For your entertainment, 4 really good true "safety" stories that I encountered while working for the big US Cert Lab:
1) As a rookie, I was in charge of EMI filter certification including big single phase facility filters = rows of large capacitors & inductors. In order to conduct some tests, we had to request a sample without the bleeder resistors. After testing, with the giant filter fully charged, one of the other rookie's said "I know how to discharge it. We did this in college." He proceeded to kneel next to the filter with a very large screwdriver. As he bridged the metal enclosure to the input terminal with the screwdriver, there was a very loud bang/bright flash and the screwdriver shot by his face, across the room, past several other people, and then embedded all the way to the handle in the wall. There was a nice temporary weld mark on the side of the filter, a big chunk out of the screwdriver, a hole in the wall, and a very embarrassed engineer (while I laughed my @#$@# off). 2) I was walking past a new engineer's cube who was having a debate with an experienced engineer over a 4 foot tall lighted plastic Santa that had been submitted for Certification. The new engineer boldly proclaimed that the plastic must be flame resistant but the veteran was cautioning him not to assume anything. To that the new engineer produced a lighter and applied a flame to Santa's head. Within 2 seconds, Santa was ablaze with the new engineer trying to stomp him out. Keep in mind that this happened in the carpeted, office area and this engineer's cube was only 20 feet from the Engineering Department Manager. Fortunately for his career he was able to put Santa out before the sprinkler system kicked in. Loss = one pair of shoes & one plastic Santa. 3) I met an Electrician that would lick his fingers and then pinch an uninsulated wire between his thumb and index finger to test for a live circuit (120 VAC, 240 VAC). Amazingly I think he is still alive = he had pretty thick skin. 4) Within my 1st month as a Safety Engineer, the Cert Lab brought in a guy that teaches electrical safety to school kids for a demonstration. He had built a miniature city with working power lines, etc. He would push plastic army men with fake kites, etc. into the power lines, they would catch on fire, and I guess the kids would learn not to mess around with kites. He also had a big ammeter that he connected to a variac and then he put himself in the circuit. He then had someone turn up the variac until he couldn't let go & we would see how much current he could handle. He then repeated the trick with wet hands showing how much less current he could handle. I don't remember his name - we just called him Shockey. And we had so many people, he did his demonstration for 2 showings. I have some more safety war stories but I'll have to save them for another day. Regards & Good Laughs, Bill Bisenius E.D.& D. -----Original Message----- From: Rich Nute [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 11:15 AM To: Product Safety Technical Committee Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: Mutineer Yesterday, as we wrapped up a meeting, the other safety engineer, in packing up his laptop, ripped the plug out of the wall by using a big jerk on the cord. (pun) True in both senses! My classic story, from many years back, is the smoking safety engineer, who casually discards the cigarette ash into his waste- basket. A few minutes later the wastebasket caught fire. True! Rich This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: [email protected] Dave Heald: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. Visit our web site at: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To cancel your subscription, send mail to: [email protected] with the single line: unsubscribe emc-pstc For help, send mail to the list administrators: Ron Pickard: [email protected] Dave Heald: [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Richard Nute: [email protected] Jim Bacher: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc
