A couple of years ago we bought a 50-year-old-house and gutted it. We had professionals do the stuff that required expertise or a lot of time / skills (electricians, plumbers, plasterers, etc), and did most other things ourselves.

At some point I'd come in to do something within my remit while the electricians were here. I'd put in earplugs to do some masonry drilling, because I've only got one set of ears and I'd like to be able to hear things when I'm 80. One of the electrician's assistants, probably in his late 20's commented on it, something like, "Got your ear condoms on, huh?" I'm at a stage in my life where I don't really care about that sort of thing, so just blew it off.

A few months later, that same guy came in to do the final wiring on something. He'd lost the end of his thumb -- had an accident with some tool or other and cut it off.

It's hard for me not to think that his attitude toward earplugs and his accident were related. Nobody deserves to be maimed for life, but we live in a universe which can be pretty unforgiving.

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Mtinie a day ago | parent | next [-]

Quite possibly.

In my experience, the people who make unsolicited comments about others’ risk mitigations have incorrectly learned that safety precautions indicate weakness or inexperience, when experience teaches the opposite.

Seasoned professionals know that tools and environments don’t care about your skill level. A tool will injure anyone who doesn’t respect its inherent dangers.

The mockery typically comes from those who’ve either been lucky so far or selectively absorbed workplace cultures that prioritize appearing tough over staying whole.

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potato3732842 a day ago | parent [-]

On the other hand, there's the people who make a big song and dance ritual over putting their eye and ear pro on just to impact off one bolt that'll be maybe a couple clacks of the hammer. It's not realistic to do that for every single transient noise or tap on something, the safety is just performative at that point.

I have no problem letting those people and behaviors be ridiculed.

	▲	Mtinie a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If I'm not directly impacted by someones' use of PPE, then that's their business even if I think it is an overreaction or performative. I've injured myself while doing "simple" operations before when a bolt or screw unexpectedly failed, so it may not be as performative as it appears. On the other hand, if I'm working with someone in a professional capacity and they are delaying our work because they are acting in an anxious manner about safety, then I'll take time to talk through why I see their actions as counter-productive and then we can discuss how to be safe and efficient.
	▲	relaxing a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		“It was only a couple clacks of the hammer” will be a cold comfort if one of those clacks is the one that sends a fragment of metal into your eye.

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ChrisMarshallNY a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Yup. One of my arborist friends was a bit reckless (very, very good, but I thought he took unnecessary risks). Whenever he would see me, he’d hold up his left hand, to show he still had all his fingers, because I’d always tell him he’d lose one.

Not sure which of us was in the wrong. He made very good money.

I remember some electricians, working on our lighting system, at work.

They worked on live (320 Volts) fixtures. Never bothered to kill the circuit breaker.

I’ve found that pro tools tend to look pretty scruffy, while amateur tools tend to look shiny.

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relaxing a day ago | parent | next [-]

320V circuit eh?

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ChrisMarshallNY a day ago | parent [-]

That’s what I was told.

Apparently, our building had a certain kind of wiring.

I was also told it was pretty common.

Might not be exactly 320, but it was over 300 (not 240).

I'm told it's common in many industrial/office buildings.

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gavinheavyside 20 hours ago | parent [-]

Probably 230v three phase, 230v RMS would be around 330v peak

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relaxing 15 hours ago | parent [-]

Probably 230 and OP is not qualified to be speaking about it.

	▲	ChrisMarshallNY 14 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> OP is not qualified to be speaking about it I know that was supposed to be an insult, but it's actually true. I don't mind at all. Not my wheelhouse. I'm just repeating what the electrician told me, verbally, about twenty years ago. I wasn't actually that interested, at the time, so it's expected that my memory of it is terrible. There's all sorts of stuff I ain't qualified to write about, and I'm not embarrassed in the least, to say so. That's one of the reasons I hang out here. I suspect that it was 277 volts. I'm pretty sure that's a thing. I'm sorta sure that he said 300-something, but, as was noted above, he may have been just using the most impressive number he could find, or he was talking about the tolerances of the switches. I'll bet that it came up, because we were discussing the budget he was charging my department, and I probably had a question about the stuff he was ordering. Otherwise, I don't see why it would have interested me. I've learned to leave contractors alone, while they work. The reason that I knew they were working on live wires, was because the lights turned on, as I was walking past, and there was a slight spark in the box he was tweaking.

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closewith a day ago | parent | prev [-]

To paraphrase your comment, you're easily impressed by reckless behaviour and mistake it for expertise.

	▲	ChrisMarshallNY a day ago \| parent [-]
		Listen, you didn't like the LARP comment, and you're right. I apologize. Let's just bury the hatchet, eh?