Dealing with a Ignorant D1ckheads

Dealing with Ignorant D1ckheads

So we have a little job on a bungalow with a power line running above it, our customer the bricklaying firm has got us in and they are the ones paying us. We have erected the perimeter base lift a fortnight ago and the distance away from the power lines was a safe distance as there wasn't any long standards etc, so today we arrive to erect the table lifts and once stood on a completed table I can see that I could easily touch the power line with a 5ft tube if I wanted, so I scan my eyes over the build and can see that from where the proposed ridge for the roof will run the roofers will have the power line at around waist to shoulder height running right through there work area. So I mention to our customer (bricklayers) about the hazard and he goes and gets the homeowner/self builder who arrives with his know it all pal stood with him, I explain my concerns and they both inform me that we can work within 1 metre of this cable which bear in mind is copper, unsheathed and in fact there is four of them and also has risk of death poster on a nearby post. I question this and ask him who's told him that and he tells me the architect :huh: So I tell him well I wouldn't like to be a roofer working within 1 metre of that line to which his know all pal say "well its ok coz I Know the roofer" :huh: I advise them they should contact the electricity board and have it isolated to which they both like "oh yer whatever how much is that gonna cost:laugh:" so I have told them I will not hand the scaffold over and will stick a Do Not Use Tag on it also. I just cannot understand the mentality of some people and then they both look at me as if I'm the stupid one and then they state "its not like its carrying 3000 volts probably only around 300 to 400"

Dan trust me mate you have done the right thing ,
if your not sure contact the national grid and ask for conformation ,
electricity can arc a long way especially if its raining and i for one would ot be on that roof mate.
what scares me more is the fact that an overhead power line can be that close to a roof and approved by the national grid ,
i know there are lads on here that do that type of work and have helped me in the past regards working near pylons that could maybe add a lot more

Good call mate.
I feel your pain, when you are trying to potentially save some poor roofers life and you get this response.
Stick by your guns.:blink1:

Sorry Dandaps but YOU have caused the problem!!
You should have had it checked by the power company BEFORE you put the scaffold up.
In the south west this is a free service to have it checked and sheathed.
We were told by power company employee years ago that you should be at least 4.0m away from the live cable, due to arching. The fact you are only 5ft away i would inform the builders tomorrow to get the feck of it mate.
Sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear mate but you have a lot of responsibility on this one.

Whilst referbing a scaffold yard in Cambridge some years ago I had an issue with OH power lines over the yard and was concerned with regard a man handling a long on the back of a truck.

Consulted with HSE and National power and was informed that 6m was a minimum clearance from the cable. Note the 6m was not from the man but from the end of the long that he could touch the wire with!

As mentioned you are partially (if not fully) to blame for providing access to an unsafe area. You have also worked or permitted your guys to work in the danger zone and are admitting complicity by doing the right thing and informing the user that he will now be in danger using the scaffold.

To make matters worse, you will again be placing people in harms way if and when you go to take the scaffold down unless you have the line isolated or protected.

Good luck with this, take care

Dandaps and for any one else, here's a safety video from UK power network, which may help you in the future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8ulMXSLsHk

We have a scaffold up on a site that has fencing around it and strict instructions that no one can even put a hand on the scaffold. It's a timber frame that the MC told us that they had it sorted and was ok to put scaffold up. They wouldn't let us go near this block for weeks because of the line and when they said it was sorted we took their word that it was. They asked us to dismantle it again in a hurry because the electric provider was coming but we refused. They started to take it down themselves but they were stopped and nobody is allowed near it now. There's a danger of someone touching the base of the scaffold getting electrocuted

It`s 6M mate and nothing less ( hard to believe when you see some power lines in villages) get on the blower to National Grid as a matter of urgency, it would amaze you the amount of people who have been fatally injured due to electrocution while working on scaffolding or through the scaffolding. You may have dived in just doing your job but take the right course of action now and you will feel a lot better for it.

Thanks for the help fellas,
Went to the job this morning and I stripped the table lift back down put do not use sign at the access points and plastered the scaffold with large A4 laminated Unsafe scaffold DO NOT USE signs, Our man the bricklayer said he understands why but the so called Mr Know it all phoned him and asked him has he paid us yet? then he pulls up in his car all gung ho telling me I'm causing him a massive headache, tells me to send him a disclaimer if I feel that strongly, I phoned the electric board who said they will get back to me and in the mean time the Mr Know it all gets his own H&S advisors over, I leave site and get a phone call of our man the brickie who tells me utilities are going to be down to make it safe as Mr know it alls H&S man told him the same he needed to make it safe.
Now I know the error of my ways I should have told him the first minute we turned up on site.

Always easy to be wise in hindsight mate

I thought that scaff foam had a 2nd job of sheathing OH cables