ECN Forum Forums Safety Discussion and News Occupational Safety Discussion focus on your work

just an example of what can happen when your distracted!!!today we were trimming a house, "I was making up the panel".My boss was standing behind me telling me about the next day's schedule and wasn't paying attention to what I was doing for a moment "thinking about what the boss was saying".put the neutral wire for an double arc fault on one of the hot sides, master bed was 220,blew 2 closet lights for me to realise what I did.

Sounds like you got of easy....

Good point, though.

I spent some time working in a meat packing house. This was a very seasonal business....from Memorial Day through Labor Day, most folks had NO days off...worked all seven days of the week. Week after week.
Then, as quickly as the crush came, came the drop-off in orders. Folks were not only exhausted, they were worrying whether they would get laid off that week, or the next, or maybe be high enough up the "seniority ladder" that they would work all winter.

There was, every year, at the same time, a dramatic increase in accidents. The type where you lose body parts. Company management, ignoring the extensive scholarship on the subject, was unable to understand the roles played by fatigue and distraction in these accidents.

I agree John,
I used to work in a meat-processing plant when I first left school and working with things like sharp knives and meat saws, really made you appreciate the importance of watching what you are doing!!.
I've thankfully still got all of my fingers and thumbs, but I have a lot of stitches though.
Vlad,
Your boss was rather irresponsible to be distracting you while you were working on equipment like this.
I'll normally stop working or ask anyone that wants to speak to me, to come back later.