Right out of school I worked for a large manufacturer of high voltage electrical equipment, mostly in an executive capacity. There were times, however, when others weren't available and I had to go out in the field to do the work, myself.
So, one afternoon the building maintenance guys were not available. I had traveled for almost an hour to get there, just wanted to get the job done, and go home. Problem was that a door was locked and I could not get to the circuit breakers in order to turn off power to the device I had to work on.
Impatient, I decided not to wait. All I had to do was to change two mechanical settings and the job would be done! So, . . . . among a few other large tools with insulated handles on them, I took a big 12 inch long screwdriver with a rubber over-wrapped handle, put it in my tool pouch, and climbed up two stories into the air. Then I walked across a large plank to the hot input panel I needed to work on.
I SAW the two screws that needed to be adjusted, and I saw the hot terminal they were right next to. Then I very carefully inserted my long screwdriver shaft into the tight opening; and, careful as I was, what happened? Ba-Whoom! There was a brilliant flash of light followed by the sound of a loud crackling air burst!
I was lucky! I managed to keep my footing on that plank (it was a long way down to a hard concrete floor); and, there I was, left holding onto the 3 or 4 inch stub of my formerly large screwdriver. The shaft had been severed and blown completely off!
Do you know what went wrong? Because the power—all 220 volts of it—was still on, I had been extra careful about where I aimed that screwdriver blade, as well as how I moved the entire shaft through an assortment of different terminals. What '
got me' was that, although I did NOT touch a hot terminal, the dielectric resistance of the air around one of those terminals had broken down, and allowed a '
short circuit' to be made with my screwdriver's shaft.
Nowadays, every once in a while, I'll drive by that building and think to myself about how I almost died there. I mean, damn, if the electricity hadn't killed me then the fall (or both) certainly would have. All of which goes to prove that when it's not yet your time, it's not your time, and you are not going to die that day.
(Kind of like being in a gunfight!)
