Near-Miss Program of the
IBEW Local 1245 Safety Committee
The primary purpose of this web page is to serve as a safety awareness tool for our members as well as others in the industry to share experiences that could have resulted in a reportable/recordable injury or property damage, but due to either the experience and/or the luck of the individual(s), no harm or damage occurred.
A near-miss or close call is a "second chance" or a "gift" and it is up to the individual who got the second chance to pass the information along so that everybody benefits from it. The next person walking down the same path may not be as fortunate. A near-miss that goes unreported is a wasted experience that could possibly have saved a life someday.
The near-miss could be the result of equipment failure, hardware failure, or unintentionally not following established safety rules.
All near-miss reports will be posted to this web page as received, with only minor editing if required for clarity or to maintain anonymity. E-mail your near-miss to Near-Miss.
It is important to note that the use of company computers for anything other than company business could result in disciplinary action so we strongly encourage the use of members' personal computers when submitting anything to the Safety Committee.
Recent Near-Misses:
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Two employees were setting up to drill a hole for a ground support in the bottom of a circuit switcher control cabinet. The lead foreman told his crewman to wait until he had his low voltage gloves on before drilling the hole. The Lead was intending to hold a bundle of energized control wires out of the way so the hole could be drilled without damaging the wires. Either the crewman ignored or did not hear the lead and proceeded to drill the hole. The crew foreman yelled to the crewman to stop just as the drill nicked the insulation of one of the wires that supplies power to the cabinet heaters.
Posted: 1-30-12
Potential For Injury:
The crewman could have received a small electrical shock or bound the drill causing an ergonomic injury.
Events Leading Up To:
Poor communication, Poor job planning.
Immediate Corrective Action:
Both the A/C and D/C circuits to the control cabinet were de-energized and there was enough slack in the first junction box to remove the effected portion of wire and re-attach the wire inside the cabinet.
Future Prevention/Elimination:
The crew discussed the proper use of three way communication to eliminate future related incidents from happening. They discussed how the HPI tools we are taught to use and if used properly can prevent possible injury or equipment damage.
