As part of a geocaching team with over 2000 finds and the wife of an Electrical Safety Instructor, I'd like to share what I consider one of the most important and informative blogs I've read.
The blog belongs to a man who works for a large power utility company as a Health & Safety Advisor in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is a Master Electrician and teaches electrical safety, often visiting grade schools. One of his job duties is to investigate high voltage power line accidents involving the general public where someone has been hurt or killed.
This gentleman is also an avid geocacher with over 1300 finds and 45 hides. He goes by Johnnygeo. He loves geocaching but is very disturbed by caches hidden on, inside or near high voltage electrical equipment.
I've always had a healthy respect for electricity and it's possible dangers, but Johnnygeo has pointed out some things that have not occured to me or that I was simply unaware of.
A couple of quick examples of things I learned:
Did you know?........
Due to the world wide rise in copper prices, there has been a dramatic increase in copper thefts. This includes the copper wire used by power companies. The one that scares me the most is the theft of ground wires from the power boxes that you so often see caches hidden by. If there is no ground wire.... and a live wire inside the box comes loose and touches the side of the metal box, any person near that box is in a dangerously, deadly situation. This is a huge concern for power companies. Pretty scary.
Did you know?........
Electricity tries to go to the ground. It will follow the easiest path. That could be a geocacher touching the side of a damaged electrical box. These boxes can be damaged by being hit by a car or vandalism. Some times there is no visible signs of damage to the outside of the box. If there are loose wires inside the box due to the impact it can energize the ground around the box. This is true with downed power lines, also. Wow--it would never have occured to me that it was possible to be electrocuted by the ground around a power box..
Have you ever stopped to think?..............
While lifting the skirt on the infamous 'light post cache' we are trusting the lamp post wiring has not failed due to old age or vandalism. Should we trust that?? Remember--power equipment can fail, like anything else. This is a link to a heartbreaking news article about a 9 year old boy who died from electrocution caused by the failure of the insulation in a 480-volt wire in the base of a light post. Unfortunately, this isn't the only news story like this one. There are more sad stories about children and dogs. Are we sending our kids the wrong message by encouraging them to search for these 'light post caches?'
It just takes a few minutes to read through this important blog.
If you cache or even if you don't........if you have kids or even if you don't.....please take the time to visit this educational blog. This concerned man has taken his time to try to educate the geocaching community. He's done his part to make it a safer community. I can almost promise you'll learn something.
Please take the time to read it, show it to your kids and pass it to your friends. Please take the time because it's just that important.
Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful summer.
News story:
Thanks for sharing my link/information, I appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteJohnnygeo