A couple of months ago, I had the displeasure of being assinged to put together some modular "boxes" at a modular home factory. I was there for a few weeks, and let me say that I can't believe what I saw. They notch the studs, and use nail plates everywhere. A lot of the sheetrock goes up BEFORE they box out the units, and are nailed on from behind. Anyway I digress.

I was plugging and swiching on one of the finish staged boxes, and every trade(if you want to call them that) is around you with nail guns, saws, drills, paint rollers...LOTS OF NOISE. You can't hear much. So one of my fellow "electricians" casually says very low...."hey, we're doing the HI POT." Well, needless to say, I didn't here him, or he didn't make sure I heard him...whatever the case, as I was holding a grounded switch in my left hand and was wrapping the feed around the screw terminalwith my right hand, pressing pretty hard with my right thumb to get the wire just right before I squeeze the wire hook with my strippers, something I can only compare to "hands the size of God's" shook me once, and only because I let go pretty quick. I stood there for a moment and thought, "that was more than 110V."

Then another first happened.....I started to smell a buring smell...like hair or flesh....from within my body. Very strage...anyway, thank god I never have to go back to that place. I can't beleive some of the guys have been there for over 14 years. Pretty crazy. I took a reading of what hit me afterwards, and it was over 900V.

Sounds like a good place to be rid of. Those reckless, immature SOB's thought it would be funny to 'zap' the new guy. What they need is a manager with balls enough to see to their immediate termination.

You didn't let go 'fast enough.' You let go because the tester let you let go. Absent the designed-in limits to the test equipment, you would be posting from St. Peters' internet connection.

Horseplay has no place in the workplace. Sure, we all like a good chuckle from time to time ... that's why we tell 'blonde' jokes It's one thing to ask the new supply clerk for a can of motor smoke ... quite another to zap someone.

Not only need you be able to communicate with your co-workers ... you are trusting each other with your lives. Period. If a man isn't mature enough to handle that responsibility, I don't want him on my jobsite. Period.

Reno hit this right on the head. I havve seen many accidents and by intentionally zapping some one is a total disregaurd for someones life. If they were doing a test then everyone should have benn made aware of this and to make sure there was no way anyone could be shocked. I find no humor in this and a test of this should have been done after everyone was made aware of the test and not before.There would havve been heck (not what i wanted to say) to pay if this happened to me. When im working with someone no booze during work, NO HORSEPAY. Plenty of time later to do that.
Always,
Steve

probably should have called OHSA, the cops........then a lawyer...twenty years from now you'll be glad you did

OK,
Since when has a High Potential test been in the vicinity of 900V?.
All of the High Potential tests that I've been involved with have been 5000V+.
I think you are confusing a Megger test with a Hi-Pot Test.
Meg-ohm meters use twice the AC RMS voltage as a DC voltage.
For 120VAC this would be 250VDC, for 240VAC this would be 500VDC.
For 400V here in NZ it would be 1000VDC.
Now, I work for a PoCo, company rules state that you MUST be wearing Rubber Gloves and outers before the test starts.
You NEVER muck with HV stuff.
One of our store-men used to be a Line Mechanic, he is missing some of his face and has one finger and a thumb on one hand and two fingers on the other hand.
Cable blew up on a High Potential Test, we get everyone out of the way when we do these tests these days, it was nasty that day.

Interesting -- BS7671 here only requires 500V DC megger tests for both 240V single phase and 415V 3-phase. Most electronic meggers do have a 1000V range though.

Mike, I had the same thought about the Megger after I had replied. seemed very low for a Hi-Pot test which is kinda overboard for resi wiring IMO / or Clydesdale is one really lucky guy

Mike, Tom .... whatever the specific equipment used, it comes back to two things:
1) Clydesdale was spared serious harm by the limitations of the equipment; and,
2) The test was carried out in an almost criminally negligent manner.

Glad ur ok....I mean SORTA ok:{

John I couldn't agree more, and I wasn't trying to diminish what happened to Clydesdale at all


I was just wondering why that redneck" co-worker " said he was hi-potting house wiring.

Did you get checked out medically? Electricians goes poked all the time, a hazard of the trade. Hand to hand shock goes right trough vital organs. Electricity does screwing things to the body that can effect you years down the road. The link is something I found a while back about the electrical burns and how they physically effect body tissue. The article goes into explaining how electricity "cooks like a microwave" or from the inside out. It is not my intention to scare anyone but you should be very concern when you get shocked.

http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic859.htm