Hi, I’m an employee at AT&T and the following is my opinion.
Not sure how many of you had the opportunity to watch the video on WSB-TV 2 in Atlanta about the technician who almost set a home on fire. More importantly, he almost didn’t go home that night. Here is the video, so check it out.
I wouldn’t blog about it if I had seen a “flash” report on the incident. I didn’t, so felt you might need a reminder how a stupid action might just get you killed. Many technicians visit my blog, especially younger ones. You are well “trained” to avoid actions that are dangerous, but sometimes training just doesn’t “sink” in, or you have a “superman” moment to save some time.
Not too long ago, I was sent to help a wire technician who had discovered an electrified line. First of all, it should have been a supervisor that went to check, but the boss told him to drop a “helper ticket” for a bucket truck to test it. When I got there, he had his screwdriver stuck in the ground with one end of the bond cord to it and the other to an “insulated” #6 copper mgnv on the pole. Turns out he was only reading induction and there was nothing wrong. It dumbfounded me that he had clipped to an insulated wire, there was no contact with the copper at all! I took a few minutes to explain things to him and thought, “wow, these young guys are dangerous”.
In the video, you’ll hear the homeowner quote the technician, “Thank God I didn’t get electrocuted”. That’s exactly right, be thankful you’re alive. When I worked in the test center, I took a call from an operator who had a homeowner on the line. She said a technician was working under her house and she hadn’t heard any noise for a long time and was worried about him. Medics found him still under the house but dead. He didn’t survive after coming in contact with a pigtailed electrical wire that had no tape or plastic nut. The wire was in an uncovered electrical box that had been nailed to a joist, above where he was crawling.
I know you’re worried about making your numbers and making your supervisor happy at bonus time, but it’s not worth losing your life over! We’re pressed constantly about MSOC numbers; out the gate time, in the gate time, hurry and get this next job, and so on and so forth… It’s not worth losing your life over! Slow down and just do things right. Above all, be careful around electrical wiring. I don’t know the whole story on the video. It sounds like he cut either a 110V or a 220V circuit. There is NEVER a reason to cut an electric wire in a customer’s home. Drilling through one is possible, but not if you understand how most homes are built and you should never drill through a floor or wall without checking it first for wiring.
Most of you are too young to remember Michael Conrad on the TV show “Hill Street Blues”, but I’ll close with his signature phrase… HEY, LET’S BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!
