lateralus (582425) Wrote:
"
If you are going ahead anyway. Take another person with you at all times. Your buddy should be able to shut down the entire mains current within slit seconds. Your buddy should have a wood/rubber/plastic or otherwise insulating device that can be used to knock you away from the power source if necessary."
A panel fault can produce an arc flash that will cause you to die in agony. - I have seen the aftermath of such an arc and it is not pretty.
I am a volunteer firefighter / rescuer (EMT) by avocation and an electrician by vocation. OSHA rules forbid working on that panel while it is energized. If examination or testing; as opposed to modification; of that panel must be done while it is energized OSHA rules require that protective clothing that is matched to the arc fault hazard be used. The back up person must also were arc fault protective clothing. The primary worker wears a class four retrieval harness that is tethered to a retrieval line. This allows the back up worker to pull him/her away from the work without exposing him/herself to the arc fault. The use of makeshifts such as a wooden pole will only add another victim to the problem that fire and rescue will be responding to.
--
Tom
