Discuss Made a big mistake on a job need advice in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

We all make the occasional mistake. The art is to get it all fixed before anyone notices.
Cut right through a lead gas pipe once - in a building that didn't have gas! Was back in the days when British Gas had shops on the high street, so crimped over the end that was hissing at me, and walked up the street to the shop to report it. I heard later that the occupant of a flat a couple of doors up from where I was had also called into the shop later, complaining of a lack of gas supply.
 
A very experienced improver that i know brought down an entire airport by taking a grinder through the main comms cable into the building because he'd been told to 'rip everything out'.

Today my very experienced boss drilled through a main incomer by accident. Client plus two neighbours without power for 6 hours, potential 4-figure DNO bill incoming for the company.

I've been a builder for 19 years and about 3 months ago i was drilling into what i assumed was a double skinned brick wall, and when i went for a p!ss next door noticed it looked like Jesse James had had a shoot out in there with all the bulletholes in the wall.

My old man on his first day at a new construction company put a nail right through a main water pipe.

I fitted a dishwasher front for someone in a very expensive private newbuild estate. All the whitegood fronts i had ever used were blank on both sides and this had a template with holes so i assumed it was also blank both sides. Turns out the flip side of the front had all the holes already pre-drilled (so not sure what the point of the template was) and when i hung the door on the dishwasher all the pilot holes were on display. 50% chance of getting the right side and still got it wrong. As my dad would say, i could fall in a barrel of t*ts and still come out sucking my thumb.

Don't worry about the mistakes. You obviously care about it which means you'll learn from it.
 
A test engineer that I know once blacked out half of Southampton. A work mate of mine took a powerstation offline. I once caused a full fire muster at another power station. Yup, we all make mistakes 😇
 
I’ve managed something spectacularly stupid right in front of a customer.
In brief I managed to push two test probes hard onto an incomer ready for a Zs test completely forgetting there was also a lead connected directly between them 😂🤣
(I’d been IR testing L+N to E previously, then two phone calls and a cuppa and I didn’t remember how the test leads were setup)
Fortunately it was a sub main.
The worst bit was the customer was just saying how amazing it was we know what all the wires do…..as I caused a massive spark and loud click and I couldn’t help swearing and taking a jump backwards….!
yeah - we all make mistakes!
 

Reply to Made a big mistake on a job need advice in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Similar Threads

In a property with two consumer units one for the ring main etc., and the other for the 1970s storage heaters (storage heater CU looks like it’s...
Replies
14
Views
1K
Just had a simple kitchen light not working job, one of the fittings with the 4 spotlights on it. Took the fitting down to check if there was...
Replies
7
Views
988
Hi all, New to the forum. I have been asked to look at this for one of our guys who's had an issue onsite after some electrical works had been...
Replies
4
Views
842
Looking for a bit of advice from the wider audience / those who may have done similar before. I entered the game a bit later / in a non...
Replies
12
Views
772
This from a while ago but reading about everyone elses problems tonight made me remember this one. The original job was the lights in a recent...
Replies
1
Views
1K

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

YOUR Unread Posts

This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by untold.media Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock