Yup, Seen the same...... But I've also seen contractors "hide" a guy on utility property, he was a good hand obviously who the gf covered for.
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Two guys where I work got flashed pulling a breaker out of an old 5kv switchgear. Pulling the breaker caused some loose part to fall into the bus behind the breaker. They were out of work for a year with burns on their arms and faces. One guy had self tinting glasses and they turned black and never got clear again.
I don't mind at all suiting up to jack a breaker in or out. Our switchgear is old, been underwater several times and it's dangerous.
I also closed an old chocolate box on a bad transformer once and it blew up like a half a stick of dynamite. I now wear a full face shield hard hat when I close these old relics. Shards of porcelain flew 100's of feet from that pole. I hate the face shield with a passion, but I prefer to keep my face intact.
Some of this pain in the ass gear has a place.
Why didn't your company eliminate the hazard? Why wasn't a shutdown done if it couldn't be done safely? Why should it be your problem? Why should you risk yourself for a company? There is no reason for us to wear that stuff unless the company or utility, or the men have no clue what they are doing. If they have no clue what they are doing. Your management, owners, need to get in another business. Nobody knows what they are doing so they put it on the guy that has to do it! That's what's wrong nowadays. The people who don't know how to do anything are in charge. That's their problem, not yours. Don't make it your problem, demand shutdown or cover, and if it can't be done safely, don't do it. You cannot be fired for a safety concern, ever.
Just like working in the rain. If the contractor says you have to put that dumb thing on, for all your dangerous work! The locals should ask for double time for wearing that thing. Double time nationwide.
pretty simple!
i will wear that dumbass thing for double time!
ask your local to make it happen!
Once upon a time in a land far away there was a group of men known as "The Brotherhood" These men banded together to take control of their collective destinies. The struggle was long and difficult, but after decades of battle "The Brotherhood" had succeeded in making a better life for themselves and their families. Unbeknownst to the brothers, buried deep in a mountain of money. Utility
Corp sorcerers hatched an evil plan to divide the brothers one against another. The sorcerers convinced some of the brothers to form their own smaller brotherhoods for the men that worked for the sorcerers utilities. The brothers who agreed were rewarded with paid holidays,
boot and tool allowances, matching uniforms, and coffee and donuts supplied at their never ending meetings. The "New Brotherhood" was even convinced to allow contractors from outside any brotherhood (RATS) to work on the property. The once strong "Brotherhood' was now divided and the conquering could begin.
The sorcerer's "Brotherhood" was encouraged to regard the "Outside Brothers" as lesser creatures who should park in the mud, use Porta Jons rather than toilets at the Op Center, hold their meetings outside in the cold and most importantly, bargain for their own contract! The downward pressure on the "Outsiders" began. "Hold down their wage increases!" "Take back their drive time!" "Promote their shop stewards
out of the bargaining unit!" "Hire the sorcerers friends as the GF!" "You must accept a little less or will take what you have and feed it to the RATS!" The race to the bottom had begun and the monsters that feed on the bottom grew. Pike, Elliott, T&D, WillBros, Red Simpson.
At the same time the sorcerers were turning their attention to their own employee "Brothers" "Roll their pensions into 401k's!" "Give em an early and reduced retirement!" Scores of "Old Heads" abandoned the once proud trade as the bottom feeders marched to lower
and lower unit prices. The young men left behind were easier to manipulate and "mold" but most importantly were cheaper and didn't have memories of the original "Brotherhood." The young tried valiantly to fill the shoes left empty by the old, but they lacked the survival skills that could only be learned from the "Grey Beards" The young started to die horrific deaths. They died at utilities, they died at IBEW contractors and the bottom feeders chewed them up and spit them out like penny bubble gum.
"What can be done to turn the tide" the sorcerers asked? They gave not a damn about the lives, limbs and skin lost, or the babies orphaned and the young brides widowed! They were brokenhearted over the bonuses lost when their profits went to lawyers and insurance companies!
"We need more and better training" one sorcerer said. "Who will train them" another responded? "The Old Heads and Grey Beards are gone" "Let's make rules to govern their every move. Micro manage them until they can't get hurt". They all agreed, so when one cut his finger, knives were taken away. When one cut out, pole squeezes were handed out. And so it was.
So now boys and girls you understand why a lineman wearing rubber gloves and sleeves over a Kevlar bomb suit which is over FR shirt and pants with an FR sock hood under a flash proof face shield is wearing EH boots while building a rubber tree out of a bucket while a contract MOT crew and three state troopers keep traffic out of Mrs Johnson's driveway while the lineman re-squeezes her house service.
Good Night
Booger, very well put brother.....!!