Had this pop up through the grape vine recently. I'm sure it's old news but this kind of thing can't be shared enough...
Viewer discretion is advised, this video does show ending of lives.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSM_iWkWhVQ
Be Safe!
Yes, it's pretty graphic but shows what can happen if you don't watch overhead. Here's a story from a few years (no pictures or video) about four boy scout leaders who were electrocuted (killed) while setting up camp and they made contact with an overhead power line.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/26/national/26scouts.html?_r=0Anytime we're setting up stages or rigging speakers outside we have to be REALLY careful of any overhead power lines in the area. And it's surprisingly difficult to judge distances while your sitting in the lift and looking up. That's why construction sites require spotters who watch clearances for crane operators.
On a slightly different but equally scary segue, when I was working in a big packaging plant many years ago, one of the fork truck operators ran a high load into a 6" gas main located in the warehouse ceiling and broke off a 2 inch gas line. That began to quickly flood a 500,000 square ft warehouse with natural gas which could have been a very big bomb. I was in the front office at the time when one of my electricians called for me to come to the back dock for an emergency. They were evacuating the plant with everyone running in the opposite direction that I was going which didn't make me feel very comfortable at the time. The plant manager wanted the electrician to shut off all the overhead lights because they thought a sparking ballast could trigger an explosion. But I knew there were contactors (relays) all over the place that would spark when you shut off the light switches, so after dispatching a team to shut off the gas main coming into the building I told my electricians to leave the lights alone and we manually raised all the rail dock doors with the hand chains to air out the building. Within a few minutes the air was clear and everyone went outside for a cigarette (hey, it was the 70's). The fire inspector came by a few hours later and said it could have been a really big smoking crater if something had sparked it off. I still get the creeps 35 years later just thinking about it.
A lot of construction electrocutions occur every year in the US from house painters who get their aluminum ladders into the overhead power lines. Always look up when you've got anything in the air.
