As far as prevention of accidents goes, how many of you guys regularly check the condition of your hand and power tools?.
I mean, just as an example, have you ever had a screwdriver slip because the tip was blunt?.
Knives are always something that I've kept razor sharp, you only have to cut yourself once with a blunt knife to learn that lesson for life.

There is also the questionablity of Adjustable Spanners in Areas where if the spanner was to slip, it could fall into a busbar chamber.
I had a situation like that about 10 years ago, I'd laid Neoprene blankets+clips before the work started.
I was asked what all that rubbish was for?.
Got your washing there son?
And as it happened, a spanner did end up on the blankets. GRRRR
400V bus carrying 2400A would have been a nasty blast, considering that there were 5 of us working on the Main ACB.
You just can't teach some people.

[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 08-02-2005).]

Mike, I think you've hit on part of "overhead" that too often gets brushed aside.

Time taken to clean, maintain, repair, and organise your stuff has paybacks in both efficiency and safety. This belief is disputed, however, by those management types who only want to see the tools IN USE during the workday, with everything else considered "wasted time."

John,
My biggest beef is:
While we are trained to work live, management expects not to have to pay for time in setting covers, setting our safety gear up or to do an assessment of what is ahead.
This really annoys me, you do not just launch into a job of that size, just like that.
It doesn't take long and would save a lot of money and suffering.
Personally, Management want's to keep it's mouth shut!.
BTW, at the time, it was Middle Management causing us all the problems.
People that have nothing better to do than annoy other people that have got something to do!.
Egg-heads.

One of the advantages of having an FD gig as my "main" job is there's a (somewhat) equipped shop where I can clean my hand & power tools during our "down" time.

John,
That is one of the reasons why I work for a PoCo these days.
No pressure, just do it as safely as what you can.
Cover the things as you must, it's in our Safety Schedule.
After 5 years out in the field as an EC, it felt like "coming home".