All Things LDC

[Joey]

What do they call that railing?

[AH173]

Maybe roofing edge rail system? 

 

It's been 10 years for me. 

 

There was even a nice way to stack them in the trailer when done with that job. 

[DarinS]

14 minutes ago, AH173 said:

Maybe roofing edge rail system? 

 

It's been 10 years for me. 

 

There was even a nice way to stack them in the trailer when done with that job. 

It’s still just a railing

but these days the preferred method is to scaffold the entire building - the scaffolding has railings and toe boards and stair type access - this is for roofing/retooling and  we remove the ropes and harnesses …. Which are mainly still used for Disaster relief 

 

Unfortunately Florida just went back to Level 4 

to much Covid - local hospital full … of unvaccinated….again

 

bit we have lots of things …. Just waiting fir it to open up ….. expect next year to be busy busy busy ….. looking forward to dedicating a large chunk of time to theocratic projects 

they even said we have so much to do in Florida … not to expect any invites to Ramapo…🙁

[Br. Ice]

Maybe someone can help me with this question:

Should you write LDC hours on your service report even if you're not a pioneer? 

[Tortuga]

17 minutes ago, Br. Ice said:

Maybe someone can help me with this question:

Should you write LDC hours on your service report even if you're not a pioneer? 

Yes. It keeps the elder body aware of your theocratic activities. Don't add them to your hours, make a separate note of your LDC hours.

[Qapla]

One thing that needs improving (and has gotten better but still needs work) is the reporting of "near misses".

 

Since no one gets hurt and people don't want to appear "dumb" they tend to hold back on speaking up about a near miss. We have seen this happen on many projects including disaster relief, LDC builds and KH maintenance

 

The importance of reporting near misses should not be minimized because reporting them leads directly to improving safety procedures that reduces injuries.

 

When we were working at the Disaster Warehouse in Jax - at first, the near misses were "laughed off" and many went unreported. Then, after a reminder from the Branch, we became more forthcoming on reporting the near misses and the actual cases of safety problems dropped significantly.

 

Never underestimate the need for safety ... this includes the practice of safe working practices and reporting near misses before those things become a safety issue.

 

[jwhess]

40 minutes ago, Qapla said:

One thing that needs improving (and has gotten better but still needs work) is the reporting of "near misses".

 

Since no one gets hurt and people don't want to appear "dumb" they tend to hold back on speaking up about a near miss. We have seen this happen on many projects including disaster relief, LDC builds and KH maintenance

 

The importance of reporting near misses should not be minimized because reporting them leads directly to improving safety procedures that reduces injuries.

 

When we were working at the Disaster Warehouse in Jax - at first, the near misses were "laughed off" and many went unreported. Then, after a reminder from the Branch, we became more forthcoming on reporting the near misses and the actual cases of safety problems dropped significantly.

 

Never underestimate the need for safety ... this includes the practice of safe working practices and reporting near misses before those things become a safety issue.

 

On one LDC remodel, I was in charge of installing the plastic lenses over the auditorium light fixtures (used to be "florescent lights but now are LED).  The lenses used to snap across the the width of the metal fixture over the bulbs.  Now they are inside the housing and cover just the LED strips.  To stay in place, they are inserted and then slid length-wise about a half inch to hold them in place.

 

I was putting the lenses on but not carefully sliding them into the holder.  At lunch time, one brother was pulling a cord across the suspended fixture when the lens came out and fell to the floor.  No one was inside the building but him.  No one was hurt.  The lens cracked and we did not have a replacement.  He reporte the incident.

 

At lunch we often have a report from the workers about "near-misses".  He told his story and the brothers wanted to know if anyone culd add anything.  I explained my actions and they were recorded.  the first assignment after lunch was that I and my two helpers went back and checked every fixture for proper seating of the lens.

 

When the oversight brothers came around to check, they had to walk around a pallet of material in th middle of the floor.  They noted the obstacle and it got reported and then moved.  It is a learning curve.  Report the near-misses.

[Paulo]

On 7/27/2021 at 6:38 AM, jwhess said:

The electricity was turned off, it was locked out and tagged.  The brother was deep inside a unit to repair when someone came along and unlocked the disconnect and turned it on.  Why there was two keys to the same lock, no one knows.

I would say that that would be impossible to happen at my workplace.

Each of the maintenance guys carries a red padlock that it is put in place preventing the doors and gates to be closed, thus cutting off all power.

Each padlock has its own key and has the picture of the worker to which it belongs.

So you clearly know that someone is inside, and who that someone is, and you cannot rearm the equipment without removing his padlock. You can always add your padlock there, but you are unable to remove other's padlocks.

[AH173]

That's how I believe it was supposed to be applied for lock out / tag out-from what little training I received. 

7 hours ago, Paulo said:

Each of the maintenance guys carries a red padlock that it is put in place preventing the doors and gates to be closed, thus cutting off all power.

Each padlock has its own key and has the picture of the worker to which it belongs.

 

[Tortuga]

6 minutes ago, AH173 said:

That's how I believe it was supposed to be applied for lock out / tag out-from what little training I received. 

Good training is really necessary because a proper LOTO isn't always intuitive. I heard about a man that thought that locking a Start/Stop button on a hydraulic press was adequate LOTO. He climbed into the equipment and there were photocell switches that activated the equipment and killed him. This was not a theocratic project.

[jwhess]

8 hours ago, Paulo said:

I would say that that would be impossible to happen at my workplace.

Each of the maintenance guys carries a red padlock that it is put in place preventing the doors and gates to be closed, thus cutting off all power.

Each padlock has its own key and has the picture of the worker to which it belongs.

So you clearly know that someone is inside, and who that someone is, and you cannot rearm the equipment without removing his padlock. You can always add your padlock there, but you are unable to remove other's padlocks.

That is the way it is supposed to work.  Why another key worked in the lock is unknown.

My locks have only one key that stays with me.

 

But another person should NEVER remove a lock they did not put on (even if they had access to a key).

 

 

[jwhess]

About 55 years ago, my pioneer partner was a new electrician.  He was wiring a private residence under construction.  He was by himself and he turned off the main breaker to all the electric services in the house.  He was up stairs wiring a bedroom when the owner of the home brought some friends to see the project.  He notice the power was off so he turned it on.  My friend was not seriously injured but it happens.

 

Another friend who was not a witness was servicing a walk-in radio transmitter at a college,  the door has a door interlock switch to prevent any power being applied while someone is inside.  the manager of the radio station came in to prep the days transmissions and saw that the door was left open so he shut it and turned on the transmitter.  It didn't kill my friend but he needed some emergency room bandaging for the electrical burns.

 

These were all long ago and hopefully on Theocratic jobsites (including our Kingdom Hall cleaning and maintenance) we have progressed to "zero" accidents as Br. Herd says in our video.

Edited July 28, 2021 by jwhess

[DarinS]

Our last 1/2 year in LDC / DRC we had numerous talks on ‘Near Misses’

We we Lax in reporting the previous issues - so the speaker often discussed spiritual maturity vs humility vs pride

and he even threatened us………… with NO DESSERT…. If we didn’t confess……lol

 

it became a game to see if we could actually admit to 3-4 at lunch each day

 

it actually became a practice of REAL WORLD Humility - and we learned a lot

i was very pleased to see young ones buck the trend of pride and admit even small mistakes

as those leading teams - we had a mini huddle - reminding each other to set the example

 

so in the end it was a very productive process with no hard feelings and quite a few laughs

and once this good pattern was established it flourished and new ones quickly joined in and felt comfortable

 

[Tortuga]

We are reminded to not send or post any pictures that we take on a theocratic project, however we can share pictures that are on our device.

 

This sister is following directions..👍🏻🤣

 

[Tortuga]

We were recently told that there is a mandatory meeting later this week for all of the local LDC volunteers to watch a video with brother Richard Devine. Has anyone here been invited to a mandatory meeting to watch the video?

[BLEmom]

13 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

We were recently told that there is a mandatory meeting later this week for all of the local LDC volunteers to watch a video with brother Richard Devine. Has anyone here been invited to a mandatory meeting to watch the video?

I asked my son and so far he hasn’t received anything.

[DarinS]

 Nothing yet - I was on-site 3 days last weeks and have Thursday-Sat this week

if anything changes I’ll update ….

happy constructing —

[Tortuga]

On 8/22/2022 at 5:00 PM, Tortuga said:

We were recently told that there is a mandatory meeting later this week for all of the local LDC volunteers to watch a video with brother Richard Devine. Has anyone here been invited to a mandatory meeting to watch the video?

It was a stern reminder about electrical safety.

[jwhess]

2 hours ago, Tortuga said:

It was a stern reminder about electrical safety.

Lockout-tagout

[Qapla]

Back when I worked at Warwick - we were told that, even though most of the safety "violations" could be followed with a warning ... failure to properly lockout-tagout carried "immediate dismissal" and an invitation to leave Warick. This was stressed several times to all, not only those in the electrical department. This was for those who had to install those tags and anyone who might try to remove one. 

 

We were told that, even if it was already tagged, if we needed to work on that particular circuit, our own tag and lock MUST be installed, and the power could not be restored to that circuit until ALL tags/locks were removed.

 

In fact, we were told it was the ONLY safety violation that carried immediate dismissal.

 

Electrical safety is no joke  

Edited August 25, 2022 by Qapla

[Tortuga]

12 minutes ago, Qapla said:

We were told that, even if it was already tagged, if we needed to work on that particular circuit, our own tag and lock MUST be installed, and the power could not be restored to that circuit until ALL tags/locks were removed.

The 5 minute video by Richard Devine may be shown to every LDC volunteer in the US Branch so you will probably see it soon. It is specifically about electrical LOTO but it's good to remember that LOTO applies to every form of energy and potential hazard.

 

When I worked at the oil refinery, LOTO was a daily thing. Every time a piece of equipment was taken out of service, every valve was locked and tagged. Lock Out/Tag Out was standard procedure on every form of energy or hazard. 

[Qapla]

Yes, it covers much more than energy sources - back when we were installing irrigation is a condo complex (for work, not LDC) we had to turn off the backflow for the irrigation mainline. We were the only ones who should have used the irrigation mainline .... but ... the pool and the entry fountain were also connected to that mainline.

 

We had dug a large, deep hole so we could cut into the line and add a valve. The hole was about 8' wide by 6' deep. We had spent a couple hours pumping the water out of the hole that drained out of the pipe. We heard an odd gurgling noise and then a rush of water came gushing out of the mainline and filled the hole to overflowing in less than 2 minutes. Seems the pool maintenance guy had showed up and found the water off so he turned it on so he could use a garden hose.

 

It took another two to three hours to empty that hole again.

 

We didn't really have a way to lockout-tagout the backflow.  We did devise our own way to mark it after that.

 

 

[jwhess]

Years ago when I was working on LDC projects we used to get regular (monthly? ) safety letters.  But every now and then we would get a special letter based on a recent safety problem.

 

I got one of those special notices about lockout-tagout.  A brother was working on and Air Conditioning unit and he locked out and tagged the power source.  Someone came along with another key and removed it and powered on the system.  No one was injured but the warning was about making sure you have the only key and not removing tags and locks you did not place on the panel.

 

In all my years, I have never heard of a duplicate key.

 

When we went to the Electrical safety training class, everyone had to demonstrate the proper procedures.  During the individual test (practical exam) you locked and tagged the power panel and then had to perform another task right away.  the brother conducting the exam was standing right next to you.  When you finished locking the panel, you had the key in your hand and he would put his hand out and ask, "Do you want me to hold that for you?"  It was amazing that almost everyone would say, Thanks" and move to give him the key.

 

He would stand there with his hand out and say, "Do you REALLY want me to hold the key?"  Then they would snatch the key back.  I knew the brother doing the testing and I knew better than to fall for the trick.  But it is amazing how much we trust the other brothers working with us on site.  The key stays with you at all times.

Edited August 25, 2022 by jwhess

[Qapla]

I have worked with electrical at KH's for RBC and LDC. We were instructed that, even if the panel/circuit is already tagged and locked, you put your tag and lock on anyway. The power would not be restored until ALL tags and locks were removed.

 

And you don't put your tag/lock on another tag/lock - you put it on in a way the power CANNOT be turned on as long as a tag/lock is in place - no hanging you tag/lock on someone else's tag/lock because there is "not enough room"

[DarinS]

Some locals volunteers @ Tamarac …did have a LOTO piece this past week…..thats where the video was played.

but in Electrical and Low voltage we have not all had that little piece…

 

we did have an all day class recently …about 2 months ago

Electrical safety…high voltage(for our branch <600) and arc flash and LOTO

it was the same we had a few years ago (so this was a re-certification type event)

but it was a bit different than what we had before Warwick

 

after 1/2 day classroom - there is a practical test with PPE/electrical gloves/cotton shirts/LOTO and using a meter

they have some pre-built electrical boards with Lights and switches and shut-offs and outlets and a small panel

and you need to demonstrate proficiency

im just a wanna be …. But like 18 of the 20 in attendance were licensed electricians 

except for me and the trainers wife ….lol

 

supposedly everyone working in electrical , even helpers needs this class