Comments by "Chris Cain" (@buffplums) on "SWNS" channel.

  1. Hope that Jason’s physical and mental health get better as much as it is possible and that he can find another job or at least get some benefits to take care of him. I do feel for the lad he was obviously a grafter and it’s a shame he has suffered this terrible injuries and trauma, all’s the best Jason lad. ❤
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  2. The thing is even with an insulated section and a pole filled with water 33kV could still find it’s way down with water trickling down the outside and onto the insulated section and therefore forming a direct conductive path to the hands of the person holding it. Another is a build up of dirt on the insulated section that becomes conductive. Like the man says, education is key and mandatory risk assessments should be a necessary document for insuring the cleaner and signed off by a qualified electrician which must be conditional based on the outcome of a qualified electrician carrying out a HiVolt test and inspection of the pole. The pole should also be fitted with an earth cable bonded above the safety section so that should contact or arcing taking place the earth bond will conduct hopefully all or at least the vast majority of the current to earth. The operator would need to be educated on where and how to bond their earth cable to and how to carry out a safe pre use check. It sounds a real faff but in reality this all could be achieved with minimal cost and surely to run any successful business these days you have to understand the dangers and risk and there needs to be proper legislation, training and compliance to safely carry out the job. This is a real risk and even some older houses have un insulated single phase 230v AC mains supply cable fed from a transformer in a pole to the side of the house, yes it’s a lot lower but with wet hands and a good conductive path 230v AC a is still pretty damn lethal. Suitable thick rubber soled insulated boots should also be mandatory PPE, all these precautions can make the risk on a risk assessment move from the RED to the ORANGE and ideally to the green section. Sorry I’m not being petty of trying to add red tape, I’m an experienced ex RAF technician who used to work with high voltages and high current on radio and radar equipment. With the safety precautions that we used to have to follow, I am not aware of any serious incidents occurring where a technician received serious life threatening injuries where the procedures were followed. Not saying it didn’t happen as things do go wrong and human factors also play a big role in contributing to serious accidents.
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