I have looked around and can't find the pic I have of me wearing the safety equipment which was mandatory on my last jobsite. Too bad... it was a doozy...
We were already required to wear full head-to-toe fire-retardant coveralls...safety boots and hard hat, of course...safety glasses...the appropriate version of glove (out of 7 or 8) specified for the task at hand...and, in many areas, hearing protection. But, if we were forced to work in a live, energized panel...due to being unable to de-energize it and shut down sensitive equipment...that's when the fun began. ON TOP of all that other gear, we had to don a heavy padded jacket, padded gauntlet gloves and a clear faceshield; it looked like the gear that you see bomb-disposal experts wearing in the movies.
To be clear...I am not talking about working with and making connections with live wires; no, all this stuff was required if one were to open the panel that might have three live terminals in the upper right corner, even if you were working on de-energized terminals in the lower left corner, several feet away. We were also surrounded by caution tape barriers and pylons, and always had an apprentice or two hovering worriedly about just outside barrier. The common joke was that if the electrician were to get "hung up" on a live panel, i.e. muscles clamped due to current, preventing him from releasing it while he was being sauteed, one apprentice was supposed to pick up the other apprentice and use him as a poker in an attempt to knock the worker free...
So, the last time that I was the lucky winner of the draw, I had on all this stuff and was standing in front of the panel trying to finish the job before I passed out from the unbearably high temperatures inside all that gear. I had my head tipped way back at a ridiculous angle, trying to line up the tiny unfogged corner of my safety glasses up with equally tiny unfogged corner of the faceshield in hopes of seeing what I was doing. My eyes were stinging and watering from sweat. I was pointedly ignoring the safety officer standing with arms crossed watching my every move.
And that's when he said it: "John, have you got your mask on?", referring to the N95 mask which all of us were then required to wear at all times.
It was the wrong thing to say to me at that time and in that place. I had used my mask up trying to wipe the condensation off the inside of my faceshield, to no avail. I couldn't see what I was doing...I couldn't see the idiot in question...and I assumed he couldn't really see me...so I responded with "Mffmfmcoursemmfffmfmfwearingmmfmfmmffffmingmask, yoummmffmffmmingdummy!"
And he bought it!
