How do you treat an energized MACK?

[climbsomemore]

every place I've ever worked expected a mechanical ("real" voltage- rated rubber coated jumpers that is) to be treated like any other gloving rubber... incedental or brush contact only.

Swampy... i worked a ton of concrete at FPL... and lots of all steel distribution in a few other places. It's all "SAFE" if you follow the rules and understand the limits your work enviroment places on the equipment and how we work it.

Sounds like you spend too much time at Koehler, buddy.....

[Lineman North Florida]

My thing with the concrete poles is it is nothing but a dead ground, a giant series of steel re-bar with concrete surrounding it, hence why I treat the mechanical jumper just like I would any other bare conductor, a dry wood pole does offer some insulation value which I believe is considerably more forgiving, don't get me wrong I am not advocating not using rubber to cover mac's on wood poles I just don't believe you have to go to the extreme's that you should with concrete. As far as mac's being taken down every night that was not always practical for me as on re-conductor jobs I have left them on for a month or more, I agree the sun and elements do a number on them and I just make me up some more, also I would tighten them periodically if leaving them on the line for a while or you will be putting on some armor rods or sleaving the wire.

[Special ED]

Standing on the head of a mac while making up the other end is safe? Tell the to Pikes saftey man in the Central region. Similar incident only he was burnt and now walks with a cane. Be safe and if an extra step means extra protection why knock it? We all wanna go home at night so it would seem like everyone would be willing to go the extra mile with saftey

[mainline]

Ben we glove 12, but stick 19. We cover the arm, pole, or jumper where it contacts a ground. We do not however, cover the entire length of the jumper. It is already insulated. At some point you need to trust your tools especially if they are tested, clean, and inspected before use.

[lineman1010]

i treat a mac like you would treat a phase or a jumper. i will put a blanket down on the arm and lay the mac on that or even take a hot top and put the mac in one of those. we do not leave macs up over night. we use those parriot stands so you can mac a phase out by your self on single phase, on two or three phases u work with some one else so we mac things out together. stepping on a mac in the bottom of your bucket sounds like your just asking for trouble to me. no surprise swamp RAT would post something like that


we had a contractor working with for us, i dont know if he was an ap or a lineman but was putting a mac on by him self, put the hot end in his bucket bag. well he had a hole in his bag with a bolt sticking out of the whole and the bolt got into the ground. i guess he was ok no burns on him or anything. he walked away with out a mark on him. the bucket was all black and burnt up. he got really luck

[PSE Lineman]

"so you can mac a phase out by your self on single phase,"


One man jumpering a phase out with a mac? Why on earth would you do that? I'm staying right here where it's against state law to be in the primary zone alone!! No one man grounding! No gloving above 5KV!
The macs can stay the night if they want to. Stringing jobs, even longer. Lay them on the arm for an hour or 2, but not over night. NEVER stand on them like bucket trash. The bottom of the bucket is for stuff you don't want to toss out and hit anybody with.

[Meat]

"so you can mac a phase out by your self on single phase,"


One man jumpering a phase out with a mac? Why on earth would you do that? I'm staying right here where it's against state law to be in the primary zone alone!! No one man grounding! No gloving above 5KV!
The macs can stay the night if they want to. Stringing jobs, even longer. Lay them on the arm for an hour or 2, but not over night. NEVER stand on them like bucket trash. The bottom of the bucket is for stuff you don't want to toss out and hit anybody with.

Agreed with one exception, we dont lay them on anything without a blanket. Here's another handy tool.http://www.hfgp.com/ProductDetail.as...ctNumber=12577. Meat!

[Fiberglass Cowboy]

To mac (jumper) out phases ALONE where I work. I personally prefer to use my HASTINGS JUMPER/MAC HOLDER, or what some linemen refer to as a "third hand." It is specifically designed for holding "jumpers", (a.k.a. "patent" or "made up jumpers", or "stingers" or "risers" or whatever you want to call them) and macs (official "mechanical jumpers"). We do not have the "2 men in zone" rule yet where I work. Nor do I think it is necessary on many things, single phase work especially. Yes it is usually a good idea on 3 phase hot work to have 2 men in the "zone". Therefore, if I ever feel I need the help; I ask for it, & 9 out of 10 times I get it. When we do get the extra help that means 2 bucket trucks, not 1. At least 1 man in each bucket, instead of 2 men side-by-side in the same bucket. Personally, I think 2 men in separate buckets is a hell of alot better and more efficient versus 2 men crammed in 1 bucket. Therefore, the "2 men in the zone" rule isn't always the better way. I don't ALWAYS want to be STANDING NUT-TO-BUTT with some other prick-lineman in a bucket to go up and perform a simple task, like putting on a "basket" (stirrup), or something similar. I'm a god-damned JOURNEYMAN LINEMAN, & quite capable of performing MANY different tasks - out of a bucket / or off the pole in my hooks; on my own !!!

And the last 3 letters of OUR job title is MAN !!!

Proud to be UNION.... IBEW Local # 1464

[Edge]

I've done plenty of gloving (where I work now we glove up to 19.9/34.5)...and plenty of sticking (everything from 5kv 'bustion to 765 'mission...would love to try out some of the same stuff/tricks on the million that they build over in China and Japan but I'm to old for that shit and it's prolly all barehand work nowadays) when your gloving makes guys sloppy... theres to many layers of protection... insulated macks...gloves and sleeves...insulated bucket... we start thinking we're super man... if your gloving a mack treat the sob just like ya would a bare phase with a snake/hose/gut what ever the fug ya wanna call it on it... it's hot...buckets fail gloves fail... hoses fail... have you seen the failure rate on these shitty assed sailsbury gloves and sleeves?

Sticking? I always treated a Mac like it was a phase... Mad's applied... we used to run a piece of clean dry rope through our stick tester and tie a 8 inch eye bowline in it/// you could lift that bitch up over the x arm flip a stick through the loop grap the tali and "suck the mack up to the arm making a quick bowline on a bite... then you'd use your other sitck (both being finger sticks/grip alls/shot guns what ever your lingo is) to tye a qucik clove hitch that was pretty easy to untie when it cam time to transfer to the new pole or undo your jacks/hoists (it all depended ont the job ya know) bottom line is treat the sob like it's hot...cuz it fuggin is...

I dunno maybe I'm just to old to deal with this shit anymore... guess I'll start getting presidential... 4 more years!!! lmao

for what it's worth

Edge