The power company was not negligent. The "licensed electrical" was negligent in not tagging out the power properly. He took a shortcut and paid the price.
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9 years ago
Off and Pop for changing sockets
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9 years ago
The power company was negligent. If this story is to be believed.
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9 years ago
Why is the power company negligent? OSHA is very clear, if you pull a mete r to cut the power, you must tag it out. Any licensed electrician would kn ow that. The power company would not have put a meter back in if there wer e a tag hanging on it. (meter bases are hard to lock, so a tag is acceptab le) If there were a tag, and the power company put the meter back on, they would be toast - clearly in violation and fully liable. But with no tag, and the meter belonging to them, they can do what they want. There is a sa fety issue to an exposed meter base.
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9 years ago
Why is the power company negligent? OSHA is very clear, if you pull a meter to cut the power, you must tag it out. Any licensed electrician would know that. The power company would not have put a meter back in if there were a tag hanging on it. (meter bases are hard to lock, so a tag is acceptable) If there were a tag, and the power company put the meter back on, they would be toast - clearly in violation and fully liable. But with no tag, and the meter belonging to them, they can do what they want. There is a safety issue to an exposed meter base.
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Common sense. How hard would it be to ask?
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9 years ago
Doesn't everyone walk around and turn breakers on, and push meters back in?
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9 years ago
Unfortunately, yes they do.
That's why the law requires lockout tagout, and why qualified professionals would do it anyway. Your guy who pulled a meter and left it lying there for the next mischievous person to pop it back in was in violation of the law, and frankly being stupid.
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9 years ago
and why qualified professionals would do it anyway.
I know of at least one or two "turned the power back on" stories. One, I stopped doing volunteer work for the church woman. Two, guy was working for me, and I fired him on the spot. Third was told to me, a guy at a radio station walked past and pushed on a coupe big disconnects. The worker felt the electric, and was far enough away that he lived to go beat the stuffing out of the guy (station manager) who turned the power back on.
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9 years ago
that does not excuse the power company's negligence.
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9 years ago
Funny, that never happened to me.
Oh wait, I always put my own lock on the disconnect.
Seriously, that kind of incident is impossible if you follow the lockout tagout rules.
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9 years ago
I deal with some better idiots. I assure you, it is possible.
- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
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9 years ago
I know of one myself. Where I worked a production line was shut down for general maintence. All the power was off and locked out like it should have been. To calibrate some instruments instead of disconecting them and running a drop cord to them, one of our nuckle head electricians decided to back feed them from another source of power. This was a 120 volt AC line. He did not only power up the one thing he wanted, but put power on lots of other things that other electricians were working on. Shocked the fool out of another person.
I don't know why our company put up with this fellow and another one that was just about as bad, but I would not let either one of them change the battery in a one cell flashlight. They blew out about a dozen new light bulbs one day. I don't recall exectally what kind,but something like they put some 200 watt mercury vapor lamps where sodium vapor bulbs were suspose to go. The did have the right wattage and voltage and the bases fit, but there is a differant kind of ballast used.
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9 years ago
I find it hard to believe a power company would find a pulled meter and just shove it back in either. And if they did, I'd agree it's negligence. If it's out power has been turned off in a major way, and obviously intentionally. Aside from someone working on the system, or having it torn apart and left in God knows what state, even at a typical residence, you have the possibility of stover burners, electric heaters, etc being in the on state.
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9 years ago
Yow, sounds like there was more than one of those type of people. Thanks for the field report.
Power company guys used grounding straps on wires "believed to be cold". I can see a use for ground straps in this kind of situation.
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9 years ago
Yeah. Pics or it didn't happen.
It was 100% negligence and incompetence on the part of the supposed electri cian who pulled it and didn't tag it. On the part of the power company, no t so sure. Who knows? Could have been the boss was in the building, didn' t know the crew was working, called the power company to complain when his lights went out. It's REALLY easy to have that kind of miscommunication, t hat's one of the reasons the law REQUIRES a tag.
ntionally. Aside from someone working on the system, or having it
Suppose they put it back in and burn the building down. That electrician w ould be liable for sure, having failed in his duty to tag it. Maybe the po wer company would share some blame, maybe not.
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9 years ago
rician who pulled it and didn't tag it. On the part of the power company, not so sure. Who knows? Could have been the boss was in the building, did n't know the crew was working, called the power company to complain when hi s lights went out. It's REALLY easy to have that kind of miscommunication, that's one of the reasons the law REQUIRES a tag.
tentionally. Aside from someone working on the system, or having it
would be liable for sure, having failed in his duty to tag it. Maybe the power company would share some blame, maybe not.
Of course, there is a likely reason NOT to tag the meter, if the electricia n were competent enough to know he was required to.
He did not have permission from the utility company to pull the meter, whic h is their equipment. And he had not bothered to pull a permit for the wor k he was doing. Strictly Joe's Garage amateur hour, in other words.
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9 years ago
the meter, if the electrician were competent enough to know he was required to.
company to pull the meter, which is their equipment. And he had not bothered to pull a permit for the work he was doing. Strictly Joe's Garage amateur hour, in other words.
Ah, the speculation. Why does the fly walk on the ceiling? Why does the blade of grass grow towards the north? Why are power sockets made of ivory?
- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus
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9 years ago
And when they forget to remove them before powering up the main feed to San Francisco, San Francisco goes dark.
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9 years ago
Yes, it's pure speculation.
Do you have a better idea for why he didn't tag it out? Other than incompe tence? Surely you know pulling a meter and leaving it on the ground is not standard practice. The meter lugs are hot, by the way, and any kid coming by could have killed himself.
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9 years ago
Mainly incompetence. This same electrician took a job at a nursing home as a 'handy man' after taking eairly retirement. They fired him in about 3 months. What got his job was something spilled on the floor and he was using gasolene to clean up the mess. Can you imagine using gas inside a building and spreading it out over the floor ?
I worked around this guy for about 15 years. A hit TV series could be writen about the things he did.
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9 years ago
rician who pulled it and didn't tag it. On the part of the power company, not so sure. Who knows? Could have been the boss was in the building, did n't know the crew was working, called the power company to complain when hi s lights went out. It's REALLY easy to have that kind of miscommunication, that's one of the reasons the law REQUIRES a tag.
Note: The fact that there was negligence on the part of one party, doesn't mean that there was not also negligence on the part of another party. For example, someone could be crossing a street, not paying attention, distracted because they are on their cell phone. That's negligence. Someone else comes along driving their car while eating a burger and fries and while the pedestrian is easily visible, they run the m over. That's also negligence.
In the case you cited, I agree with Pico. There is clear negligence on the part of both parties. Anyone, especially the power company employees, would hav e to be an idiot to just find a pulled meter and shove it back in, without be ing told to do so by the customer, checking with someone in the building, etc. I can't imagine that's power company policy anywhere.
tentionally. Aside from someone working on the system, or having it
would be liable for sure, having failed in his duty to tag it. Maybe the power company would share some blame, maybe not.
I'd say you'd quickly find that the power company has policies that govern what it's employees are supposed to do when they find a random pulled meter and that the procedures were not followed. Even failing that, I think you' d find any fair jury would quickly come to the conclusion that anyone, and especially the power company, that just shoves a meter back in, when they know nothing about why it was taken out, how it got that way, didn't talk t o anyone involved with the property, etc, is in fact negligent.