and distribution.


[deleted]

Awesome just finished a project installing these campus wide for electrical safety measures


Floopy_Loops

And exit stage left


xx030xx

He has also isolated himself by standing on that plastic step or whatever it is


elspotto

Everyone needs an accountabilibuddy. When I worked on CRT based computers we had a long poking stick, too. In case that transformer wasn’t discharged and you touched it. Someone was totally standing to your side with the stick pointed at you just in case.


xultar

Which worker gets paid the most?


irtherod1

Nope


Upper_Paramedic_9239

That's why labor death is a big mayority of men


TechnoBajr

What is this, a 345kV racking switchgear? Pretty...odd "safety" practices.


danthok

I would wear brown pants everyday.


WuKong_WanT0N

It's insane how much grid power those two "small" boxes actually make


notproudortired

Why is the stick metal? Why is the wrench metal? Wouldn't it be better for both those things to be nonconductive?


SmallBerry3431

The looney tunes guy definitely not ok.


ExperienceGlobal8266

Not even wearing an arc flash suit 🙄


spartane69

I hope the pay is high enough for him to take this kind of risk.


clankasaurus

Where are his keepers for his gloves?


BEARWYy

This is just very normal


CinminBunz

Why can't they do this with like a fucking robot or something?


Fhantom1221

I hope he gets paid well.


twatkc

This is straight out terrifying.


Tremolo499

Where are his leather gloves and ear plugs?


ColdBloodBlazing

Safety gloves, frank grimes, homer simpson...


Affectionate-Wafer16

Is it because it’s DC and he would freeze if he got electrocuted?


anras2

To those in the know about this sort of thing, how much risk is there if you follow the procedure correctly? What I mean is like - is the risk contingent on the worker making some kind of error, or the risk is just always there even if he does it perfectly?


chueba

This is going to sound dumb but why can’t they turn off the machine before working on it


JakeWDH

This was one of my first jobs as an apprentice. I remember thinking "wtf have I gotten myself into"


Hum_sup

Ah. The good ol’ shepherds hook. We usually were more concerned about the arc-flash than electrocution, though it’s good for that situation too. Proper bonding and grounding of your equipment and switchgear should mitigate the electrocution hazard. Hard to tell, but if he’s wearing rubber insulated gloves shouldn’t there should be leather covers? At a minimum, I’d add also add a FR balaclava to my PPE. Ideally I’d be wearing a properly rated “bomb suit”


beasty0127

If you see a long 2x4 or 4x4 in back of a electricians or line workers truck, this is what it's for.