| Warning: complacency kills |
Jolting
workers out of an attitude of "it couldn't happen to me"
and getting them to take personal responsibility for their own safety
is often an uphill battle. The real life experience of Randy Fellhoelter
may help you.
Contributed by Randy Fellhoelter, New Mexico
One morning seven years ago, a co-worker and I were sent out to
find and repair an underground cable fault on a residential underground
loop: a #2, 7200 volt primary cable—back yard construction
with deadfront padmount transformers that utilize load break elbows.
The night before, another crew had isolated the cable, attached
cable warning tags, and stood it off on portable stand-off bushings.
The safety rule in working on high voltage cables is always to test
and ground before working on them. However, I had not brought grounding
equipment, and my 20 years of high voltage line experience gave
me the confidence to take a short cut as I "knew" the
line was dead.
I was dead wrong.
While kneeling, I started to disassemble the wrong electrical elbow,
and made contact with the energized 7,200 volt cable. The electricity
instantly exited through both knees and blew me upright into a standing
position. Unfortunately, I was still holding onto the energized
connection with my right hand. The current could not find a ground
path through my neoprene soled work boots and I was engulfed in
an electric arc. The electricity finally found a way out of my left
thigh to the transformer beside me. This blew a 65T fuse approximately
twenty-six hundred feet away, a tremendous amount of default current.
In those few micro-seconds, my life, body and career were changed
permanently. I received 2nd, 3rd and 4th degree burns, my right
hand and forearm were amputated during one of the many bouts of
surgery to which I was subjected, and I endured months of painful
burn treatment, physiotherapy, and finally rehabilitation—not
to my original job, but to a new career in keeping with my new physical
limitations.
Up till the moment I touched that wire, I was an active linesman
and supervisor of field operations. I had to begin all over again
to find a new career to support myself and my family.
Why did the accident happen?
I can point to many reasons, a whole series of events : . . we were
understaffed . . . there was a communications break down . . . I
didn't expect the cable to be energized . . . my grounding device
was in the shop—a 45 minute drive away . . . it seemed "ridiculous"
to travel back to the shop to collect it merely for a routine type
job when I "knew" the cable to be dead. If any one of
those circumstances had changed, the sequence may have been interrupted
and the accident probably would not have happened.
Well, why do you think the accident
happened?
You can point to the series of events I have just related, or you
can give the short answer. The short answer is that I failed
to follow standard test and ground safety procedure.
I have to accept personal responsibility for the accident. I knew
I was not following safety procedure. I knew I should have properly
grounded the wires before starting work on them. I knew how to work
safely. No one else told me not to follow the safety rule. No one
pushed me. No one told me to take a short cut. It was solely my
choice.
It doesn't help after the fact that there were unrecognized hazards.
There will always be hazards you wouldn't expect. To blame these
hazards on "others" is hazardous to your health!
Watch out for new workers, experienced
workers—and
your veterans
New workers are more apt to get injured with their willing,
"can do" attitude and inexperience. They, we all know,
are at high risk for injury.
The safest workers statistically are those who have been in the
job from 2 to 10 years. They recognize the hazards, and have enough
respect for them to obey safety rules.
Veterans, often workers of 20 years or more experience, have few
accidents. But it is not always because they work safely, sad to
say. It is frequently because they know just how much of a shortcut
they can take. They have become inured to the dangers, complacent,
and over-confident. Veterans may take short cuts in truly hazardous
situations. When these experienced workers do have accidents, they
are likely to be catastrophic.
I fit into that last group nicely. I had over 20 years experience
the day I touched the 7,200 volt wire. I had been working with high
voltage cables all my working life. I knew the hazards. I "knew"
when I could relax a safety rule.
Please remember this in your job. Please remember it in directing
the efforts of people of all experience levels.
- Explain to new team members that you
don't need unsafe workers who cut corners to get the job done.
You need safe workers who live to become productive members of
the team.
- Remind your safe workers, those who
have been around a few years and know and follow safety rules,
that the rules never become irrelevant. The rules apply to them
today as much as when they were new on the job. Make sure they
never let their guard down.
- And a final word for the veterans. The
most seasoned workers are often called upon to do the difficult
tasks, solve the problems, get the work out quickly and efficiently.
They are often recognized and rewarded for their ability to solve
problems, deal with tough circumstances. They also are rewarded
for doing the job quickly with no fuss. Unfortunately, often they
are so useful because . . . they skip tiresome and time-consuming
safety rules. They are recognized for their ability to take short
cuts. They may be unwittingly rewarded for the very behaviors
that put them at risk!
- Be aware of this any time you ask an
experienced worker to step into the breech. Make sure you never
reward anyone for working dangerously. See that everyone is playing
by the rules, following safety procedures. Safety rules apply
to all. Make sure all your team members take responsibility for
following them.
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