"we were changing lamps and ballasts at Wal-Mart and we routinely changed out bad ballasts (277v) while hot."
We had 4 electricians in my area killed working on store lighting, and all but one had more then 20 years in the trade.
IMO there is no reason to work on any lighting circuit hot, other then trouble shooting, for the ones that want to showboat, be my guest, it's your life.
