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View Full Version : Serviceman removes a contractors grounds and heats up a line



washington tramp
01-07-2007, 12:26 AM
:eek: The Pacific Northwest recieves a devistating storm, knocking out over a million people. Over 600+ crews were called in from all over the country and Canada. I have now heard from several people that a Serviceman from the hosting Utility removed grounds from a contracting crew and heated up the line while they were away from the work site. If any one has more information on this please reply. How would the system operator release a clearence to the serviceman? And why would you pull a contractors grounds? It's dangerous enough out there, on a storm trying to put the lights on when you have idiots like this out there lifting your grounds and energizing a line to be a hero to his utilitiy.

Genoin NW
01-07-2007, 12:09 PM
I was up there too and did hear about that! I don't know any facts. I did hear of a contract crew that removed grounds with another crew working on the same line but nothing was energized. After being there... I thought there was a lot of miscommunications going on there! Our 'bird dog' was gone almost all the time. We worked through it and stayed safe.

racinsprintz10
01-07-2007, 12:52 PM
about how long ago did this happen?

Genoin NW
01-07-2007, 12:56 PM
The storm hit right before 6pm on December 21st. Wiped out almost everything in about 30 minutes. Mostly wire down on our system, a snap to get back up. We got loaned out to help in Seattle where entire cirsuit systems were on the ground. I heard of some dumb moves but never heard of anyone getting hurt.

77liner
01-07-2007, 01:28 PM
Brother your dates are way off if your talking about the storm in Seattle.
The date was Dec 14 late night and continued into Friday morning.
I would be very suprised if a serviceman at Seattle City Light removed anyones grounds without permission.
There were a few accidents and one fatality in Tacoma.
The brother was a trimmer who was injured while removing a tree. He passed away Jan 2 2007. There is some info on Local 77 web
More details would help

TRAMPLINEMAN
01-07-2007, 02:22 PM
We were there too. We had 6 crews with us. We each had our own bird dog who never left any of the crews. Not sure if it was the same everywhere, but our two bird dogs were contractors, working for Potelco. All the other crews we talked to had nothing but good things to say about their time there.

Genoin NW
01-07-2007, 02:36 PM
Yep, you're right 77, I was off by one week. I guess the lask of sleep is still with me!

Genoin NW
01-07-2007, 02:40 PM
I can't even spell today! We did get treated very well up there, I have no complaints at all. "Lask" of sleep? Lack of memory!

racinsprintz10
01-07-2007, 04:15 PM
right on, I was up there as well. PSE has a good system and the bird dogs with us from Potelco were stand-up and very safe hands. I believe they made the storm as safe as it could be.

shaun
01-07-2007, 06:21 PM
:eek: The Pacific Northwest recieves a devistating storm, knocking out over a million people. Over 600+ crews were called in from all over the country and Canada. I have now heard from several people that a Serviceman from the hosting Utility removed grounds from a contracting crew and heated up the line while they were away from the work site. If any one has more information on this please reply. How would the system operator release a clearence to the serviceman? And why would you pull a contractors grounds? It's dangerous enough out there, on a storm trying to put the lights on when you have idiots like this out there lifting your grounds and energizing a line to be a hero to his utilitiy.

Take it easy. I seriously doubt (or would hope) that some serviceman would removed grounds without being told to do so just to be a hero. We're all smarter than that. With all the tagging requirments that we have, I'd imagine the contractor contacted the system op and release tags prior to grounds being remove by another lineman. Of course, every storm seems to be the first storm a utility deals with so I might be all wrong. Were you working on the line in question?

scammy
01-17-2007, 09:45 PM
I dont consider myself better than anyone ,,but servicemen have thier job,,,, I have mine,