On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 02:16:09 -0500, Brent Philion
wrote:

the other thing about specialist tools is a bit of a liability issue

you CAN work around them but unless you know where and how to find the
right tool to tear apart something that shouldnt be tampered with odds
are you shouldnt be tampering with it

you CAN rig up a manhole Lid lifter for example but there is a reason
manholes are not easy to lift

Yeah - cause they're also really hard on your toes if you drop them.
It's like a Rigger, you have to keep your feet out of the "No Zone".
And steel-toes don't help at all if it's your ankle in the way.

12 feet underground in a flooded area that just been pumped with high
voltage is not a friendly place for untrained people and thats just a
telecom manhole let alone a sewer or hydro one.

Actually, voltage concerns are not a big problem with telecom
manholes - everything down there is Class 2 Current Limited. Some of
the carrier circuits have 300V or more on them, but most is -48V DC.

Bad air from oxygen depletion or hydrogen sulphide and explosive
vapors are a much more imminent hazard, and all you need to do to get
killed by them is climb inside without testing and ventilating the
space first. I was a construction splicer for 8 years.

Everything involved with telephones is bonded and grounded 47 ways
from Sunday. The only holes we had to worry about power were ones
located directly under the path of a high-tension transmission line,
and they simply wanted us to keep the bonding straps connected at each
cable end at all times, and hook up temporary grounds to the racking
(instead of leaving them open for the day) and setup our work
positions sitting on a rubber blanket with HV Lineman Gloves at the
ready "just in case" we had to bail out in an emergency.

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
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