ldelee posted that he works in the mining industry, so I think we can safely presume that we're dealing with mining equipment.

So on one hand, it's an industry where lost production can be extremely costly, it may be impractical to get a plant electrician to a dead machine somewhere in a vast series of tunnels (or on a large above-ground site.) Let's also presume that anyone operating mining equipment would tend to be very skilled and highly trained, so we're not talking some teenager whose vocabulary is based on "Y'all want fries with that?" [Linked Image] So the machine or process shuts down. What to do?

Again, a lot rides on the abilites and technical background of the machine operator. He may be the best bucket loader (is there such a thing?) operator in the world, but he can't even plug in a table lamp without getting bit. (There are many people like that, too.) So let's have him open up a control panel with 480 volts and start poking around to try to find the tripped overload. What do you think will happen? Even if the person is well-versed in electrical safety and has a fair bit of knowledge, it's still not a good idea. Why?

Consider likely working conditions: hot, humid, lots of hazardous dust, possible fumes, moving machinery which may start unexpectedly, rain if above ground, etc.
Add to that a possibly tired, po'd worker who just wants to get done and go home. Even the best workers can be tired or frustrated.

I stand by my position and would argue it to the death with any company CEO. There has to be a point where safety comes before money!

And to paraphrase someting I've said in this forum in regards to the NEC:

"Just because OSHA doesn't prohibit it doesn't make it safe - or right."

Stupid should be painful.