2 years ago I was hired to conduct a series of NFPA 70E training courses to a large steel mill, the class was 16 hours and included hands on tasks, safe work practices, etc. Trained about 200 people, 12 per class. Also worked with the management and safety people to implement procedures, provide the proper PPE, temp HRC;s while the arc flash study was being done, etc...Same thing I did at hundreds of companies for 14 years.

I always wondered if any of this made a difference, until 3 months after that job I recieved a letter and package of photos, along with a thank you from the mill. An electrician was doing phasing checks in the back of a MV breaker cabinet (EEWP in effect), after instalation of new cables. The probe arced to ground then quickly became a 3 phase arcing fault in his face.

He was wearing the brand new 40 cal suit, the hood was charred black, the jacket was burned, he had no injuries at all. The inside of the flash suit looked brand new (Except the pants, they had a little stain).

After seeing the photos, there was no doubt in my mind that this guys life was saved (Or saved from very serious, life altering burns) from the safety procedures he was following.

Awesome story! It just takes one of those stories to make all you do seem worth while huh?

Yep, but that is rare, little satisfaction in that job so I moved on to something more exciting.