This afternoon I got a call from our Maintenace Manager. He wanted me to know of a safety issue he had with the electricians working on our facility expansion. He had received a call from the guardhouse staff saying their computers, etc. had no power. He went to investigate, found a breaker off (not tripped, you'll see why this is important soon), and flipped it back on. This returned power to the area. As soon as the power was back on, an electrician came in yelling "Who turned that breaker on?" I'm not sure what exactly was said after that, but I have a vision of blue air.
What's wrong with this scenario?
1. First, you shouldn't be flipping off breakers to people's work areas without talking to them.
2. THIS IS SO UNSAFE IT'S CRAZY. As I was telling this story to my coworker, she said "What about lockout tagout?" I told my boss the first part of the story and asked him what was wrong. He knew too. Both these people work in the office. I'd wager that anyone in our facility would know. If you aren't familiar with lockout tagout, here's a good explanation. It's probably the OSHA reg that's saved more lives and body parts than any other. The Maintenance Manager said "I could have killed someone" and he's right. If someone was working on that circuit when he reenergized it, it could have been lights out. That's why the rule exists. Our maintenance people get this. I've never had a problem with them pulling a stunt like this. The Maintenace Manager pulled his team aside today and told them about this incidient, but I don't worry about them doing it. The scary thing is this was done by AN ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR. They do this type of work every day, and I'd say they don't lock things out as routine procedure. We are all creatures of habit.
3. You have to choose at whom you yell. The projector manager for the client is probably not a wise chioce.
As soon as the incident occurred, the general contractor was summoned. The GC hires all the subs, so they are HIS problem. One guy was quickly suspended for 2 days. I sent the GC an e-mail (and of course copied all sorts of internal people) stating that I appreciated his fast, appropriate response and the electrical contractor owes me a detailed report of the who, what, why, and how they are going to fix it by the close of business on Friday.
Right before I left today I was taking some cardboard out to our production area for recycling. I noticed sparks flying from work a contractor was doing. I stopped to take a look. Things seemed good. I saw a fire extinguisher and people acting as fire watch. As I looked closer though, I noticed one of the scissor lift occupants wasn't tied off to the lift. This is not an OSHA rule, but it is a requirement in our facilty. I asked one of the guys on the ground "What's he tied off to?" The response "He should be tied off to the lift". I asked again "What's he tied off to?" About this time the guy in the lift must have seen us staring at him. He immediately tied off. I made the guy on the ground call their site supervisor (who happens to be his dad). It was an interesting conversation of which to hear one half. I've also referred this to the GC. Between these two incidents and the smoke, I'm sure the GC was ready for today to be over.
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