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When A Company Almost Has An Incident - Is NFPA 70E the Law?   

 

SPECIAL REPORT: When A Company Almost Has An Incident

Is NFPA 70E the Law?

By Brandi Fuller, Chief Editor for The Current Monitor Image

After making safety advancements to the electrical system, the maintenance crew at Pittsburgh Corning in Sedalia, Missouri began powering upthe plant after a company-wide shutdown. While doing so, they were surprised to see power restored to both the line and load side of a disconnect even though the panel was locked and tagged out.

"Seeing the LEDs [of the voltage indicators] flashing on both sides of the disconnect...caused immediate concern," says MJ Anderson, a maintenance repairman with Pittsburgh Corning. The team took the necessary precautions and began investigating why power was restored.

After confirming the voltage indicators were wired correctly, they opened the cabinet door and discovered the handle to the disconnect had broken away from the knives, which had been welded in place over time.

"...all we could think about, really, was if somebody had turned that on, it might have been ugly," shutters Terry Logan, a maintenance repairman with Pittsburgh Corning.

CLICK HERE to watch the Pittsburgh Corning team recount this incident in the Current Monitor Special Report.

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Comments
  • I have to commend the company on their safety program and everything that has been accomplished. Having spent many years in the industrial environment, I have to disagree with this report and some actions that were not taken. On the First Note; my question is "Why wasn't the disconnect checked when the power was off for the blades to checked?" It is a standard with most electricians to ALWAYS check the load side when the disconnect handle is OPENED. With the type of disconnect that was shown and most that I have seen over the years, Most of the blades are visible. On the Second Note; The handle was BROKEN when the power was energized and the load side was energized pretty much instantaneously. If the handle was put into the closed position, No Damage would have occurred. They would have noticed there was "No Resistance" in the operation and that would have indicated a problem. The problem would have occurred Down Stream if someone was working on the load side when the power was energized. My conclusion to this video and report shows me that the maintenance personnel, were improperly trained to begin with and SHOULD NOT have been working on this equipment unless they are "Trained & Qualified Electricians" In my honest opinion, this was abn opportunity for the "Media" to capitalize & sensationalize a topic they know nothing about. Maybe the personnel will get better training after that incident.

    Walter Croteau  November 30 2014, 9:23 am EST

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