Reminds me of an story I heard once. Guy working on a job locks and tags out a circuit so he can work on it. Guy goes up on a ladder to do the work.
Coworker comes along and sees circuit left locked; he decides he needs to activate the circuit. Coworker uses bolt cutters to remove the lock and flips on the circuit.
Guy on ladder gets literally knocked off the ladder, falls 10-20 feet onto grass. Guy is rushed to the ER.
Boss investigates, gives coworker two options: either he can quit immediately, or he can keep working and personally explain himself to guy in a month when he gets out of the hospital.
Where I live, for that kind of incident the employer would be obligated (as in, $50k worth of fines and likely criminal charges if you don’t) to report it to an independent investigator to determine who was at fault; the person cut the lock would be liable for a fine, and the employer would have to prove that they adequately trained the employee before allowing them to work in a high risk area, or the health and safety officer and company directors could be found criminally liable
In my area, there’s a decent chance the guy with the bolt cutters could be criminally liable, if he was adequately trained. That could easily be negligent homicide.
You do not cut locks. If your boss asks you to cut a lock, report them so they get immediately fired. We don’t fuck around with LOTO.
I worked briefly at a store where the Store Director was clearly still traumatized about an employee death years prior. Didn’t press for details, but it was preventable and they were hyper-vigilant about safety precautions.
The world would be better without Captain Bolt Cutter and their kind spreading misery with their weaponized stupidity.
I remember reading something similar, with someone responding that they were always two people for these tasks. One doing the job and one guarding the circuit, making sure this does not happen.
