Re: NEWCASTLE ACCIDENT

["Ron BEST" <ronbest@bigpond.com>]

As I started this thread, perhaps I can have the final (?) word. My concern
was the amount of time that elapsed before the overhead was isolated, i.e.
before the removal of danger to the passengers and public. Having worked in
the electricty industry, I'm fully aware of the procedures that have to be
followed before work can commence. But I have personally witnessed (in a
different environment) the effects of lack of proper communication, which
seems to be a growing phenomenom in our "modern" word. For instance, I
believe, from radio reports, that inadequate communication procedures were
partly responsible for the deaths of the five fire-fighters near Ballarat
recently.

What if somebody had tried to get off that train, or tried to get aboard to
help people (I mean, a member of the public who wouldn't necessarily realise
it could be alive), and they got killed because of a failure of
communication within the railways?

Greg Hunter wrote in message
<74hg97$4fv$1@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>...
>All the respondents have pretty well covered the process of removing power
>from the overhead.
>I can just add that any high voltage work, whether railway or other, is
only
>carried out after the equipment is ISOLATED & EARTHED.
>Isolated means not only opening a circuit breaker by  remote control, but a
>person actually seeing a physical open point  ie an open switch.  Earthed
>means all the equipment is connected together and to earth.  In railway
>terms this is 'connected to rail'.  Earths are connected at all possible
>sources of supply and either side of the work site, so the workers can
>actually see them.
>
>All this may seem an overkill (pardon the pun) to an outsider, but if you
>want to see the effects of touching high voltage have a look at
>
>http://members.tripod.com/~StormTrooper_2/index2.htm
>
>It shows a person under the influence of drugs climbing a pole and touching
>16000 volts.  You need a strong stomach.
>
>Train top surfers get the same buzz!!
>
>
>Greg
>
>
>