30 1.

PREPARATION FOR MAINTENANCE

was complete. The message actually said that the testing on the water
treatment unit was complete, but the supervisor took it to mean that
testing on both units was complete. He therefore announced over his
radio that power would be restored to both units. The crew working
on the boiler plant did not hear this message and continued testing.
When power was restored, arcing occurred at a test point on the boiler
plant. Fortunately, the electrician carrying out the test was wear-
ing high-voltage gloves and safety glasses, or he might have been
killed [35].
The report says that when communicating by radio, no action
should be taken until the message has been acknowledged, but this is
nowhere near sufficient. Power should not have been restored until
the crews working on both units had signed off written permits-to-
work. Verbal communication alone is never adequate.
(e) While someone was writing out a permit-to-work in duplicate, the
lower copy moved under the carbon paper, and a wrong line was
crossed out on the lower copy. It was given to the man who was
to repair the equipment, and as a result of the error he thought the
plant was free from acid. While he was breaking a joint, sulfuric acid
came out and burned him on the face and neck [46].

1.4.6 Excavations
A report from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) says that events
involving the unexpected discovery of underground utilities during
excavations or trenching operations have occurred at its facilities [36].
Several of the events resulted in electric shock; one caused serious injury,
and many others were near misses. The serious injury occurred when a
sump 1 m (3.3 ft) deep was being constructed in the basement of a build-
ing, and a compressed air hammer hit a 13,200-volt power line. Before
any excavation (or leveling of the ground; see Section 1.4.5b) is autho-
rized, the electrical department should certify that no electric cables are
present or that any present have been isolated. If any underground pipe-
lines are present, they should be identified, from drawings or with metal
detectors, and excavations nearby (say, within 1 m [3.3 ft]) should be car-
ried out by hand.
In another incident, a backhoe ruptured a 3-in. polyethylene natural
gas pipeline; fortunately, the gas did not ignite. The drawings were com-
plex and cluttered, and the contractor overlooked the pipeline. A metal
detector was not used. This would have detected the pipe as a metal wire
was fixed to it, a good practice. In a third incident, a worker was hand-
digging a trench, as an electric conduit was believed to be present. It was
actually an old transfer line for radioactive waste, and he received a small
dose of radioactivity. The planner had misread the drawing.