 something was probably telling me get out of that room and I got I finally get out of the room and He follows me out and I can remember Patton. He was patting my head He later told me he was still putting some fire out that my hair was still burning the skin on my face had basically burned off Lost parts of my ear ears there was actually metal Impaled in my teeth. I look back and saw that I had no pants on the back of my legs and Literally the skin was hanging off my arms and my legs. I just I Just knew something horrific could happen Electricity is an essential part of our lives It lights our homes and powers our industries We rely on electricity every day Electricians and other workers who install and maintain electrical power systems and equipment make this all possible These workers are at risk for electrical injury on a daily basis In industries like construction and mining for example electrical incidents are a leading cause of fatal injuries on the job Shock is one of the more obvious risks in electrical work But a hazard that sometimes goes unrecognized is a danger from an arc flash An arc flash can occur while working on an energized circuit or from an electrical equipment failure When an arc flash occurs workers can suffer serious burns and other injuries Such injuries may require months of painful recovery Result in permanent disability or even be fatal You're about to hear the personal stories of three experienced electricians who were injured in two separate arc flash incidents They will recount the sudden and destructive power of an arc flash and will discuss how these events affected their lives my story begins in 1995 and the spring of 1995 in may and we were To show up at a building and perform a preventative maintenance on some switch gear And we arrived at the job site about seven o'clock at morning And we got together the two other gentlemen and myself got together and discussed what tasks we had to perform One of the tasks to be performed was the change of disconnect out in one of the panels so I was standing in the front of the one compartment and I said well I'll change out this disconnect and John was to my right and scott was to my left And John was going to proceed tightening the load wires of the disconnects in the panel that he was in And scott was going to do the ones that he was into the left And when I got to one of the switches which was still energized on the line side when I shot that disconnect door That's when the incident started It was so fast. It was unbelievable The the room was as bright as it could be right now horrific noises Humming banging just Metal flying everywhere I sort of remember that I can remember it. I can remember it being right in front of me I believe I got blown back And there was a wall not too far away So there wasn't too much room that I could go back maybe three feet. I hit a wall And I went straight down Luckily one of the workers was Walking out the door for something You know, I'm not even sure what he was doing getting another extension or whatever He was lucky enough just to scamper out of the room When this happened so he didn't get burned at all My working partner, however, he did eventually get burned but The the incident happened right in front of me And I went down he was not in front of the the actual arc But he did turn around and to come and lift me up And as he was lifting me up and this Here is still Parking and melting down This is when he received burns on on his backside and the back of his legs and the back of his arms As he was trying to pick me up I remember I was bent and dying to pick up the disconnect and I could see his motion of him closing the door And when he closed the door, it was just a horrific Explosion, I mean the ball of fire and the noise the more the noise it was so deafening that It was just like like somebody was in there with shotguns just shooting at you As it turns out as a result Of the incident I received burns Over 58 percent of my body The worst burns were from my fingertips Up to my elbows While I was Under in the hospital they had I did skin grafts To my arms through my fingers Luckily I had enough skin left Although it was close from what I heard to to do my arms. They took skin from my midsection They would have liked to Did skin grafts to my legs But I didn't have enough skin and it was borderline and they they thought maybe there were a couple areas That probably could have used them on my legs Pretty much as I laid there in the hospital and and Finally started realizing what happened. I mean there wasn't too much of my body that I I that was not burned Some places were better than others But I can remember being at the time I had Garments on on my arms sort of this is like the maybe the first time that I woke up and was conscious And and just couldn't believe that the total coverage of the The injuries My legs Both legs Both arms My back there's a there's a patch on my back that got burnt pretty good My face and my ears my ears were pretty bad Um, I like to tell everyone they look like if you leave a marshmallow in a campfire too long That's sort of what my my ears look like They would actually When I would lay in the bed in the hospital and if my ears would touch the pillow They would they would almost stick to the pillow I can remember not being able to move my head because both of my ears were stuck to the the pillow I'm here to tell you that This accident is one that can't happen to you. I'm not here to scare you. I'm not here to Try to talk you out being an electrician. I'm gonna retire as an electrician My son has started the program I constantly talk to him about what's going on What can happen I can't talk to every electrician out there what can happen But maybe this message here will get to a lot of you I would say the The biggest way it's changed It's it's in my attitude. It's It's trying to expect the unexpected It's it's being ready for anything because anything may happen With what we do we're we're more at risk Of something like that happening Then maybe anybody else that would be walking down the street or maybe you you you know, whatever you do in your profession We may be more Suspect to those freak freakish kind of accidents that happen It's kind of funny My when I was in the hospital recovering when I was well enough to speak and see people Every electrician that I talked to Had their own little Arc story that they've lived through a lot of them were harmless You know injury free However, they were arcing incidents and well could have been You know Cause of an injury It's amazing. How many Very high percentage You'd probably be hard pressed to talk to an electrician that Never was exposed to an arc that he had caused Or was around We as electricians should know this And and be ready for It's going to happen What are you going to be like when it happens? What are you going to have on your body when it happens? What are you going to have over your eyes when it happens? Uh We may not stop them from happening, but we can stop them from hurting you June 19 97 1997 Was Requested to go To brownsville elementary school met my partner At a bus stop a park and ride And we went in one vehicle went in a company vehicle To the job site took us about an hour to get there. It was a pleasant morning We got to the job site. What we're going to do is Check to see if the hardware Would let us adapt new buckets to old switch gear This switch gear was in a revamped boiler room clean atmosphere But uh the boilers had been removed and Upon inspection when we removed the side panels on the switch gear The uh I could see that there was a old film across the buses And uh pretty good indication that All the paint on the outside didn't help what was inside But this switch gear uh there was quite a few switches and it was defective and the the intent here was to order new buckets to be installed Beans the manufacturer the original manufacturer Was no longer in business. This was a retrofit And it was just a matter of Seeing if the connecting hardware Was going to line up I decided that I was going to see if I Could safely disengage a bucket and uh See if we could get the hardware to match up my partner went out to the Vehicle to get something and in the meantime I was uh I disconnected I was I was able to reach in and work around this switch rather comfortably I disconnected the switch electrically and mechanically And I was attempting to remove it from the switch gear When uh the accident occurred the uh it had arched over and it uh There was a flash Brightest light I ever saw in my life noise was deafening And uh I probably blacked out for I have no idea how long seconds It couldn't have couldn't have been it couldn't have been more than a minute but uh Regaining my composure I looked at myself and I saw that uh I had Been burned pretty severely I had skin hanging from My ears and from my arms My chest I was able to walk out of the building met my partner who was coming in And uh he he was just aghast he just didn't uh Couldn't believe it because this is just A matter of seconds basically from Was hardly any time from the last time I saw him till I I Saw him again and he just looking at me like He was uh probably more upset than I was because I was in shock Uh decided that He should drive me over to the hospital rather than waiting for emergency help because the hospital was so close We did that went to brownsville hospital and uh The decision was made to Send me down to West Penn hospital burn unit which interestingly enough I was instrumental in wiring Two things that uh I never really got to enjoy was the the helicopter ride because I was out and The burn unit Never really did see the inside of it because I was I was uh More or less in a coma the whole the whole time and that Coma was induced that I was out for five weeks The skin on my face had basically burned off Uh lost parts of my ear ears There was actually metal Impaled in my teeth So yeah like spears my arms Were burnt from Where my sleeves I had a short sleeve shirt on so we're Under the short sleeves my arms were burnt My neck was burnt I had A hard hat on had safety glasses on And essentially that was About as far as it went Pires should have been shut off plain and simple I made a Very costly error by not Insisting that the power was turned off and uh As a result I came very close to dying I had uh Acute respiratory distress from the smoke that I had inhaled And uh that was probably the the biggest thing that they had to work with or on I'd have to say that My family Didn't deserve That mistake that I made Again, I'll just reiterate if you could actually see this Light and explosion that takes place on the devastation after the fact you could see that If you could witness that you'd never work on anything that was hot Part of what happened to me was because of my own ego because I've done it so many times That like I said you you get the feeling that you're infallible Find out that uh you just skin and bones I've I was never complacent. I mean I Always very careful always very careful, but My fault that was my fault because in retrospect I made that decision to work on it hot Your life has to be just as important as everyone else that Someone's asking you to work on that hot Okay to what inconvenience could that be to Being in hospital for nine months What's the what Was it worth it when it comes to working on live circuits live equipment You really do have a choice you don't You don't have to Work on Energized equipment It can be shut off You're just too important Think of your family Thank you your family. It's important to recognize that much That can be done to prevent arc flash events are beyond the control of the individual who may be at risk of injury Uh Today we have the the tools and technology to to analyze the workplace to identify arc flash hazards We can use that that those tools and knowledge to better engineer facilities from the very beginning To a better engineer facilities if we're retrofitting or renovating a facility so that we reduce arc flash hazards Either in magnitude or in frequency Uh It's important that the commitment to manage this hazard be visible at the very top of an organization management must demonstrate the commitment to um Provide a safe work environment and apply that commitment to the unique hazards of electric arc flash uh engineers that do the design uh of the of the facility of the processes of of work practices Uh can bring added value to Preventing these these events from happening Uh partnerships with the equipment suppliers that can bring innovative technology to uh to both from uh Say an industrial switch gear or a commercial switch gear as well as in the tools and protective clothing That uh people use on a daily daily basis the safety professionals Uh have a really a very important role in coaching the organization management as well as workers in and uh Keeping the workplace safe And I think the more that the safety officials understand about arc flash they'll be able to apply their expertise in uh hazard control measures again to the unique hazard of electric arc flash Uh trainers and educators whether they're in-house or or people that you may contract with to provide those services to you We need to make sure that they're knowledgeable and up to speed with uh current State of the art knowledge on arc flash hazards As well as electric shocks so that uh, we're training and teaching people You know the best we know how I think lastly the the worker the person at risk Again having have the training and education provided having had the Tools and protective clothing provided Need to really make a commitment to to use that knowledge to use those tools to use that personal protective equipment every day Uh to watch out for their co-workers make sure they're worth doing that too Your safety depends upon all electrical work being carefully planned and carried out The safest way to work on an electrical circuit is to de-energize Lock out and then verify that the circuit is de-energized It's important to follow recommended safe work practices and use proper tools and equipment in addition to appropriate PPE The decision to work safely is yours The choices you make can save your life