how many of you have seen the results

[reppy007]

How many of you have seen the results of another lineman that made some sort of mistake and was burned badly? I have seen alot of guys that have been burned,the first time I believe was when I was an apprentice,the head guy of the program would show you his back,another instructor had burn marks on the left side of his face and on his arms.There were a few more that would gladly take off their shirts to show you.It wasnt that they were proud of the fact that they made a mistake,it was something they wanted you to see for yourself,to show what could happen to you.I dont want to think of the pain they felt.We had one foreman that had a missing finger or two,what happened on his accident was that while putting on a highside he was chocking up on the shotgun,there must have been lots of slack in that highside,cause it made contact with his hand....if Im not mistaken it was while working on 19.9.......For you that havent ever seen what Im talking about,just look around at some of the older guys,ask others about it,cause this isnt uncommon in this trade.There might be a guy that you have been working with for some time,he might have those scars,marks.....not all guys are willing to show what happened to them,wait until the others tell you more about what they have seen,Im sure the old lineman has more than a few stories to tell.

[Pootnaigle]

Ummmmmmmmm when i wazzaa appentice 2 of my buddies were sent outta town to take the place of an entire crew that drug up the week before. They had built a step down bank 13.2 to 4 kv i bleve. this was back in the day and bucket trucks were few and far between. They climbed the pole safetyed off and energigized the bank and the pots blew up encasing both guys in a huge fireball. one managed to jump the other hung there until the nylon linking the d rings in his belt burnt into.Both were burnt over 80% and i spent many days and nights sitting with em in the burn ward they were horribly disfigured and in terrible pain. one eventually died and the other lived but his mind was never quite the same.It was determined that the transformer manafacturer ( mcGraw Edison) had had labor relation problems and when the pot was built someone intentionally cut thru the paper insulation used on the windings causing this fiasco. a few hours with those guys was all I ever needed to know about the dangers inherrant in our trade

[BUZZMAN4177]

Unfortunately, I have witnessed this more than I care to. Years ago, while working for a Contractor on a major ice storm in Kingsport Tennessee, I witnessed a guy (who previously worked for the same contractor but moved to a different one) being brought out of the woods on a stretcher....with a white sheet draped over him.
He was a good guy to work with and after becoming angry with the Contractors for not moving him up (yea Imagine that....this is unheard of now as they move them way too fast now) he quit and took a job as a journeyman lineman for a different Contractor. We all knew he was not ready to be a Journeyman lineman....he was a pretty good 2nd class but wasn't anywhere near ready to be 1st class. So....he lied and hired on as a JY. We were all working off the same three phase, working the taps that would feed miles and miles over the mountains to feed only a house or two. Anyway, here is what happened. The voltage was 34.5kv, the crew he was working with had an appr., a groundman, him as the JY, and the foreman. They had found a span of wire down in the woods where the wire broke just past the insulator when a tree fell...the tail was hanging down about three foot past the insulator. The line was still hot so the foreman said "give me 15 minutes and I will take the pick up around and kill the line so you can climb the pole and pull the wire back up and sleeve it back together". After waiting for 20 minutes just to be safe, He climbed the pole. As he was throwing his belt over the neutral and attempting to step up a little, he made contact with the energized primary with his shoulder. His right knee was touching the neutral. As he was electrocuted, he also fell to the ground because his safety wasn't fastened. The Contractor he was working for had NO radio contact, just cell phones and there was no cell service in that area. The foreman had opened the WRONG tap fuse. If the guy would have tested the line for voltage or at least threw a ground on the line, this would have never happened. I will never forget that sight......or the smell.

[reppy007]

Both of those stories are the kinds of things that happen somewhere,sometime everyday,well not the one that Poot came up with,that has to be a first for me....someone gets mad at a company,takes it out on a piece of equipment to somehow pay the company back...winds up killing someone that isnt even involved,that a **** shame.