Thread: For the scientifically minded...

Originally Posted by MickRussell

Roughkype, another thing they probably didn't tell you is that the damage from shocks to your nervous system in general and your heart in particular is cumulative, that is it builds up over time without ever completely healing and gets a little worse with each successive shock. It's one of the reasons I'm moving from my trade into IT, since I've had a couple of ripper shocks. Some were clearly my fault, some less so, but I could have prevented all of them if I'd been pedantic about isolation instead of allowing myself to be intimidated into do "what was best for the production line". Sometimes the line just has to stop and the production foreman just has to suck it up or whatever needs to be done, doesn't get done.

Thanks, Mick. In one way, I'm lucky I'm making this change later in life. Previously I was white-collar, so though I wasn't building construction-worker strength, I wasn't suffering the wear and tear either.

I'm training through the IBEW, and the only guys I've seen work hot did it to be macho. Lockout/tagout has been the very strong norm everywhere I've worked so far.

What I've seen blown off a lot, though, is meggering before powering up new installations. In that case I just go stand very very far away.

--Tim

Oh yeah, never never NEVER power up a new installation without doing those final checks. Sure they might take another hour on a large domestic or even a day or two on a large industrial where you have to do final checks on earth bonds and substations and all with some little pencil neck manager squealing that they want the job finished and written off, but if there's a problem it can turn a brand new home or million dollar machine into a pile of ashes. If THAT happens it's gonna be all YOUR fault no matter what the management did, or at least that's what your typical dodge-all-responsibility management type will try to lay on you and it's damn hard to fight.
I like to declare my work site a "hazardous area" which then requires ALL personnel to be properly inducted by the designated officer (ie ME) before they can come on site. It means I have to at least tape off the work area but it also means I have every legal right to throw anyone not properly inducted, including the property owner and any stuffed suits, out of the area on the spot "for their own safety".

Originally Posted by roughkype

Thanks, Mick. In one way, I'm lucky I'm making this change later in life. Previously I was white-collar, so though I wasn't building construction-worker strength, I wasn't suffering the wear and tear either.

I'm training through the IBEW, and the only guys I've seen work hot did it to be macho. Lockout/tagout has been the very strong norm everywhere I've worked so far.

What I've seen blown off a lot, though, is meggering before powering up new installations. In that case I just go stand very very far away.

--Tim

I too have been a member of the IBEW since 99. As far as lockout Tagout, it all depended on the job, industrial it always happens, commercial it rarely happens. Local 58 is saturated with wiremen and the competition for work is fierce so you do what you have to do to be better and faster than the next guy and a lot of the time that involves working on live gear. It never bothered me to work hot (nothing macho about it) I always thought it brought some excitement to an otherwise boring day the main thing to remember is to stay afraid and you'll be okay.
As a wiremen I did really well I was the youngest Forman for the 2nd largest company in Michigan and on my last job I made the company an 18% profit however I hated the work, didn't care for most of the people I worked for and I detested the competition so I left the trade. Now I'm happier than a pig in mud as a barber.

If you love electrical work I would suggest taking classes to be a splicer, I did and it was the only part of the trade I really loved and there are lots of benefits to it. Best of luck to you!

Sorry for getting off topic there.

OK, I'm still pretty green. Splicer of what? Fiber optic? Phone lines?

I'm going to get a level or 2 of NICET, but fire alarms don't really turn me on. Just doing that in case I ever need it to climb the books. I really dug industrial in a monstrous coal-fired power plant, but also kind of like my sense of hearing. Power quality really interests me, but I don't have it in me to go back for a EE degree and the quality stuff looks like it gets real complex real fast.

We had a lot of linemen laid off in my local recently, but they make so much more than inside wiremen here that I'll be surprised to see them competing for what little work there is anyway.

My ultimate goal is to get my master's license, move back to a campus town, paint my name on the side of a van, and help well-heeled professors keep old houses going. That and farms. I like farms and it'd be a good way to line up hunting properties. Yeah, I'm also a glutton for filth and will probably be one for billing hassles too.

I just need 6 months of steady work so I can take my state license exam.

I hear about Detroit on the news every few weeks, and it's usually cool stories about how young hip creative people are bringing bits of it back to life. I hope it's as good as they make it sound.

Thanks for chiming in. I think the topic is fairly free-form now.

I'm not sure how the classifications break down in your local, here inside wireman never touch low voltage with the exception of fire alarm. Also the inside wiremen make way more than linemen but (not to sound cocky) here in Detroit we do have the best and most knowledgable wiremen in the U.S. mainly because of the industry we have had here for the last 100 years.

As far as splicing I was referring to high voltage joint splicing it's a pretty cool part of the trade and very highly specialized.

Detroit is an amazing place to live, I have been able to watch it go from being a very depressed place to the techno underground capital and now the new hip place to be. The shop I work at is in midtown where a lot of that growth is happening. It's weird because it is just a city, but this place has a soul like no other place and I'm very proud to be a part of what is happening here now.