We were running a bit behind on our course work so in order to make up for it we came in at 7:30 AM. The typical pre-class bullshit session consisted of us listening to one guy complain about how he loves his girlfriend but his wife can’t stand her.
The instructors started us off with Fire Safety training, learning about fire extinguishers and the various types. I didn’t know there was more than one type. There are different versions that cover combustible material fires, Class A. Class B covers flammable liquids, Class C is for electrical fires, and there are even ones that can extinguish combustible metals like magnesium, Class D. Most extinguishers cover the first 3, and you’ll see ABC on the side of them. We also learned what those fire hazard diamonds (aka NFPA 704) you see on buildings are, blue is the health risk, red is how flammable the materials are considered, yellow is reactivity, white is special info a fire fighter might want to know.
The class moved on to Confined Space Safety. This one gives me the heebie-jeebies a bit. I’m not claustrophobic, I can get into a tight spot if I wish, as long as I can get out in a hurry. That being said spelunking is not for me, and watching people do it freaks me out. You may wonder if the inside of a wind turbine qualifies as confined space, it doesn’t actually. It is pretty spacious in those bigger turbines. Though there are parts of it, such as the hub that do qualify.
After this was machine guarding. This is the one hazard that makes my skin crawl. The idea of getting sucked into a machine or having pieces of your body torn off makes me go all icky inside. After this horror show, complete with pictures, was over, we went on to respiratory protection. After a morning break we moved on to Lock Out/Tag Out procedure. This is procedural protocol used when shutting down or powering up different systems, be they electric, hydraulic, or pneumatic. Very simply it means “Get out of the way of anything dangerous because conditions are about to change.” The instructor placed a lot of emphasis on this one, people could get electrocuted or maimed if they aren’t properly notified of the coming changes. Because of the inherent dangers, the instructors gave us this transcendental piece of advice, “Be Here Now.” Concentrate on the moment, don’t think about the fight you had with your girlfriend or what you’re doing this weekend. Concentrate on this moment, and keep your friends safe. We went on to cover hazardous material handling and then took a test on the safety materials.
Passing this test meant that we were now OSHA certified, we no longer had to guess and then suffer from the unpleasant results. It was open book and open neighbor, basically you were guaranteed a 100% on the exam. They do this because they want to emphasize a culture of double checking. If you have a safety question, you should look it up. I now had two certifications under my belt. I was feeling pretty good about that.
We moved on to safety in the wind farm. The main hazards on a wind farm are falling, electrical shock, moving parts and extreme temperatures. This lesson was accompanied by story time. I had read in Paul Gipe’s “Wind Power” the story of the man who had gotten his positioning lanyard stuck in the rotating gears of a wind turbine and was then ground up. I was surprised to learn that the instructor not only knew the guy, but he also knew the turbine that did it. Apparently the break wasn’t good so the blades kept slowly spinning, my instructor had to get a piece of oak and a buddy to improvise a break on the main shaft. The instructor said the oak was smoldering before the blades stopped spinning. When the unfortunate soul who got sucked into the machine was working on it, he had a similar problem, there was no way to stop the blades from turning but unlike our instructor, he didn’t secure that lanyard.
We also heard about a crane accident involving high voltage lines. A crane crashed into the power line and turned over, a guy approached the accident and touched the crane. And he was electrocuted. The instructors rapped on their wooden desk to demonstrate what his body felt like after the shock. We continued on through more turbine safety, and broke for lunch with the images fresh in my mind.
When we returned we began to cover safety procedures. I was happy to hear that most job sites have safety meetings at least weekly. The wind farm manager who spoke to us the first week said they have daily meetings. There are also meetings in a couple of different incarnations. There are training meetings, review meetings, and tailgate meetings. The latter is pretty much what it sounds like, your crew gets together around the truck and reviews what they are doing, what tools and protection gear they need and what the hazards are. Bad things can happen if you don’t fill out the right paper work or take note of the specific conditions. One of the checklists they showed us was the JSA, Job Safety Analysis. This is essentially a checklist that you can go through that covers most of the contingencies in the field. I was surprised how each team filled their form out slightly differently. The variation concerned me a bit, because everyone has their own individual understanding of the situation at hand and the safety involved, this could lead to trouble for those who are cavalier and delays for those who are overly cautious.
In the middle of all this safety procedure we were surprised by a fire drill. We weren’t sure if it was an actual drill or a pulled alarm, but it ended up being a routine drill. A mildly interesting coincidence when people are covering safety procedure. After the drill we went over electrical measurement safety. Again I found myself surprised by how dangerous electricity can be as we were introduced to the electrical equivalent of the boogey man, transients. Only this boogey man is very real and deadly. But first we were shown pictures of an unfortunate dumbass who tried to steal electrical cables while they were still energized. He was burned to a crisp and blown apart by the amount of energy that went through him. He looked like something from the closing scenes of Time Bandits.
Back to transients. These are also known as power surges or spikes. They’re the reason for surge protectors. They have a variety of causes: lightening striking power lines, short circuits or turning off a motor. Do your lights flicker when the heater kicks on? Transient. Despite the fact that this little spike can be upwards of 8000 volts, they can be managed and are relatively mundane except when you are measuring high voltage circuits. If you happen to performing electrical measurements on an energized line and one of these comes through, the results could be disastrous. Essentially your multimeter prongs can be the vector of an arc flash as the power surge tries to arc between them. Arc blasts are the hottest thing on the planet reaching temperatures of up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit, four times hotter than the sun. Metal is vaporized, clothes ignited, eyes blinded and the resulting concussive blast is strong enough to kill. We were told that if you had the proper protective gear on and get hit by an arc blast the most you can hope for is an open casket funeral. Arc blasts happen 5 to 10 times a day in the construction industry. So you want to work on de-energized circuits to avoid this, and wear protective gear.
After all this fun we went on to Ohm’s Law. We had reviewed this a couple weeks ago with the thumb charts. So this was largely a refresher. Then we watched a video about safety and multimeters put together by the manufactures of high grade electrical equipment, Fluke. Their multimeters run about $350 a piece. But each one is equipped with a series of safety features that could save your life or at least a finger or two, that may be enough to justify the cost. The video covered more in detail the dangers of arc blast and how it can happen. The spookiest thing about transients is your multimeter will buzz or crack a fraction of a second before the transient hits you. A warning I would want to do without. I went home that night again to not a lot of sleep.
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