Mr T
November 7th, 2009, 11:22 AM
Probably should be more on wall of shame.....
While flipping through channels I came across a episode of This Old House. They tend to be pretty DIY friendly and from what I have seen they tend to not focus much on stuff that DIY's shouldnt mess with.
In this episode they showed a electrician changing out the electrical service on the side of the house to a temporary service. The camera shows the show's host up on a aluminum ladder on the side of the house and the electrician on a ladder that you cant see around the corner. They show him cutting the neutral when the host asks if it's live, the electrician says yes and continues cutting the neutral and both hots on the service enterance, then strips all 3 wires and uses screw on butt splices to connect temproary power to a construction distribution box. He explains that he is on a fiberglass ladder so he wont get electrocuted since there is no path to ground. That's all they say about safety. They dont even show the ladder that he is standing on in the camera shot until the end of the clip.
I personally have a big problem with showing all this in detail on a show that caters to the DIY'er . I can see someone getting the idea of "that doesnt look too hard..." Then find out the hard way that if they get in trouble there's no shutting it off, or they "find" that the aluminum siding on the side of their house that they are leaning on just happens to have a path to ground (maybe the cable tv ground block screwed to the side of the house below).
No PPE was shown, no mention of the risks of burns from arcing. The electrician was bare handed with short sleeve shirt on. They show him handling the uninsulated splice blocks in his hand as he tightens the screws down then tapes them up.
Yea its only 120v to ground and the electrician is more then comfortable doing it but they dont show any steps he took to make sure he is safe. It can be safe in the right situation to handle live wires (or splice blocks) in your bare hand, but saying, i'm on a ladder is no guarentee by far. They dont mention that it may be illegal in some areas for the homeowner or someone who is not licesned to do this. They dont mention that the biggest risk he is facing is probably falling or being knocked off the ladder which can be a real risk in the right situation. Not to mention that if you start to fall, the first thing you would probably grab for (the cable from the pole) is grounded :banghead:
I have enough experience with electricty that I could do this safely if I needed to but it is something I would still choose to leave to a "pro". Just stood out in my opinion. It's a "new" episode.
While flipping through channels I came across a episode of This Old House. They tend to be pretty DIY friendly and from what I have seen they tend to not focus much on stuff that DIY's shouldnt mess with.
In this episode they showed a electrician changing out the electrical service on the side of the house to a temporary service. The camera shows the show's host up on a aluminum ladder on the side of the house and the electrician on a ladder that you cant see around the corner. They show him cutting the neutral when the host asks if it's live, the electrician says yes and continues cutting the neutral and both hots on the service enterance, then strips all 3 wires and uses screw on butt splices to connect temproary power to a construction distribution box. He explains that he is on a fiberglass ladder so he wont get electrocuted since there is no path to ground. That's all they say about safety. They dont even show the ladder that he is standing on in the camera shot until the end of the clip.
I personally have a big problem with showing all this in detail on a show that caters to the DIY'er . I can see someone getting the idea of "that doesnt look too hard..." Then find out the hard way that if they get in trouble there's no shutting it off, or they "find" that the aluminum siding on the side of their house that they are leaning on just happens to have a path to ground (maybe the cable tv ground block screwed to the side of the house below).
No PPE was shown, no mention of the risks of burns from arcing. The electrician was bare handed with short sleeve shirt on. They show him handling the uninsulated splice blocks in his hand as he tightens the screws down then tapes them up.
Yea its only 120v to ground and the electrician is more then comfortable doing it but they dont show any steps he took to make sure he is safe. It can be safe in the right situation to handle live wires (or splice blocks) in your bare hand, but saying, i'm on a ladder is no guarentee by far. They dont mention that it may be illegal in some areas for the homeowner or someone who is not licesned to do this. They dont mention that the biggest risk he is facing is probably falling or being knocked off the ladder which can be a real risk in the right situation. Not to mention that if you start to fall, the first thing you would probably grab for (the cable from the pole) is grounded :banghead:
I have enough experience with electricty that I could do this safely if I needed to but it is something I would still choose to leave to a "pro". Just stood out in my opinion. It's a "new" episode.
