Water Well Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/681918
R oger Renner, MGWC, is lucky to be alive. The mast of Renner's rig came in contact with an overhead power line early in his career. It blew a hole in the top of the mast and sent more than 59,000 volts of power through the rig while he was still standing on it. "I should be dead!" says Renner, president of E.H. Renner and Sons in Elk River, Minnesota. "I keep asking myself why I'm alive—even today." You might think it will never happen to you, but getting a serious shock while working with electricity is easier than you realize. "My rig was about 30 feet away from the line on an in- cline," Renner says. "The lines swayed into my mast. I didn't hit the lines, they hit me. It happened so fast." Raising a mast into a power line is an easily recognizable threat, but other electrical hazards are less obvious. Here's how to protect yourself while you're on the job. Overhead power lines Overhead power lines are the easiest hazard to spot—but can also be the deadliest. "Putting our booms or derricks up into overhead power lines is the No. 1 way to get killed!" says Denis Crayon, CHST, of Summit Drilling Co. in Bridgewater, New Jersey. "There are laws (about working around overhead power lines) because other people have already died from it." In addition to always looking up before raising your mast, you must maintain at least a 10-foot distance from any over- head power line that is 50 kilovolts (kV) or less, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration's standard 1926.1408. Above that, the minimum distance goes up 5 feet for every 150 kV. So for example, the minimum distance from a power line that is 50 kV to 200 kV is 15 feet. If you come in contact with an overhead power line, don't step off of the rig! Your helper or assistant should call 911, and you should stay on the equipment until the first respon- ders tell you it's safe to step down. Like a bird on a wire, you can safely stay on the rig as long as you don't come in contact with the ground while you're still touching the rig. A bird can sit on electrical wires without harm because they're not touching the ground. But if the bird grabs a caterpillar on a leaf, he dies because he's completed the circuit from the power line, through the caterpillar, through the tree, and to the ground. "If you stay on that rig, you can stay on it for a week," Crayon says. "You can have someone deliver you McDonald's as long as you don't touch each other at the same time." Lightning strikes The same rules apply if your rig is struck by lightning. Stay on the rig without touching the ground until help arrives. "If the equipment catches fire—which has been known to happen—you will have to jump free of the equipment," Crayon says. "You'll want to jump away from the equipment, releasing any contact with the equipment, and then land inde- pendent of, and not touching, the equipment." Do your best to land on both feet, and shuffle away from the equipment without letting your feet come off the ground. The same rule applies to both lightning strikes and striking overhead lines. "I would keep shuffling until I see the emergency people running past me," Crayon says. "You can easily get yourself killed by lifting a foot because the electricity that has gone from the rig into the ground is radiating out." If a grounding cable is required for the job, always bolt the cable to the front of your rig—the opposite of the end of the rig you're working on—then run the grounding rod out 50 to 100 feet and sink the copper rod into the ground about 6 feet to 8 feet, depending on the length of the rod and type of soil. If the rig is energized by an overhead line or lightning, most of the energy goes through the front of the rig and grounding rod. The farther it is away from your work area, the better off you are. Underground utilities What you can't see can also kill you. Striking underground power lines and other utilities pose another electrical hazard on the job site. ELECTRICITY continues on page 20 Overhead lines, underground utilities—even faulty hand tools —put your life at risk on the job. By Jennifer Strawn WWJ June 2016 19 Twitter @WaterWellJournl "There are laws (about working around overhead power lines) because other people have already died from it ."