Heartwarming story about good old British Gas

[John Stumbles]

One of the guys on my CG2381 training today was from BG. He says he was working in a house where he had to get a floorboard up for something, rested one arm on the floor while reaching under it with the other and got a belt. Turned out someone (else) had put a floor nail through a cable which was run too close to the surface and he'd leaned on the live nail head. Being a conscientious chap he reported it to his bosses, who promptly sacked him for gross misconduct! Apparently for not having turned off the power to the house at the CU while working - which all gas fitters always do, of course. Then, mindful of the safety of their customer, his managers phoned up and were verbally assured that the problem had been corrected, and closed the book on it.

Only after many weeks at home (unable to get another job with a 'gross misconduct' dismissal on his records) and with the help of his union and after the involvement of the HSE (who apparently were less than impressed with BG's handling of the incident) did he get his job back. They then decided that he needed training in electrical matters hence his presence on 2381.

I believe he is considering how - and with whom - his career might progress once he has this ticket :-)

[tony sayer]

In article , John Stumbles writes

They sound the like the same shower of s**te that manage EDF energy:-(((

[Owain]

Oh no, EDF are *much much* better that BG. (So far; touch wood; etc)

Owain

[Andy Hall]

I'm shocked (as it were). Actually no I'm not. What a bunch of pillocks.

Still..... if it opens his eyes to a new, and I am sure more profitable career path, they will have done him a favour.

[Lurch]

On Tue, 17 Jul 2007 19:05:23 GMT, John Stumbles mused:

Reminds me of a job my dad was doing once. He'd fed some 22mm copper under a floor from the landing across a bedroom with just a trap at each end. Further on in the job the floor in the middle had to come up and underneath there were the 2 copper pipes he'd been waving about under there, and 3 2.5's twisted together uninsulated in some fashion or other which he'd somehow managed to avoid.

[<me9]

I insulated the loft of my Dad's terraced house many years ago, and found a chock block in mid air where the loft was lower entering an offshoot, and the cable was too short. I carefully avoided it, but when I returned to the bathroom below, to wash off the fibreglass, the light didn't work. On further inspection (and extending the cable) the light still didn't work.

I then spotted a new shelf in the kitchen, just above the switch for the bathroom light. It had been fitted that very morning, as I had been obtaining the loft insulation. How he had managed to drill through the live cable without either electrocuting himself, or blowing the fuse is a mystery to this day.

[Andy Hall]

Which does raise an interesting point. Presumably the insurance policies for trade purposes that can be obtained directly or via associations cover third party liability. However, do they cover the tradesperson if he injures himself in some way for reasons as described here or otherwise such that he can't work?

Otherwise, I suppose that he would be in the invidious position of pursuing the customer for liability?

[dennis]

Insulated drill.. they are plastic these days

or

drilling the neutral core only.

[John Stumbles]

Mine doesn't: I have separate personal illness/accident insurance for that.

From a hospital bed/wheelchair/beyond the grave ;-)

[Mike Clarke]

Standard invocation of Sod's Law.

A while ago I was adding an extra socket in my daughter's living room a few feet above an existing one. No problem, I thought, just excavate and cut back the cable above the socket, install the new one and run a new bit of cable down the groove replacing the old. As I started chipping out the plaster I was soon cursing because the cable ran diagonally. The previous owner had put a picture hook in the wall "safely" well away from where the cable should have run but it was heading ominously in the direction of the hook. When my excavation reached the hook I found that the pin had been hammered through the metal capping and the cable. This was a 1960's build with 7/.029 cable, the pin had gone neatly through the live conductor with

3 strands one side and 4 the other. Fortunately nobody had ever received even a tingle from the live hook which had been there for some years.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What this shows is that many types of 'protection' are simply no proof against a picture hook nail - and this must be one of the most common things to hammer into a wall. *Proper* conduit would stop it, though.

[Lurch]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 13:02:31 +0100, "Dave Plowman (News)" mused:

But to be fair, it wasn't there to protect the cable from picture hook nails.

[<me9]

It was a metal cased and supposedly earthed. I still have the drill somewhere, but it no longer works. Black and Decker D500 IIRC. My Black and Decker model (D)1, my father's first electric drill, is still working, but rarely used. It has been handy for drilling joists, as it is much shorter than later drills.

It was the switch drop drilled into, two lives. presumably he severed the switched core, rather than the live feed.

I relocated the switch about 3" further up the wall, the drill hole was just above the switch.

[Tim Southerwood]

And shielded cable would at least blow the fuse/breaker so you know something was amiss. Wonder why that stuff hasn't caught on for domestic use...

Tim

[David Hansen]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:03:36 +0100 someone who may be Tim Southerwood wrote this:-

In theory.

I have a bitter memory of one of my staff putting a cable spike through an 11kV cable, many moons ago. Not only was it energised, but the spike did not operate the protective devices.

[tony sayer]

In article , David Hansen writes

Not the gun type device they use for making sure its deceased?......

[Lurch]

On Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:03:36 +0100, Tim Southerwood mused:

[Tim Southerwood]

Yeah - there are caveats regarding the type of breaker used (type B required on Lapp XL Shield IIRC). At least the nail would be earthed I suppose, which is better than nothing.

Tim

[A.Lee]

A couple of years ago, my idiot lad was experimenting with my cordless drill, and drilling through the floorboards in his bedroom (unbeknown to me). The RCD/Breaker for the outside spur tripped that night. Because I didnt know he was drilling the floor, I never did find why it had tripped, until I went to use the dryer which was on that spur - it wouldnt work, and when I touched a metal part on it, I got a belt. Still not seeing the obvious, i thought the dryer was knackered, but it was soon clear something was amiss when the washer wouldnt work either.

A plug-in socket checker showed a earth fault, yet the breaker hadnt tripped again, so after much thought, I decided to trace the cable back to see where it was damaged. And so I found the numerous drill holes, right above around 6 ring main cables, but the only one damaged was the outside spur, which wasnt on a ring. The drill had gone through the earth, severing it, and had touched the live, pushing that into the socket end of the earth, so earth was now live on that spur. I wasnt very happy. And he swore he hadnt put the holes there!

How did the RCD not trip again though - I definitely got at least one shock off the dryer, though both appliances are well insulated from the floor, so no leakage to ground. Alan.

[Andy Hall]

Did he?

How old was he at the time and was he bigger than you?