Electrical Plug Incident

1. Electrical Plug Incident Joe Kilar - April 2007

2. Summary from ORPS Report • Researcher attempted to unplug a compressor from a 208 Volt receptacle. • Plug housing and cable disconnected from the plug base which remained in the receptacle. • Another researcher advised him to leave the plug as is and report it to the staff. • Instead the researcher used needle nosed pliers to try to pry and remove the plug base from the receptacle. • In blind reaching while doing so, the pliers shorted a phase to ground resulting in a short and subsequent arc and sparks. • Incident occurred in the evening but staff was not informed until 0830 the next morning.

3. Receptacle 208 VAC receptacle – on left

4. Pliers • Needle nosed pliers used

5. Plug separation • Separation of plug housing and cable from the base

6. Plug separation • Plug housing and cable separation from base

7. Close-up of pliers • Pliers close-up

8. Close-up of plug base • Plug close-up

9. Comments and Lessons Learned • Reiterate that unqualified persons are not permitted to perform electrical work, especially energized electrical work. • Reiterate that persons must suspend activity and seek assistance when encountering any problems with an electrical plug and/or receptacle. • Blind reaching when performing energized electrical work is dangerous and prohibited. • Instances of unauthorized energized electrical work are not only unsafe but also effect a fee measurement that financially impacts the Laboratory. • The researcher is currently disbarred from further research at the Laboratory jeopardizing his dissertation and thereby his Ph.D.