workplace safety

[gnuuser]

while servicing an industrial automation communications system today
I was checking the station plc panels and found spray bottles of lite weight lube oil hidden in the panel cabinet
(this stuff was moderately flammable)
this prompted me to check the motor controller cabinet.
and i found a bottle of additive for the uv printer systems
this stuff consisted of methanol, ethyl alcohol and butanone.
(far more volatile than gasoline)

(( in a 3 phase contactor cabinet))

.
talk about a disaster waiting to happen.
what the hell were these people thinking
hell we dont have to worry about terrorists when this type of stupidity will do the job for them
immediately filed a safety report after i calmed down enough

 

[Knobhead]

I was quite happy to find a couple of bottles of whiskey in a panel.

 

[Marvo]

Yeah spray oil in a panel wouldn't be a good idea. I've only ever found tools like screwdrivers and crimpers etc... unfortunately no Scotch

 

[Knobhead]

At the end of the day, who's bothered if septics get blown up! There's just too many of them!

A country that has one of the most dangerous domestic distribution systems. Is in no position to lecture the UK where we have one of the safest systems.

 

[Engineer54]

At the end of the day, who's bothered if septics get blown up! There's just too many of them!

A country that has one of the most dangerous domestic distribution systems. Is in no position to lecture the UK where we have one of the safest systems.

What do you consider as being the most dangerous aspect of the Yanks domestic distribution system??

 

[Knobhead]

What do you consider as being the most dangerous aspect of the Yanks domestic distribution system??

Plain and simple, un-shuttered outlets! Added to dual voltage in a domestic environment.

 

[gnuuser]

Plain and simple, un-shuttered outlets! Added to dual voltage in a domestic environment.

i agree tony
weve just started finding them in our supplier's stores in the past month
i wish they were more available. they dont cost any more than the standard but it seems the only home-owners you can convince to use them are the ones with small children.

im not lecturing i am just shocked because of the potential disaster that could have happened.
i just dont like seeing anyone getting hurt

 

[Engineer54]

I'll not disagree on the sockets, they are a bad design all round, especially those using captive screw heads for conductor termination. Same goes for the light switches with captive screw connections. I can remember looking down a corridor, and at every switch point, there was flash marks where an electrician had tried but failed to remove a switch live from it's back box without the captive screw touching the earthed back box!! lol!! The plug tops are also badly designed, the pins on them are wafer thin, ...but that also applies to the similar Aussie design. Going back to the Yank plug tops, never seen one yet that don't half pull themselves out of the socket because they are too back heavy. The straight plug top design is the worst culprit for this, but the angled type isn't that much better.

I also don't like the copious use of screw-it type connectors at virtually every back box on an installation, the biggest cause of house fires in the States bar none!!

As for the dual voltage being present in a domestic environment, i could argue, that is the same with the larger domestic installs in the UK, that will often be supplied at 3 Phase + Neutral. What i don't like is the ''Multi Branch'' circuits used in the States, especially where 3 phase installations are concerned!!

 

[brookster]

I found a lighter in an 11KV busbar chamber!

 

[KAS1]

Was it a Zippo

 

[Hants-Spark]

Was it a Zippo

Have you lost yours then

 

[Gage]

Go get a look at some of the gas methanol and endogas systems at 'old' (less modern) heat treatment plants. Even in modern systems you still see highly explosive gases passing through control panels. Just as dangerous if not more. At the end of the day it's only some pour souls life lol.... (That's a joke btw for all the boys with a chip on their shoulder)

 

[Knobhead]

An American friend sent me this, he was quite proud of it.

 

[Engineer54]

And that's the typical mess you'll find on most DB's within Yank domestic installs!! The cabling arrangements entering DB's on a domestic installation sometimes has to be seen to be believed!!

Notice the amount of CPC's connected to the earth bar, compared with the number of circuits contained in this DB!!! In fact on this DB it's hard to distinguish what are earth bars and what are neutral bars!! ...lol!! That will be at least a 200A MCCB in that panel too!!

 

[Knobhead]

I found a lighter in an 11KV busbar chamber!

Found a dead field mouse in one of ours. Poor little thing wouldn’t have known a thing about the Final Trump of Gabriel’s Horn.
The top plates were bent by the blast. My mate had to chisel bit of porcelain out of the subs brick wall from the OCB spout insulators disintegrating.
It was old gear.
Got me a lot of overtime though.

 

[Gage]

Something I noticed when driving past a BT Infinity box when a guy was working in it...there were wires absolutely everywhere inside, it looked like someone had poured gallons of spaghetti in there, truly ridiculous. Not sure why I said this here but I did.

 

[Knobhead]

Years back as an apprentice I helped build a Solicon logic panel. 100’s of octal bases that the units plugged in to. All soldered connections, neatly loomed and along came the designer. Pointed to a small note at the bottom of the drawings. “All wiring SPIDER WEB.”
To go from unit 20 in row 11 to unit 8 in row 75, you went in a straight line.

We tried it, abject failure. Start again!

 

[gnuuser]

the company hired a new structural engineer who came highly recommended.
today while checking out the ventilation in the building he was checking out a large exhaust fan.
this fan was run by a 3 horse 3 phase motor and had solid aluminium blades.
rather than shut the fan down and jog it to see the rotation direction the twit stuck his forefinger in the blade cage and lost half of his finger. WTF. major brain fart there.
says a lot for the college he attended doesn't it.

hell most of us older sparks learned common sense early in life from the end of our fathers work shoe applied to the backside

 

[Engineer54]

the company hired a new structural engineer who came highly recommended.
today while checking out the ventilation in the building he was checking out a large exhaust fan.
this fan was run by a 3 horse 3 phase motor and had solid aluminium blades.
rather than shut the fan down and jog it to see the rotation direction the twit stuck his forefinger in the blade cage and lost half of his finger. WTF. major brain fart there.
says a lot for the college he attended doesn't it.

hell most of us older sparks learned common sense early in life from the end of our fathers work shoe applied to the backside

Are you back in the States now, or still in the Middle East?? Or maybe i have confused you with another American spark on the Forum??

 

[shanky887614]

Are you back in the States now, or still in the Middle East?? Or maybe i have confused you with another American spark on the Forum??

don't you mean a slipper/belt?

truth be told though see many idiots that im surprised are still breathing and ive only been on big sites for a year