Critical Thinking by Gerald J. Watson Jr

Author:Gerald J. Watson Jr. [Gerald J. Watson Jr.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CRC Press
Published: 2020-07-20T00:00:00+00:00

5 Failure to Ask Others for Assistance

Another mistake that I witnessed was almost fatal. A contractor had been hired to refurbish a room in a hospital, requiring the removal and replacement of electrical fixtures and outlets, removal and replacement of walls and doors, and general construction. Part of the contract was that this federal government agency would provide electricians required within a ten-minute notice during the construction to warrant that electrical safety was maintained and that all work met the existing code. The person performing the work for the contractor was paid by the hour, so he was paid for the amount of wait time he incurred.

During a meeting, I received an emergency message concerning the area in which this reconstruction was occurring. On entering the area, I immediately noticed that electric lights were not working, which indicated a problem. As I entered the area under renovation, I observed several obvious electrical violations. First, all wires were just hanging down with no wire nuts or electrical tape covering them and second, the contractor was using an aluminum ladder. Apparently, the contractor, while relocating the ladder had touched a live wire, tripping a switch that controlled, among other things, the operating room. There was a patient on the operating table, but the operating room lost the lights before the operation began. The surgeon and I had an unpleasant chat. Previous discussions with colonels were a walk in the park compared with the one with the surgeon.

After the chaos was normalized, I called the contractor’s company and explained the situation in detail. I indicated to the contractor’s company that I had the police to escort his employee off the premises and that the employee was not to return under any circumstances. I then wrote an incident report, so that everyone would be aware of what had occurred and knew the cause for this event. I also recommended to the safety department that aluminum ladders be banned in future from this government facility, if not all government facilities.

This mistake could have been definitely avoided. First, the contractor was told to advise the management when an electrician would be needed so that proper steps could be taken. The contractor was working by the hour, so his pay would not be affected by an increase in the time required to complete the project. Second, an aluminum ladder should never be used in the vicinity of electricity since aluminum is a good conductor of electricity. Due to the shortage and high price of copper and greater availability of aluminum, companies began the development of copper-cladded aluminum (CCA), with rolled sheets being the first product. Wire was developed at a later date. Due to lower costs and availability, CCA wire was used and thought to be the answer to the residential housing situation, but it failed miserably. A survey conducted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission concluded that homes built before 1972 and wired with aluminum had a probability of 55 times greater to have a connection attain Fire Hazard Condition than homes wired with copper [17].

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