ever bumped a phase?

[kooman]

kind of a dumb question but one that i have wondered about for many years, has anyone ever accidently bumped or brushed an uncovered phase from a bucket? I used to work with a guy that claims he bumped his chest with 7200, he had a coat on and he said it about knocked the wind out of him, obviously something i dont ever want to find out for myself but just wondered if anyone has a story.

[brs]

Yes I have . I was changing a lightning arrester from a bucket. there was a tie wire that had a 7200 volt primary tied into an insulater I bumped it with my elbow. the tie wire had a short tail sticking up on it. Cost me a trip to the hopsital had to have some drugs to get my heart back right. There was a storm coming and I was trying to hurry. I will NOT RUSH AGAIN I learned a lesson that day.

[reppy007]

Yes I have . I was changing a lightning arrester from a bucket. there was a tie wire that had a 7200 volt primary tied into an insulater I bumped it with my elbow. the tie wire had a short tail sticking up on it. Cost me a trip to the hopsital had to have some drugs to get my heart back right. There was a storm coming and I was trying to hurry. I will NOT RUSH AGAIN I learned a lesson that day.

Ive been in a few of those situations,where a storm is coming/close by...and had to rush...I think they need to bring that up in safety meetings....maybe it should be like a red flag and we need to ask ourselves ....can this just wait,and do it later,many accidents have occured because of a rush,and they dont need to happen.

[US & CA Tramp]

kind of a dumb question but one that i have wondered about for many years, has anyone ever accidently bumped or brushed an uncovered phase from a bucket? I used to work with a guy that claims he bumped his chest with 7200, he had a coat on and he said it about knocked the wind out of him, obviously something i dont ever want to find out for myself but just wondered if anyone has a story.

Worked with a guy for a while, (key words for a while) that used to love to show guys he could stand in the bucket and touch his hard hat, while it was on his head, to 13KV. I told him whether he could do it or not it was pretty stupid!!

[Lineman North Florida]

With a clean bucket and liner and optimal conditions I don't believe it would do much to you as far as just brushing the phase, I have seen all kinds of things done through the years and I am not saying that I advocate it but I have seen hotshots showing others about how well insulated their bucket was by touching their hand to the phase, putting guts on by hand etc, etc, I used to work with a guy who was a top notch lineman but he loved to test the limits of everything, on a good dry day he would lay the conductor on the crossarm with no gut or blanket to change out an insulator, sometimes it would start smoking and he would say me and you better hurry up, he is no longer with us.

[lewy]

Worked with a guy for a while, (key words for a while) that used to love to show guys he could stand in the bucket and touch his hard hat, while it was on his head, to 13KV. I told him whether he could do it or not it was pretty stupid!!

We have to test our booms once a day any time we are working over 15kv phase to phase, by attaching a lead to the end of our bucket & touching it to the phase, we typically get around 6 micro amps on our 27.6/16 kv, so yes you can touch the phase without gloves, you would just be charging up the boom, similar to barehanding with out the leads, but not something anyone would recommend. The boom is just another barrier from ground which should not replace your gloves & proper coverup.

[Orgnizdlbr]

With a clean bucket and liner and optimal conditions I don't believe it would do much to you as far as just brushing the phase, I have seen all kinds of things done through the years and I am not saying that I advocate it but I have seen hotshots showing others about how well insulated their bucket was by touching their hand to the phase, putting guts on by hand etc, etc, I used to work with a guy who was a top notch lineman but he loved to test the limits of everything, on a good dry day he would lay the conductor on the crossarm with no gut or blanket to change out an insulator, sometimes it would start smoking and he would say me and you better hurry up, he is no longer with us.

Thats right, I dont advocate it either, you never know, but I had a brush contact years ago when in a rush. I got 7200 on the ear, it got my attention but was really not more than a tickle. Clean boom and bucket.

Knock the wind out of someone?? I dont think with a clean boom and bucket liner. Used to work with a guy many years ago who would direct handle with cotton summers liners on. He used to get a kick out of touching the primaries, he never made himself a jumper though..........

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmmm Ive done it accidentally and its just a tingle really. You change the potential of your body to that of the primary and for a split second it rings yer bell.Not unlike live line work. But that all depends on the dielectrics of your boom and we dont know what they are on any given day so its foolish to do it intentionally.

[rob8210]

Yeah I've accidentally brushed against a phase of 27.6 kv, it really knows how to remind you it is there. No problems though, good clean boom and bucket , of course, and a test of less than 5 microamps.

[reppy007]

Something is bothering me on this one,you can call them near misses or whatever,but I would hope the younger guys will take time to think about it and understand that if you accidently bump a phase,what is the possibility that you accidently didnt cover a ground,a steel arm,a t-arm, and bump that phase.Yes ,hot primary needs to be covered,but other equipment needs to be covered also,it just takes a couple of minutes to throw a blanket or two over the crossarm,or any equipment in your work area...these accidents are just killing too many guys,many of which dont realize a ground can be 55foot above the earth ground.

[rob8210]

Second points of contact are everywhere, x-arms down guys neutrals, and of course other phases. The biggest problem I have is teaching people to watch out for all these things and cover up accordingly. It seems some do not understand that the difference in potential will kill you.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmm once there was a tree trimming foreman that had told his crew that as long as they were in the bucket they couldnt get hurt because they were insulated. One of his guys evidently took exception with that statement and so to prove his point the foreman jumped in the bucket and flew it into the zone , reached out with one hand and grabbed 1 phase of 4160 and a neutral with the other hand. Needless to say he didnt live thru that experience.

[kooman]

speakin of 4160, anyone here ever work 2400 with cotton gloves?

[reppy007]

speakin of 4160, anyone here ever work 2400 with cotton gloves?

If nobody answers yes,it may be due to the fact that they cant answer it cause they could be 6 feet under by now.

[kooman]

the old timers used to do it

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmm usta be that working 2400 delta with leather gloves was common practice. I dont know of anyone that wore cotton gloves.

[Bighorn Ape]

seen a guy barehand 4kv.....seen another barehand 7200...pretty stupid....seen another bump 7200 with his neck....another got wire blind and bumped 14kv with his nose!!! just scared the hell of him...

anybody else get wire blind? happened to me one time while flying up to do a neutral splice.... had some black #4 copper running along side the neutral about 2 feet away...didnt see it right...(different circuit while doing a few miles of rebuild, there were 10 wires in the air to look at) as i was flying up, i had a 6 ft piece of acsr that i was stepping on that was also hanging over the bucket by about 6 inches. well as im flying into the work zone my eyes finally adjusted to the copper and i realize the tail of the acsr was about 4 inches from contacting the 4kv copper.....as my hand free hand was touching the neutral.....i was stunned. i realized that could have been the end of my life and career. or losing my arms and legs.

this was stupidest moment of my life, i learned a few lessons that day.

1. NEVER have anything hanging out of your bucket!

2. Slow down and thoroughly asses every job.

my foreman was on the ground watching me and never saw a thing....i never told anyone either.

[reppy007]

seen a guy barehand 4kv.....seen another barehand 7200...pretty stupid....seen another bump 7200 with his neck....another got wire blind and bumped 14kv with his nose!!! just scared the hell of him...

anybody else get wire blind? happened to me one time while flying up to do a neutral splice.... had some black #4 copper running along side the neutral about 2 feet away...didnt see it right...(different circuit while doing a few miles of rebuild, there were 10 wires in the air to look at) as i was flying up, i had a 6 ft piece of acsr that i was stepping on that was also hanging over the bucket by about 6 inches. well as im flying into the work zone my eyes finally adjusted to the copper and i realize the tail of the acsr was about 4 inches from contacting the 4kv copper.....as my hand free hand was touching the neutral.....i was stunned. i realized that could have been the end of my life and career. or losing my arms and legs.

this was stupidest moment of my life, i learned a few lessons that day.

1. NEVER have anything hanging out of your bucket!

2. Slow down and thoroughly asses every job.

my foreman was on the ground watching me and never saw a thing....i never told anyone either.

I agree....slow the truck down.no job is that important.

[lineman]

We were energizing a brand new 1000mcm 7200/12470v underground feeder. Every few blocks there was S&C switchgear and we had several crews’ stationed at the various switch gears to take voltage checks and make sure things were ok.

Well, it was a very hot dry summer day and because this area had all been dug up recently there were no weeds or anything around…. Just dry dirt. The area had not been backfilled yet so the handle on the cabinet was at about chest level. All of the doors on the gear were open and the barriers removed so we could use our sticks. I don’t remember why he did it but one of the Linemen walked up to the terminators with a 12 inch crescent wrench in his bare hand and touched one of the nuts on the terminator with the wrench . He was not touching anything else except for his feet on the dry ground. It only buzzed him. No burn, didn’t knock him down. Just surprised the **** out of him and the Lineman standing next to him…

[busman]

We have to test our booms once a day any time we are working over 15kv phase to phase, by attaching a lead to the end of our bucket & touching it to the phase, we typically get around 6 micro amps on our 27.6/16 kv, so yes you can touch the phase without gloves, you would just be charging up the boom, similar to barehanding with out the leads, but not something anyone would recommend. The boom is just another barrier from ground which should not replace your gloves & proper coverup.

Just curious. Where is the meter that measures the micro-amps. Is it part of the truck. Also, I'm guessing you touch the phase with the bucket ground controls. Do you have to wear gloves for this test?

Mark

[lewy]

Just curious. Where is the meter that measures the micro-amps. Is it part of the truck. Also, I'm guessing you touch the phase with the bucket ground controls. Do you have to wear gloves for this test?

MarkAll of our buckets with the exception of squirts are set up to test for current leakage. There is a collector band at the steel boom just below where the fibreglass enters the boom and from there, there is a co-ax cable that runs inside the boom to a connetor somewhere on the lower boom, from there we connect a co-ax cable to a meter designed for testing for leakage. We obviously have the truck grounded to the system neutral, a wand connecting to the upper boom & the person is operating the lower controls without rubber gloves. While this is happening no one is touching the truck. This is a simple explanation of how it is done, we only do this when working on voltages above 15 kv phase to phase or barehanding.

[busman]

All of our buckets with the exception of squirts are set up to test for current leakage. There is a collector band at the steel boom just below where the fibreglass enters the boom and from there, there is a co-ax cable that runs inside the boom to a connetor somewhere on the lower boom, from there we connect a co-ax cable to a meter designed for testing for leakage. We obviously have the truck grounded to the system neutral, a wand connecting to the upper boom & the person is operating the lower controls without rubber gloves. While this is happening no one is touching the truck. This is a simple explanation of how it is done, we only do this when working on voltages above 15 kv phase to phase or barehanding.


Lewy,

Thanks for taking the time to provide an excellent description. It seems I learn something new every day.

Mark