I've got a couple of stories to relate in this post.
Not my fault but, I was there when it happened, like:
I was working in a Dairy shed (where cows are milked) and I was servicing a Motor Starter, a few years back and there was an Apprentice from a competitor company working on the Main Switchboard(PSCC 2500A)
replacing all of the Contactor coils that burned out, because of a Lightning Strike the night before, I finished what I had to do and went to see why there was no power at my motor starter.
Corey, (the Apprentice) had shut the whole Installation down, to make sure that he wouldn't get a shock on the 400V control circuits.
But, when he pulled the lever back up to re-energise the Installation, there were sparks and flames and a really nasty sound coming out of the panel.
We finally put the fire out and discovered he had installed 24VDC coils to all of the contactors.
Like I said, imagine that sinking feeling!.
This other story was related to me by a guy that worked on the West Coast of the South Island here in NZ, during his Apprenticeship.
He had just bought a brand new Brace and Bit (the Armstrong version of the now common Power Drill).
Him and his employer were working in a brand new shop in Greymouth and the owners were very proud of thier new Scrim wall coverings and wall-paper.
They required a new power point on the opposite side of the wall to another (Called back-to-back, over here), that had been left out during the original alterations.
So Pete get's in there with the new B'n'B and drills through the other side of the wall.
He noticed after a while that the Brace was getting rather hard to turn and thought that it was just the bit breaking through the wall-lining, so he kept turning it.
He said he walked into the room next door, to see if the bit had in fact come through, only to find the entire Scrim gone off the wall and wrapped around his drill bit, wallpaper and all, it was all on the floor.
How would you explain that one, eh?. [Linked Image]