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Tales From The Road
Live Wires
A senior building maintenance technician was summoned to conduct some electrical repair work in the executive wing of a building.
Because shutting off the power to the work area would knock out power in the entire wing, the maintenance technician made the decision to work on the problem while the lines were "hot".
For the most part, the job proceeded without a hitch. The maintenance technician was highly experienced-boasting more than twenty years of work in his field. Working on live wires was nothing new. He had practiced this technique many times. The technician figured the shortcut would save him time while ensuring all executives in the wing uninterrupted power.
As the technician neared completion on the project, he reached to cut a wire. Forgetting that the wire still had current flowing through it, the technician began cutting. Instantly, electricity entered through his right arm, traveling across the chest area and exiting his left arm.
Surprisingly, the technician was not hurt in the incident.
Afterward, the technician jokingly bragged, "Despite the jolt, I still completed the cut."
But not so funny was the seriousness of what could have happened. The technician was hit with 277 volts. 110 volts, best known as household current, can easily kill a person.
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