# Death on the Job Yesterday



## Nathan

A guy was electrocuted to death yesterday in one of the homes we were building. 


Be safe everyone.


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## reveivl

Bummer, Nathan, thanks for the reminder. Take care, R.


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## Glasshousebltr

220 isn't anything to sneeze about. Sorry to hear.

Bob


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## 6stringmason

Always sad to hear of someone dying on the job. Its all the small steps that take one minute that can turn out to be huge disasters. Better safe than sorry. My condolensces to his family.


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## Cole

RIP.

This is a damn shame.


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## ConcreteGuy

Lock-out/Tag-out, I've seen the rules. We all pooh-pooh the rules. Just don't forget why these rules exist. Usually because somebody got hurt.

If machismo scores points, be a real man and give it up for money. 

But what are we worth?


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## ConcreteGuy

That is, how do you value a man's life?


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## K2

Are we talking about plugging appliances in? One of our tree guys got killed last year tripping on a step, (while working), and hitting his head on the corner of the concrete stoop after 34 years climbing trees. Are we going to put rubber bumpers on all the steps in the country? Lets not give those Federal waco's anymore power than they already have. If it wasn't for there Federal jobs they would be on unimployment.


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## jproffer

Falling and hitting your head is an accident. Not locking out a curcuit before working on it, is just asking for trouble. Whether OSHA says it's ok or they don't (and they don't, just for the record) it doesn't matter. It should be policy for any company doing ANY electrical work. No warnings, no "3 strikes and your out", you lock out, or you're gone, period. Before anyone says it, yes I've done it too, but I shoulda been fired for it, and I WOULD HAVE been wrote for it if OSHA was around. So far (the very, VERY few times I've done it) I've been lucky. It just wasn't his lucky day. Bottom line is, a man...a husband, a dad, maybe grandpa, is dead...because he did something he knew better than to do. Just hope it makes us all think next time we're in the same situation. Even 110 is WAY more than enough to stop your heart.


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## K2

If I have to lock out to plug in an appliance I'll just stay home and annoy people on "Contractor Talk"


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## old27

what does lock out mean?


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## K2

Locks the breaker/breakers in the off position with little padlocks.


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## old27

Rob 53 said:


> Locks the breaker/breakers in the off position with little padlocks.



thanks rob.


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## [email protected]&R

This type of post reallys makes me think sometimes. I have one of the few jobs where you have to do 90% of your wiring live. I do alot of hospital work and am unable to kill someones breathing machine to do work on the circuit. I have to keep very precise records on what im doing and when. It makes me really appreciate when I get to do commercial or residential and can kill the circuit. Think maybe it's time to retire from institutional work after pushing my luck for this many years.


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## Speedy Petey

I don't think I've ever even heard of someone being electrocuted on a residential job before.


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## Teetorbilt

I have stayed out of this because it brought out a really bad memory.

I was 16 and working a commercial job with my dad. This was back when almost all tools had metal housings, grounded tools were just begining to come out and we were rehabing older commercial buildings with only dual outlet receptacals.

It had rained and there was water about 2" deep in the low spots. One of our carpenters fired up a circular saw while standing in a puddle. I remember the sound of his scream today. It was also the first guy that I ever saw die.


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## AAPaint

Teetorbilt said:


> I have stayed out of this because it brought out a really bad memory.
> 
> I was 16 and working a commercial job with my dad. This was back when almost all tools had metal housings, grounded tools were just begining to come out and we were rehabing older commercial buildings with only dual outlet receptacals.
> 
> It had rained and there was water about 2" deep in the low spots. One of our carpenters fired up a circular saw while standing in a puddle. I remember the sound of his scream today. It was also the first guy that I ever saw die.


I can't even begin to imagine.......


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## K2

I saw a worker die about 15 years ago. A salesman right in front of me got T-boned by a lady running a light, late for work , putting on makeup. In this state the largest number of work related injuries and deaths are in jobs requiring driving cars, small vans, and pickups. <P>

I ran framing crews for 20 years with none, zero, zip accidents. I don't think OSHA has a clue as to what makes a jobsite safe. Their mission is to justify their existence and propagate their bureaucracy.<P>


Hope those ribs start feeling better soon Teetor.:thumbsup:


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## bellerose

AAPaint said:


> I can't even begin to imagine.......



When I was an apprentice in the HVAC trade some nitwit journeyman asked me to drill something while I had to stand in a puddle and it was drizzling rain out. I refused.
He then told me it has a GFI so I did not need to worry. I told him to do it.
He did it.
Sometimes people don't think.We were only allowed to work on things up to 600 volts. I have been hit by 440. It wakes you up in a hurry.
We had one engineer at the company hit and killed by 13,200 volts.
Those panels behind locked gates that hiss real loud. He should not have been in there. It leapt right out of the panel into him and fried his organs.
You need to be an electrician with special training to work on those things.
I would not want to do it.


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## RobertCDF

Bummer to hear, this is why I wont touch electrical except to put a new end on my saw (happens a lot:cheesygri ) I have homeowners ask me all the time if I want to put up new fixtures for them and I dont even think about it. Lets all be safe out there even if it takes a few extra minutes or having to push a job back a day due to weather. A mans life is pricless.


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## ConcreteGuy

Being a cavalier macho-man, laughing in the face of danger, exposes ignorance from which there is no recovery. Death or permanent disability.

OSHA and other regulations would not exist but for stupidity, of the worker and employer. And despite the lack of accountability and common sense of our workers, you are obligated to properly train and prepare your workers for the conditions into which you introduce them.

Be ruthless about safety. If you fire a man for being a slack-tard, fire the ones who are wreckless tards as well.

I wish OSHA would take enforcement to individuals, rather than companies that hire them. Can you imagine the eye-popping awareness of your employees if OSHA took money from their wallets?

Who is afraid of that?


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## K2

*Wrong again.*

I'm wrong again! I hate that! Since commenting on this thread I've been watching for dangerous situations involving electricity. The other day after our bad cold snap I was thawing out some washers in a small laundry room. Seemed like a pretty safe task but I shorty found myself on a wet icy floor with extension cords, heat guns, and space heaters. At one point I found myself wedged in between a 220v dryer and a washer and I was laying on top of a couple of extension cords.> Another day a couple of us were working in a belly crawler with extension cords and also there was a bunch of romex hanging down all over the place. Seemed pretty safe in the dry crawler but then the dry crawler suddenly became a very wet crawler and the extension cords are under us, over us, and then all that romex. If a guy got on some electricity there would have been little chance of moving off of it. Sooo, I take back what I said and agree with the other guys. Be  careful.


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## boardslinger

I can think of only one time we experienced that on a job. 
A tim knocker, not even 5 minutes after his boss walked off the job on a saturday, was just the 2 of them on the job, fell off his ladder and broke his neck.


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## Cole

Damn.^^^^^^^^^^^


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## specwood

We work in bad weather a lot. This means the saws and drills get wet. I am used to switching to a dry tool when the one I am using starts to make my fingers tingle.

After reading this thread, I don't think I am going to do that anymore!


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## tzzzz216

specwood said:


> We work in bad weather a lot. This means the saws and drills get wet. I am used to switching to a dry tool when the one I am using starts to make my fingers tingle.
> 
> After reading this thread, I don't think I am going to do that anymore!


I always have my back up of cordless power tools,And if the weather is that bad i pack it up and go home, The safety of my employees always come first!! I wouldn't ask any of them to do what i wouldn't do.And they do get paid for days those days.


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## wbsbadboy

Just like [email protected] R I have had a job that required thet you work with live wires. But mine was a little more on the extream (and stupid) side. It was working for a carnival as an electrician. We would hook up and un hook rides while the generators were running full steam. These were 440 volt 50,000kv deisel generators that can pump out enough umph to stop the biggest ride we had by reversing the motors at full speed and not even drop 200 rpm. In order that we didnt stick our hands directly into the boxex we used what we called a candle stick. A 9/16 socket welded onto a 'T' bar about 16" long covered with about 5 or 6 rolls of electrical tape. A piece of bubblegum (litteraly) inside the socket was used to grab the nut. I did this for about 2 weeks at the Sacramento State Fair. Then I found out who I replaced. He was killed about a week before I started. Hooking up a ride for another carnival on his day off. Seems the grass he was kneeling in was wet from the mornin dew. Someone flipped the breaker to the circuit he was working on and he wasnt using his candle stick. I quit that evening.


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## Safety-Guy

I always get an empty feeling when someone is killed in the performance of their work. Most accidents can be prevented by just taking one extra step.
For anyone in the construction field, study up on NFPA70E, but to be safe, preform all work with a zero energy state. Call me Candyassed but I like comming home everyday.


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## Lefty Lucy

I have read the files on 35 fatals at a steel mill (Kaiser Steel). Except for a couple of hart attacks and one I believe was a murder, they all seamed to be because someone wanted to get the job done faster or easier. Too bad it was not always the perpetrator that was killed.


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## asbestos

*don't get a re-do*

just because something is a 1000 to 1 chance does not mean that it won't happen the first time you do it. 
when I taught fall protection to tower guys
sometimes a knuckle head would say 'I haven't fallen yet' 
me- 'well you sure won't fall more then once'

a farmer is taking a buggy to market, and a horse all of the sudden drops dead in the road. The farmer gets out looks at the horse and says "Funny, that never happened before"


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## snapper21

Rip


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## oldgoat

My dad was going to work on a service panel and the foreman told him that all power had been shut off to it and he made the mistake of believing him. Luckily all it cost him was a set of pliers, but he learned his lesson about not believing anybody and check it out himself to be sure. I had a problem when the electricians were putting a collar between the service meter and the 200 amp panel in my garage without turning off the power. Told them that I didn't have a problem with the power being shut off, but they said it wasn't a big deal that they did all the time.


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## camaroman2125

oldgoat said:


> My dad was going to work on a service panel and the foreman told him that all power had been shut off to it and he made the mistake of believing him. Luckily all it cost him was a set of pliers, but he learned his lesson about not believing anybody and check it out himself to be sure. I had a problem when the electricians were putting a collar between the service meter and the 200 amp panel in my garage without turning off the power. Told them that I didn't have a problem with the power being shut off, but they said it wasn't a big deal that they did all the time.


This happened to my uncle not to long ago when he was working at a job at the University of toledo. It would have killed him, But it jolted him pretty good then threw him back. He ended up in the hospital for along time with 2nd and 3rd degree burns. Then one day I was working at a different job than everyone else and got a phone call telling me one of our other workers had a ladder slip out from under him on a asphalt driveway. Needless to say when I got to the job I thought he was dead. He's still pretty messed up, But he did end up breaking both of his wrists and a couple ribs.


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## all vinyl

*grounded*

Life is to short and you just never no . 
i was doing a siding job in the city their seemed that their was a fire in one of the light post when they repaired it their was no ground . The man that i was working with was sweating he leaned against a steel awning and put his hand on the post i had to push him off with a 2 X 4his heart still isn't the same. I can still see his face.


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## oldgoat

Years ago we were doing some wallpapering at the shop and the foreman was taking a pocketknife to trim the wallpaper around a outlet. He slipped and made contact and since he was leaning against the wall just said he couldn't move. Another guy saw it and took a run at him and knocked him away from it.


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## camaroman2125

I think my family is just accident prone or something. My dad years ago used to lock back his blade guard on his circular saw and had a bad habit of swinging back his arm when he was done with a cut. Well, One day my uncle made the mistake of walking right behind him. Needless to say my dad ended up taking my uncle to the ER to close up the gash that he put in my uncles leg with the circular say. After that day dad doesn't lock back his blade guard anymore. Then a couple years ago a uncle was doing some finish work out in port clinton, Ohio and cut off four of his fingers and nearly bled to death on the side of the road trying to get someone to stop and take him to the hospital. Finally a trucker seen him and stopped and took him.


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## eddiemac

Rob 53 said:


> I saw a worker die about 15 years ago. A salesman right in front of me got T-boned by a lady running a light, late for work , putting on makeup. In this state the largest number of work related injuries and deaths are in jobs requiring driving cars, small vans, and pickups. <P>
> 
> I ran framing crews for 20 years with none, zero, zip accidents. I don't think OSHA has a clue as to what makes a jobsite safe. Their mission is to justify their existence and propagate their bureaucracy.<P>
> 
> 
> Hope those ribs start feeling better soon Teetor.:thumbsup:


My belated condoleces to all in the sad story that started the thread.

Old post, I know. I just was struck with a memory when I read this, though.

I love how government bureaucracies can come after people for useless or minor enforcement issues, but the big things are left alone.

I was t-boned by someone going 50-60 mph, according to witnesses and police on the scene. I was nearly killed, hospitalized, off work for months. Broken ribs, lacerated spleen, etc. The woman who hit me was driving on a suspended license, uninsured (although she had an invalid-not even the right number of digits-card with her). I showed for every court date, and was told she would get charged once it was proven that she was not insured (She said she was, and that it was just some confusion). Ultimately, she admitted having no insurance, about 8 months and 5 court dates after the accident. The assistant state's attorney refused to charge her, because too much time had passed. Never mind that the time passed only because she didn't come clean. What really got me was finding out the defendant's job: she was an *insurance broker*.

Makes it just a little more aggravating when your city sticker is overdue by a day and they are out writing tickets.

Teetor, did you have an accident? It sounds like we may have had a similar expereince.


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## orozko

There is about 1,200 fatalities in the construction industry each year. That averages to atleast 6 lives lost each day. Please be safe out there!!! I cant say it enough, Sorry to hear that.


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## DeepOne

What is the sad thread. 
In my country observes similar situation, aggravating by people, who work illegally in the construction industry. So, their lives cost is little.


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## americangutters

Last May my co-worker/employee fell off a two story roof and is lucky to be alive. I folded up shop and went back to a 9-5 because I could. I suppose I could have stayed in business but I really couldn't justify the risk to my employees or myself for the $45k I was knocking down after takes, labor and materials. 

This business is risk inherent and what makes me soo mad, so F*%*ing mad is that so many contractors cut safety corners because they feel they have to in order to stay competitive. In some situations, such as fall protection, it's downright impractical to use proper safety given the low margin of profit, the demand for completion, and the inceasing unregulated competition. I don't believe in big government, but IMHO OSHA can't enforce enough to keep the playing field equitable and more importantly safe!


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