[BC] Transmitter Safety

[Broadcast List USER]

Jeff:

This is interesting, because there is no "broadcast engineer"
profession.  Still, guys maintaining transmitter plants are exposed
to high Voltages, and even X-Rays at some transmitters.  Since the
definition of hight Voltage is generally 600 Volts or greater, solid
state transmitters have eased this a bit.  Still, I recall getting
across 208 Volts on a stage in my high school, and being thrown from
the wings on one side to nearly the wings stage left!

OSHA (and stages CAN have more strict regulations) writes; "To work
on high voltage (over 600 volts), you must have a minimum of two
years of training, experience with high voltage circuits, have
demonstrated that you are familiar with the work to be performed, and
the hazards involved with high voltage work according to OSHA.
"Other safety requirements that must be followed include using
insulated gloves for current over 300 volts, eye protection, and
lockout/tag-out if working on energized parts of equipment or
systems. Conductive measuring tapes, ropes, or similar devices
obviously cannot be used around exposed conductors, and conductive
fish tapes cannot be used if they will be entering enclosures with
exposed conductors."

How many of us got two years training?

I have yet to see a radio station with it, but lock-out procedures
and equipment are a very good idea.  Just a packet of pad locks
doesn't do it.  You really need the do-dads that go through the lock
hole and allow six or eight locks to be put on it.  Imagine you lock
out a disconnect, and someone else needs to lock it out too.  You
need to be able to do that.



Regarding getting zapped.  The worst I got was helping out a friend.
He had an Auxiliary site with a  CCA 20,000DS that was unhappy.  As
soon as I saw it (I had a LOT of experience with these boxes, thanks
Bernie), I KNEW it was a driver problem.  Well, I KNEW the box, and
the print matched what I was familiar with, so I stoked the box and
went in.   I grabbed that coupling coil, but sadly, it had about 1900
Volts on it because someone had modified the power supply without
noting it on the blue line prints.  I was thrown out of the box
(standing on a stool) against a sheet rock wall.  My head dented the
wall.  I don't know if it was the electrical shock, or my head
hitting the wall, but I was blind.  Everything was WHITE -- not
black.  My friend (the CE of a competitor) was going NUTZ.  He wanted
me to walk to a chair.  I pretty calmly told him I didn't think I
could or should do that as I couldn't see at all.  Within 20 minutes
I could see again, I mapped out the power supply and modified the
blue line prints, then fixed his transmitter.

I SHOULD have gone to the hospital for cardiac enzyme tests, but I
didn't.  I think things are OK because that was over two decades ago.



NOW, back to the issue:  I don't think ANYONE should be forced to
work alone.  I never have.  If a contract engineer sent me a bill
with a charge for a body to watch him not die, I would never say a
word.  Then again, if they don't mind working alone, I'm OK with that
too.

Back in the days of tube transmitters, I was working as the CE of a
very top rated station.  They cut my assistant.  I fought it as long
as I could, but they found him a job at one of our stations in
another market.  I dragged my girlfriend to the transmitter for the
dangerous stuff.  She didn't like it one bit, and it was wrong.  Then
again, she is now my wife.  Even though she was CPR trained, I doubt
she would have then, or now, been too useful in a real emergency.
Oh, well.

Today, I am much more of a --- um, I am opinionated.  I wouldn't
stand for it today.  Then again, solid state transmitters are much
more reliable, and safer to work on.

--chip


Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:29:38 EDT
>From: Xmitters at aol.com
>
>What are the laws regarding an employer's responsibility to protect
>their
>employees from electrocution?