Downed conductor work procedures

[CPOPE]

I'm looking for other company work procedures for picking up a de-energized downd primary.

Let us say it is 25KV phase to phase 14.4 phase to ground.

You approach. Line recloser locked open. How do you proceede.

Is there a need to ground prior to considering the conductor de-energized and approaching to pick up with 20KV gloves?

Don't rip my head off but you, by OSHA rules, must ground prior to considering it de-energized. Been picking up downed primary without grounding for over 20YEARS.

[lewy]

1 Apply your tag (work portection) at your reclosure
Loop or radial feed?
2 Test & ground ,there is no visible open point with the reclosure, but even if there was a visible open point you should ground it
3 You mite have to ground the other end also or at least the downed conductor if just 1 phase

[mainline]

Open load side disconnects on recloser. Test for dead. Apply grounds. Tag with device hold tag. Ground other side of work area. Complete work. Our utility requires a physical opening at a recloser. We can't glove 12kv off the pole so we can't touch it on the ground until it is test tagged and grounded. I don't know the exact wording of OSHAs rules, but I know if yu don't follow the companies it can result in an unwanted vacation. Hope this helps.

[Fiberglass Cowboy]

HERE IN MISSOURI AT THE UTILITY I WORK FOR. TAG OUT RECLOSER OR SECTIONALIZER OR FUSED CUTOUT OR POWER FUSE OR EVEN 600AMP/900AMP SOLID BLADE DISSCONNECT SWITCH (IF YOU'RE ISOLATING LINE FIRST TO GET MOST AMOUNT OF CUSTOMERS BACK ON BEFORE REPAIRING DOWNED LINE). GAIN VISUAL OPEN. OPEN HANDLE ON RECLOSER OR SECTIONALIZER IS NOT A VISUAL OPEN,BECAUSE YOU OBVIOSLY CAN'T SEE INSIDE TANK. SO REMOVE JUMPERS (A.K.A. STINGERS OR RISERS) TO GAIN VISUAL OPEN. GAIN CLEARANCE TO GROUND LINE. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE BY NOTIFYING S.O.C.C. (DISPATCH) OR THE AREA OR THE ON-CALL SERVICEMAN (TROUBLEMAN). TEST LINE FOR DEAD USING ACTUAL HIGH VOLTAGE INDICATORS,NOT A CRESCENT WRENCH. APPLY GROUNDS. PERFORM WORK. THEN REVERSE THE PROCEDURE AND WE'RE DONE. THIS IS HOW IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE. NOT SAYING THAT IT IS DONE THAT WAY EVERY TIME....... :D

STAY SAFE OUT THERE,DUDES... :cool:

[CPOPE]

OK thanks to all for the responce.

Phase down, I roll to the site. Public around, it is not burning and area is not seccure city/urban area.

Rather than lockout tagout I play it hot to make area safe. With gloves and hotstick bolt cutter I cut the downed conductor to make safe. cone off area tape and baracade. I'm a single worker.

Are any of our common work rules violated?

Normal procedure should be to ground first but the conductors are down in the street with cars and people. I don't want to be a hero but I also want to make safe for the public before I test tag and ground.

[lewy]

OK thanks to all for the responce.

Phase down, I roll to the site. Public around, it is not burning and area is not seccure city/urban area.

Rather than lockout tagout I play it hot to make area safe. With gloves and hotstick bolt cutter I cut the downed conductor to make safe. cone off area tape and baracade. I'm a single worker.

Are any of our common work rules violated?

Normal procedure should be to ground first but the conductors are down in the street with cars and people. I don't want to be a hero but I also want to make safe for the public before I test tag and ground.I agree the first thing you want to do is make it safe for yourself & the public
Yes you should baricade the area first to keep people out, at this point they will have to wait.
Once you know the line is isoated I still think the first thing you should do is ground the line it is always safer if it is grounded .You should also apply your work protection.
Will you not need this area blocked off anyway, because I am guessing you are going to have to make repairs?

[BULLogna]

firstly, killing & grounding is the best idea. but if for some reason you didn't want to kill the other two phases like in a metro area. we might cut the tail down after you have secured both ways with a sling or blocks. then pull wire up and leaving in rigging secured to pin or pole top or in double grip to tail with plenty of air between tails. pull other end up leaving enough slack to make on other end. splice then pick up load on other side using a pick-up mack. finish sag and splice. works best if you got enough people to work both ends at once. perfectly with in safety rules where I work but most commonly used on 4kv and sparinly on 12kv. always expect backfeed!

[barehander]

I'm looking for other company work procedures for picking up a de-energized downd primary.

Let us say it is 25KV phase to phase 14.4 phase to ground.

You approach. Line recloser locked open. How do you proceede.

Is there a need to ground prior to considering the conductor de-energized and approaching to pick up with 20KV gloves?

Don't rip my head off but you, by OSHA rules, must ground prior to considering it de-energized. Been picking up downed primary without grounding for over 20YEARS.

CPOPE, this is easy. Having been a Troubleman for a brief period, everyone else is telling you to go here and go there, tag this and that, but if the public is involved, you have to protect them. If I was to drive up on a wire down, I would either have to cut it in the clear, out of the publics reach, or sit there and call for help to clear the line and wait for a crew to ground.
I had to look at your post on gloving 12kv from a pole. You seem to agree that it can be done, but........

Part of your tailboard should be to review the tasks, associated hazzards and steps that can be taken to mitigate said hazzards.

Please rember anything can fail at anytime. I mean that there is a good proability that something can go wrong at any time. Loss of control of a phase conductor, your on hooks there is a good proability you are going to be lowered off the pole via a handline and into a body bag. DO your hazzard analysis. Layer your mitigation against hazzards. If your gloves fail and you are standang on a board rether than hooks you have a second layer of protection, Wear your hooks over dielectric boots rather than use a diveboard.

It can be done safely just be fully aware of the hazzards. The flying Wolynidas do it without a net you don't have to. Work it dead and grounded if at all practiable. Mutliply your risk mitigation for redundancy so is somthing goes wrong you have a backup.

Most people that bitch about gloving 12kv off of a pole have no problem walking over to a wire on the ground and pick it up with rubber gloves on...
I will guarantee that no company has a rule for rubber gloving while standing on the ground.......
Cut it in the clear, or ask for help.......

[mainline]

CPOPE I don't see what you did as being unsafe. You made the situation safe for the public while protecting yourself. Leaving a potentially hot phase laying on the ground seems far more dangerous than using hotstick cutters to chop down wire.

[CPOPE]

THe work procedure sounds simple and we can pick up or cut the line make area safe w/o grounding the conductor using live line work procedures.

Why then does this continue to happen?

Met-Ed worker killed working on downed line
Tuesday, March 11, 2008; Posted: 07:45 AM

Mar 11, 2008 (The Morning Call - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- MTEDM |-- A 43-year-old Metropolitan Edison Co. employee died Sunday after coming into contact with a high voltage power line while working in Durham Township, the Lehigh County Coroner's office said.
Timothy Edwards of Forks Township was pronounced dead at 7:31 p.m. Sunday at St. Luke's Hospital-Fountain Hill, about an hour after the incident, state police at Dublin said.
Lehigh County Coroner Scott M. Grim said Edwards was electrocuted. He ruled the death an accident.
Grim said Edwards was working at Route 611 and Lehnenberg Road about 6:30 p.m. when he came in contact with the power line. Edwards was taken by helicopter to the hospital.
Scott Surgeoner, a spokesman for First Energy, Met-Ed's parent company, said Edwards was fixing a wire that came down during the heavy rain and wind storms Saturday.
Edwards worked for the company for 20 years, Surgeoner said. He began his career with Jersey Central Power and Light, another First Energy company, in 1988 and has been with Met-Ed for the past six years.
Edwards is survived by three children, Surgeoner said.
"First and foremost, we would like to express our deepest sympathies to his family, friends and co-workers," he said.
He said the company couldn't provide more detail about the incident until it completes its investigation.
"It does point to the dangers involved with performing this type of work," he said. "It also reminds everyone that you should never touch a downed wire."
Reading-based Met-Ed provides electric service to customers in southern and southeastern Pennsylvania.

[glovenlove13kva]

I'm looking for other company work procedures for picking up a de-energized downd primary.

Let us say it is 25KV phase to phase 14.4 phase to ground.

You approach. Line recloser locked open. How do you proceede.

Is there a need to ground prior to considering the conductor de-energized and approaching to pick up with 20KV gloves?

Don't rip my head off but you, by OSHA rules, must ground prior to considering it de-energized. Been picking up downed primary without grounding for over 20YEARS.

First thing is call dispatcher and ask for status on circuit. If circuit is out I would go down one or two section from down wire and make my test to make sure wire is dead. then depending on the situation either cut it clear or put it up with another guy. To answer your ? no, no need to ground. I should say every down wire has a different situation. You wouldn't ground if the phase that is down is laying across another energized phase.

[Special ED]

Ground flag and tag would be your best bet...

But in the case of nosey public and keeping them safe I would always tape off the area and usually there would be a cop there before hand to assist in keeping people back.

The company I used to work for would not allow anyone to handle wire overhead or underground primary (secondary excluded) unless it was dead and grounded properly. Just walkin up with your gloves and sleeves and pullin it out of the way and you would be gettin a week long vacation with no pay..

[johnbellamy]

........................

[australiantroubleman]

Our company rules require us to isolate the main with a air break switch , underslung link or whatever approved isolation point is available (not tripped reclosers or circuit breakers) before approaching the conductor to ground it.

We are not allowed to handle ungrounded fallen mains with gloves but can cut them away clear with live line cutters after isolation .

Our 240/415 volt secondary system has many normally open ties between substations , its not uncommon to find one of these parallelling points left closed by mistake this can cause transformers to try to backfeed into faults ,for this reason a tripped circuit breaker doesnt really guarantee hv is denergised and any transformers within the isolation must also have the secondary links open .

We cannot leave a fallen conductor unless a responsible person is present minimum police officer so we often have to wait onsite until assistance arrives.

As troublemen we usually make the area safe only until a standby linecrew arrives to carry out the repair.

[Special ED]

Our 240/415 volt secondary system has many normally open ties between substations , its not uncommon to find one of these parallelling points left closed by mistake this can cause transformers to try to backfeed into faults ,for this reason a tripped circuit breaker doesnt really guarantee hv is denergised and any transformers within the isolation must also have the secondary links open .



On that note.. They used to make it common practice to install tie breakers (widow makers) on the secondary so trouble men could respond to a bad transformer call and open the cut out of the bad transformer and close the tie can and have another transformer pick up the extra load till a crew was able to change out the bad can. But they had troubles with the tie cans closing on their own and are trying to get rid of them cause they got people burnt. You could be climbing one pole and the next pole down with the tie cans would close just from an accidental shake of the secondary.

So now they require all tie cans to be removed and destroyed as well as all cutouts feeding cans have to be opened before testing grounding and tagging a line for dead work.

In this situation though make it safe for the public and yourself.. Dont try to be a cowboy hero type. Use your head Im sure you will figure something out.

[CPOPE]

Thanks to all ya responses on this thread.

Simply put best to lockout takout and ground. Even the w/o a EPZ zone setup keep ya dielectric footwear and gloves on. I hate to see trouble workers clear off a site leaving cops cars and the public walking around. It's at times unavoidable. /.36 hours for me on the Cape last weekend snow storm. Came across a 1/0 al tree wire burning on the ground and brought back my concern w/the public hazards:

Electrical hazards exist in some form in nearly all occupations. However, those hazards multiply for workers involved in cleanup and recovery efforts following major disasters and weather emergencies. One particular life-threatening danger exists around downed and low-hanging electrical wires.
Safety First
Above all else, always consider all equipment, lines and conductors to be energized. Be cautious and if you notice downed wires or damaged electrical equipment, contact appropriate utility personnel. Remember that circuits do not always turn off when a power line falls into a tree or onto the ground. Even if they are not sparking or humming, fallen power lines can kill you if you touch them or even the ground nearby.
Energy
Downed wires can energize other objects, including fences, water pipes, bushes and trees, buildings, telephone/CATV/fiber optic cables and other electric utilities. Even manhole castings and reinforcement bars (re/bar) in pavement can become energized by downed wires. During storms, wind-blown objects such as canopies, aluminum roofs, siding, sheds, etc., can also be energized by downed wires.
Backfeed
When electrical conductors are inadvertently energized by other energy sources, backfeed occurs. Some of those sources include:
• Circuit ties/switch points
• Lightning
• Generators
• Downstream events
Simply testing for energy sources is not sufficient since hazardous electrical events can happen without warning. Ensure that proper lockout/tagout procedures are always followed.
Rules to live by
• Do NOT assume that a downed conductor is safe simply because it is on the ground or it is not sparking.
• Do NOT assume that all coated, weatherproof or insulated wire is just telephone, television or fiber-optic cable.
• Low-hanging wires still have voltage potential even if they are not touching the ground.
So, “don’t touch them.” Everything is energized until tested to be de-energized.
• Never go near a downed or fallen electric power line. Always assume that it is energized. Touching it could be fatal.
• Electricity can spread outward through the ground in a circular shape from the point of contact. As you move away from the center, large differences in voltages can be created.
• Never drive over downed power lines. Assume that they are energized. And, even if they are not, downed lines can become entangled in your equipment or vehicle.
• If contact is made with an energized power line while you are in a vehicle, remain calm and do not get out unless the vehicle is on fire. If possible, call for help.
• If you must exit any equipment because of fire or other safety reasons, try to jump completely clear, making sure that you do not touch the equipment and the ground at the same time. Land with both feet together and shuffle away in small steps to minimize the path of electric current and avoid electrical shock. Be careful to maintain your balance.

[tramp67]

So, you get the call for a downed line and you arrive on the scene. The cops are there, but they are busy directing traffic. Once they see you, they devote their full attention to traffic control, not worrying about people walking down the sidewalk. You quickly check the area, and see the blown cutout several spans away. You take a ground off your truck, attach it past the cutout, and hang your hold card. Now you head down the line, checking for a visual open on the other side. Yup, there it is, another cutout, door stapled to the pole. You hang another hold tag, and apply a second ground. Suddenly, the dispatcher calls and tells you somebody just made contact with a downed power line, the same circuit you were dispatched to. You race back to the scene, and two kids are laying on the ground next to the conductor you just left. Off in the distance, you hear the sound of a generator.
Now, what would be the better method, treating the conductor as hot and working it as such, or taking the time to leave the scene to get your visual opens and place grounds on either side? Just because the line is grounded, it doesn't mean it's dead unless you have isolated it from ALL possible sources of power. Do any of you really take the time to disconnect EVERY transformer primary from the section of line you have isolated? If not, then you are taking a chance every time you consider a line "de-energized and grounded"!

[Stinger]

Our union usally follows customer requirements. We pretty much follow what mainline said. When we worked the ice storm for CMP it had too be that way. No problems. Even between grounds we still wear our rubber gloves- better safe than sorry. We were on a wind storm a few years ago, big tree came down and took 3phase spacer to the ground with it. Pulled up to the scene. Parked away from the wires down and grabbed a stick and tester. While we were getting ready to test the line, a safety guy comes up and starts to question if we are wearing EH boots and a few other questions. Told to un-ass my zone until i tested. he said it is on the ground , so it has to be dead. He had The Deer In The headlight Look when the tester showed we still had primary voltage on the conductor laying on the ground. He kind of disappeared until we got the line open and grounded. The point being do not take anything for granted until you personally verify your line is dead and open points and grounds are in place.

[Boomer gone soft]

I'm looking for other company work procedures for picking up a de-energized downd primary.

Let us say it is 25KV phase to phase 14.4 phase to ground.

You approach. Line recloser locked open. How do you proceede.

Is there a need to ground prior to considering the conductor de-energized and approaching to pick up with 20KV gloves?

Don't rip my head off but you, by OSHA rules, must ground prior to considering it de-energized. Been picking up downed primary without grounding for over 20YEARS.

1. Our rules require a visual open--solid blade doors at recloser must be opened and held.

2. Contact dispatch (DDC) for clearance to test and ground.

3. We would not wear 20kV gloves on a line with 25kV line voltage even though phase voltage is 14.4kV. Class 3 gloves and sleeves would still be required or sticks.

I am assuming the wire is down because it broke (and not a pole, etc.). If the wire has an open, it must be grounded on both sides of the open.

We do not open TX cutouts in this situation. The philosophy with that is: once the line is tested and grounded, the cutout fuse or the generator would blow if there were any backfeed into a grounded primary.

With all of that said, we do not ground 3 phase without a second guy and we do not leave the scene if there is danger to the public. As always we reps have to use our best judgment.;)

[CPOPE]

What a bummer:mad: Downed wire kills unsuspecting woman.

Posted Feb 04, 2009 @ 12:20 AM
Last update Feb 04, 2009 @ 01:08 AM
---------------------------------------------------------
Patti Higgins left this world the same way she lived it: helping others.

That's the picture painted by friends and family, who laid Higgins to rest Tuesday. The 57-year-old died last week coming to the aid of two teenagers hurt when a car overturned outside her hometown of Alexis.

"We weren't surprised. She was always a Good Samaritan," says her boss, Lorna Brown, the administrator at Heartland Health Care Center in Galesburg. "She would always help everyone."

As her husband, Dennis Higgins, puts it, "She had a heart as big as a washtub."

Patti Higgins grew up in and around Alexis, an old farming town of about 900 residents 10 miles northwest of Galesburg. Shortly after graduating from Alexis High School, she married Dennis. She spent much of the next two decades raising their four children.

For inspiration in child-rearing, the couple looked toward their churchgoing parents.

"We tried to go off their examples," her husband says.

The Higgins family attended nearby Norwood United Presbyterian Church. Patti Higgins served many roles. She sang in the choir and played piano. For 30 years, she taught children's Sunday school.

"God and Jesus were number one in her life," her husband says. "As Jesus served his disciples, that's how Patti was with people she came into contact with."

In 1988, with the kids older, Higgins graduated summa cum laude from Monmouth College. Despite her education degree, she could find no teaching jobs. So she went to work as activities director at Cottonwood Health Care in Galesburg, a facility for people with mental difficulties.

"She developed an ability to deal with people," her husband says.

Higgins did her job so well, she was promoted to social-services director. When Cottonwood shut down, she took the same job at Heartland, a home for seniors. Her most important task involved communicating with families as a loved one moved in - and comforting them when the inevitable occurred.

Co-workers recall her as an easygoing listener always willing to help residents and staff.

"She was a very caring and would want to solve every problem," says Deanna Ralston, director of nursing.

Brown, the administrator, says, "She was just a magnificent problem-solver. No problem was too big. We teased her about her magic wand. We'd say, 'If you could just wave your magic wand.' And she'd always fix the problem."

Her last day

After work last Thursday afternoon, Higgins visited her parents, who live in Alexis. About 5:15 p.m., her husband was on his way home from his job with a seed-corn farm. He heard ambulance and fire trucks scream in the distance.

When he got to their rural Alexis home, he realized his wife wasn't there. They were to go to their weekly Thursday night supper with a daughter who still lives in Alexis. So he called his wife's cell phone, but got no answer.

He told himself. "Well she probably left her phone at work, which she's done before."

Within the next hour, he called a few more times, but got no answer. So, he phoned her mother, who said Higgins had left long ago. Dennis Higgins raced out to his car to retrace her likely path.

As he drove through town, he spotted his wife's van, traveling the other way - toward their home. His heart lept as he told himself, "That's Patti."

A moment later, his cell phone rang. Caller ID said the call was from his wife's phone.

But she wasn't on the other line. It was a Mercer County sheriff's deputy, asking Dennis Higgins to meet him at the Higgins home.

"When I got there, it wasn't just the deputy," Dennis Higgins says somberly. "The coroner also was there."

Patti Higgins hadn't been driving the van minutes earlier. An emergency worker had done Dennis Higgins the favor of motoring the vehicle home.

Rather, Higgins last had been behind the wheel of the van about 5:15 p.m. After leaving her parents' house, she headed toward home. She was on 320th Street, four miles east of Alexis, when she spotted an overturned car.

Minutes earlier, the car - with a teenager girl driving and another beside her - had veered off the roadway, smacking into a power pole and shearing it in half. The car had overturned, flinging the unbelted passenger onto the snowy ground. The belted driver remained trapped in the car. Both were conscious, says Coroner Ron McNall.

Patti Higgins pulled to the side of the road and began to hurry toward the car. To get there, she had to trudge through a snow-covered ditch alongside the road. But her feet sank into the snow and muck, causing her to lose her balance, Coroner McNall says. She reached out to steady herself, grabbing a support wire tethered to the broken power pole.

Unknown to Higgins, a downed power line had draped across the support wire. When her hand touched the support wire, she was electrocuted instantly.

A selfless act

Authorities have not released the names or conditions of the girls involved in the wreck. Dennis Higgins doesn't know who they are. But through the grapevine, he has heard they have expressed guilt about his wife's death.

"I really want to visit these girls, because, from what I understand, they're carrying a tremendous burden," he said. "The driver witnessed my wife (die); she saw what happened. She'll carry that the rest of her life.

"I want to assure them that things will get better. I want to let them know there's no ill will on my part. I would want them to know that that was Patti's nature, to stop and help. I want to counsel them with their grief. I'm hoping the girls will contact me at some point in time."

He has not been the only one with an urge to reach out. In the days after the accident, townsfolk rushed to comfort the Higgins family.

"I can't think of the number of pies and casseroles she made for people in times like this," Dennis Higgins says. "The response from the people in our community has been remarkable, regarding food and prayers and thoughts."

Their warmness has helped soothe Dennis Higgins as he tries to wrap his mind around the sudden loss of his partner.

"We became best friends," he says. "We relied on each other so much. She always said she wanted to go first, because she didn't want to deal with what I'm dealing with."

He pauses, then adds quietly, "I wish I had gone first."

Still, he pushes on - with a message harking to his love for his wife:

"I've told my friends, 'before you go to bed at night, you hug your spouse, your lover, because you don't know when your time is coming, when their time is coming. And you want the last memory of that person to be a good one.' "

[CPOPE]

Hempfield mother hurt in freak accident dies
Saturday, June 6, 2009

Carrie Goretzka, who was severely injured when a live electric line fell on her Tuesday afternoon, died Friday at UPMC Mercy in Pittsburgh.

"The whole neighborhood is just ... everybody is crying, they're so upset," said neighbor Bernadine Collins. "They can't understand how something like this has happened. Everyone is just beside themselves."

Goretzka, 39, was trapped under the fallen line in the yard outside her West Hempfield Drive home. Emergency responders couldn't immediately help her because the high voltage continued to pulse through the line. An Allegheny Power crew arrived about 10 minutes later and shut off the power.

"Everyone's upset," said neighbor Shirley Molnar. "They can't believe anything that tragic could happen that fast."

Goretzka's mother-in-law, JoAnn Goretzka of Elizabeth Township, was shocked when she tried to help her daughter-in-law as she lay under the line. She was treated at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg.

The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office said a death certificate was issued for Carrie Goretzka yesterday. No autopsy was planned.

Allegheny Power spokesman Doug Colafella said his company is continuing to investigate what happened. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, likewise, is probing the cause.

"We are very concerned (about what happened), and our condolences go out to the family," Colafella said.

Both Collins and Molnar remembered how Carrie and Michael Goretzka would invite them and their husbands to their home for birthday parties for the Goretzkas' two children, Chloe, 5, and Carlie, 2.

Molnar said the invitations came even though she and her husband and the Collinses are decades older than the Goretzkas.

"She was a sweet person, friendly, always had a kind word," Molnar said. "You can't ask for nicer neighbors. If you were picking neighbors, you'd pick them."

Collins said Carrie Goretzka would sometimes come to her for advice on questions new moms often have.

The Goretzkas had returned home a few days before the tragedy after vacationing at Walt Disney World in Florida.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/breaking/s_628420.html

[CPOPE]

Saturday, June 20, 2009 7:51 AM , Highlands Today, Sebring, Fla.

Jun. 20--SEBRING -- Numerous calls about fires, many due to downed power lines, poured into the Highlands County Central Dispatch on Thursday afternoon and evening following powerful thunderstorms and accompanying high wind that blew across parts of the county.

Between 4:54 p.m. and 7:40 p.m. dispatch recorded 13 calls reporting fire, mostly in the Sebring area, including one on U.S. 27 near the Marriot Hotel, authorities said.
These were accompanied by spot power outages.

In keeping with National Safety Month in June, media sources at Progress Energy urged people to be safe around downed power lines.
"Each year as many as 1,000 people are electrocuted and more than 30,000 are injured in electrical shock accidents," a news release stated. Progress offered these safety tips:

-- Keep an eye out for downed power lines!

-- Never touch any fallen wire. Consider every wire on the ground to be energized and dangerous.Call your Progress Energy service representative for help.

-- If you are involved in a traffic accident that results in power lines touching your car, do not get out of your car unless it is on fire.

-- It is a myth that the tires protect you -- the metal of your car conducts electricity around you, as if you are a bird sitting on a power line. If you must get out of your car because of fire or other immediate life-threatening situation, do your best to jump clear of the car and land on both feet.

-- Then shuffle away from the car, keeping both feet close together, to minimize the path of electric current and avoid electric shock.

-- If you are at the scene of such an accident, do not approach a car that is touching power lines. Remain a safe distance away, keep the victim in the vehicle calm and wait for emergency personnel to handle the situation.

-- Never drive over downed power lines. Even if not energized, they can become entangled in your vehicle.

-- Never touch downed power lines or use any object to move power lines, including brooms, boards, limbs or plastic materials. Although wood is non-conductive, if even slightly wet it will conduct electricity, causing electric shock or electrocution. Power lines can also slide down such objects when lifted.

-- To report the downed power lines, contact your power company or local law enforcement. Only qualified electric utility workers should attempt to move downed power lines.

-- Never touch a person who is in contact with power lines or other objects that are touching power lines.You cannot help them by being electrocuted yourself.

-- Do not attempt to cut or remove a tree that is, or could become, entangled with power lines. Contact your power company for assistance and wait for a professional tree removal crew to do the job.

-- Do not allow children to play in trees close to power lines, or to swing on guy wires. If there are downed lines in your neighborhood after severe weather, keep your children inside.

-- "Never go near downed power lines. Always assume they are energized and extremely dangerous. If someone suffers an electric shock, call 911 immediately. Even minor shocks may cause serious health problems later.

To report downed power lines, call 800-228-8485.

Learn more about electrical safety at www.progress-energy.com. Click on the "About Energy" tab and then on "Learning Center" for more safety tips on downed power lines; water and electricity, and indoor and outdoor electric safety.

[CPOPE]

Good Samaritan electrocuted while trying to help pregnant accident victim
September 20, 2010 10:12 AM
The Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville good Samaritan was electrocuted when he touched a power line downed in a traffic accident.

David Katterhenry had stopped to help a 19-year-old pregnant woman who had swerved to miss a deer and hit a power pole, breaking it in half.

Police say the 52-year-old engineer stepped on a power line and was killed instantly.

The Florida Times-Union reported that Katterhenry and his girlfriend had been on their way to a fishing trip when they came upon the wreck Saturday morning. The teen driver did not appear to suffer serious injuries.

[watzamta]

We have all had the wire down call... I can tell you that twice in 17 years that I have seen cutouts with fuse blown and door still in. Usually those brown old fuzzy doors that when wet or carboned up will carry some load. I can assure you it could be enough to kill you.

We have a tagging procedure and every wire is considered energized until it is grounded. We only ground beyond a devise with visual clearance. By that I mean an open cutout or reclosure with load or line side taps removed. On three phase systems all phases must be open and grounded to put up one downed phase wire.

Now that is by the book. We all know that some guys out there put primary up without grounding it. A radial feed that has been tested may not be such a big deal so long as rubbers are worn(don't make it legal though).
Mostly we LIVE by the rules of NOT GROUNDED NOT DEAD.....

[climbsomemore]

If you reveiw those OSHA regs... there is some allowance for executing an action to save life or limb during an emergency.

If you need to chop a low hanging hot wire down with hot cutters to protect folks... do it.

Before a crew comes out to fix the problem... they should be testing and grounding. We see too many companies hang up on ideas like "if the cut out is in sight" and other little wrinkles like that... and to tell you the truth- most of us probably would not "ground" a one or two span lead that well could totally see and have positive control over the parts we are involved with.

MY issue is... if you get in the "simple job" mindset those exceptions become the rule. For the last 20 years or so it seems like we have raised a lot of hands who live on "rules of thumb" and just don't think things through. Like when they start raising wire on a looped system that goes for miles without following some sort of switch, test, tag and ground procedures.

We had a little town go dark one day... called a crew out and they responded to a wire vs tree outage... wire down in the road. What distribution DID not know was the same storm opened up the high line for that area. When they arrived the wire was "dead"... they didnt see any lights on as they drove in, never called or checked as they assumed they were good to go.

Of course... the transmission deptartment cleared the highline and closed the breaker--- about the time our distribution guys were knee deep into their job. The street light came on in the last good span...and those guys all managed to dodge the bullet on this near miss.

Moral--- If it aint grounded- it aint dead.

[Trbl639]

If it ain't grounded.....It ain't dead!!

Any lineman's Best friend....are his ground chains!!

Sometimes we might pick up a single conductor on single phase, working under AS HOT CONDITIONS.....rubber gloves, and No grounds!! Back then though only the transmission guys had documented clearance proceedures before working on a 'dead' line..........again, back then, we worked under our own clearance......we isolated, grounded and tagged, usually with just grounds at the switch and, and on the other side of our work area...2 sets of grounds.....NO documentation at all, except a Hold tag on the switch..........

Then things changed !!!

Everything was documented.....switching order, clearance order, hold tags, source grounds and then Box (working grounds) on either side of the work area.......a minimum of 2 sets of grounds, unless the first ground was within 5 spans of the source (switch/OCR etc), and then it could serve as a source and a box ground!!

Depending on where you were, depended on if you could write the orders or whether the dispatcher wrote them.......

sometimes to pick up 3 phase, it might take as many as 5 or 6 or maybe 10 sets of grounds.........


Everything was documented and radio conversations recorded.........it got complicated, but it was a result of someone, somewhere getting burned or killed!!

There were NO situations/conditions that allowed for ......WORKING AS HOT!! It was worked DEAD AND GROUNDED!!

We still got paid by the hour, and we all made more money, and all went home at the end of the day/night, or shift!!


We were allowed to use EPZ grounds.....if the conductor was in one piece, not broken, like changing a bad insulator or arm, etc. Our choice then on what grounding proccedure.......