[BC] Tech. competence

[Rich Wood]

------ At 07:31 AM 10/12/2005, WFIFeng at aol.com wrote: -------

>This is not a smart-a** comment, here, this is a serious question: How the
>heck do you ever get *any* work done? Do you trust your own voltmeter? Do you
>trust the shorting stick? Do you trust the breakers in the 
>transmitter, itself?
>Where do you draw the line, how do you draw it, and then how do you know you
>*can* work on the bloomin' thing?

When it comes to something that can kill me I don't trust anything. 
I've worked at places where engineers were so sure of themselves that 
they disabled interlocks and fell into operating klystrons. He was 
burned but lived to tell about it because someone was there to pull 
him out, safely. I've read about elevator repairmen who trusted 
fellow workers not to turn the power back on. They're dead now. I 
think that's why they make switchboxes with padlock holes, red tags, 
interlocks and shorting sticks. Watch for the repeat of the History 
Channel's dangerous jobs on Modern Marvels. High voltage helicopter 
linemen working on 345Kv energized lines. They make absolutely sure 
there's no path to ground. One small mistake and their path to ground 
is straight down - extra crispy.

Rich

Rich Wood
Rich Wood Multimedia
Phone: 413-303-9084
FAX: 413-480-0010