Electrical Safety

[farmall]

Never underestimate human stupidity:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...ntshocked.html

[BTD]

OK...lets try these..

...and don't forget that in a few years he'll be voting!

...suggest you try 220 next time. It's awesome dude!

...no you idiot! The leads attach to the temples, not the nipples!

I'm sorry...I guess I'm just insensitive and judgemental. Oh well. Seriously, I'll bet his lawyer wins him a fat judgement.

[Broccoli1]

"The New Hampshire Union Leader says Dubois' suit contends he suffered permanent brain damage."

uh pretty sure he was brain dead before this stunt

[dyrvale]

i feel sorry for the teacher more than the kid. sheesh another lawyer gets fatter on human stupidity.

[gwiley]

Why were the other 2 students not named in the suit? The one who plugged him in had a part to play in the fun.

I will NEVER understand the planet that our court system lives on....

[6010]

The teacher needs to be sued - he was only 8 feet away, and according to one account, aware of what was going on.

Admittedly, it was a stupid thing for the student to do, and showed his ignorance. But it was even more stupid for the teacher to let him do it. The path through the students chest was the worst possible scenario for him getting shocked. Believe it or not, but it is possible these days for a student to reach this young mans age without ever having been shocked. The boy may not have had anyone at home to teach him this either.

If I had to vote on who was more stupid, my vote would have to go to the teacher. Electrical safety was something that should have been taught before the students ever had access to a cord like this. If I had been thet instructor, and I have been an electrical instructor in a technical college, the students would have never had access to a cord like this to start with, until they had the proper training, and then only with close supervision.

[gwiley]

Good point. I have received shocks over my lifetime that left me with a very clear understanding of why I must respect electricity....and I still manage to do something stupid with it about once/year.

I put plugs on both ends of a 8ga cord so that I could feed the house from a generator (mains was not connected).....plugged one end into a running generator then as I was plugging the other into the outlet my finger closed the space between the prongs....HELLO!

So THAT is why we have plugs on one end and receptacles on the other

Looking back on it I find that was one of the dumbest things I have done in a while.

[6010]

I put plugs on both ends of a 8ga cord so that I could feed the house from a generator (mains was not connected).....plugged one end into a running generator then as I was plugging the other into the outlet my finger closed the space between the prongs....HELLO!

Twice in my career I have seen service drops from a 480V buss drop installed with the male end on the end of the drop. Luckily, I saw one of them before the box was energized, and someone else saw the other one before anyone got hurt. Both of these were installed by guys that had years of experience, and were not men I would classify as dumb. Their mind was just somewhere else on that particular day.

I use to tell my students that when doctors, who are arguably the most intelligent segment of our society, can operate on someone and operate on the wrong knee, or take out the wrong organ, or sew up a large surgical object in someone's body, then the rest of us had better really be on our toes and have our mind in the right place while we are working.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by gwiley

Good point. I have received shocks over my lifetime that left me with a very clear understanding of why I must respect electricity....and I still manage to do something stupid with it about once/year.

I put plugs on both ends of a 8ga cord so that I could feed the house from a generator (mains was not connected).....plugged one end into a running generator then as I was plugging the other into the outlet my finger closed the space between the prongs....HELLO!

So THAT is why we have plugs on one end and receptacles on the other

Looking back on it I find that was one of the dumbest things I have done in a while.

Are you saying you use a generator hooked into a wall outlet without a transfer switch to separate your house from the electrical grid? That's not safe no matter how you wire up the cord. That 110 feeds the transformer backwards and gets bumped back up to the really hot stuff. Several power line guys have been bitten or injured when the power was out because someone was back feeding the grid with a generator.

EDIT: I re-read the post and saw were you said the mains were not connected. My bad, you were not putting anyone except yourself in danger.

[Mondo]

Originally Posted by gwiley

Why were the other 2 students not named in the suit? The one who plugged him in had a part to play in the fun.

I will NEVER understand the planet that our court system lives on....

Our court system lives in a world of mud. The plaintiff's attorney throws as much mud on the wall as he can in the hopes that some of it will stick. It is up to the defendant's attorney to see how much mud he can wash off. The teacher is insured, the school and school board are insured, and the city is insured as well as having the authority to levy taxes to pay for legal defense and settlements. The other two students are likely uninsured and have "shallow pockets", i.e. no resources with which to pay.

Continued in the "Off Topic" section.

- Mondo

[Stick-man]

High school students???!!! If by high school you don't know that electricity can kill you...... natural selection! And instead of punishing these morons for doing something stupid, people will feel sorry for them and award them with alot of other peoples money. Yep, award intentional stupidity, instead of making America smarter, we award stupidity!

[dougspair]

....I'd say these 'kids' were watching too much 'back-yard wrestling' on YouTube.....
In 8th grade electric shop....we were made well aware of the potential of 120 volt A.C......but then, I guess they don't teach that stuff these days?....I'm 63....and am still amazed by this stuff people do....besides...men don't really need nipplies do they? And yes, shame on the teacher...he shoulda' been on top of the situation....

[dougspair]

...If you're really bored....there's always www.darwinawards.com

[Stick-man]

[quote=dougspair;418882In 8th grade electric shop....we were made well aware of the potential of 120 volt A.C......but then, I guess they don't teach that stuff these days...[/QUOTE]

Heck, I was gettin my hand slapped every time I went near an outlet, since I could crawl! I guess your correct, "parents" don't parent (teach) anymore. Actually, a kid is luck to even have two parental units to live with these days. And we expect them to actually raise their kids!!!