Cut into live mains cable with metal stanley knife..

[User1234567890]

Pulled out the cable, it was only about 40cm, so pretty easy to replace. The bit that got me is the one with the scraper, just a tiny nick, and I found another a few CM away and the live was exposed. Needs a rewire.

 

[Ollyfp]

But for the grace of God...
So many stories of close shaves!
I have an angle on this: Every 'little' accident or a close call serves as a visceral reminder to take more care in future; not only for the person involved, but for everyone they tell about it.
This thread has evolved in a good way. Thanks for sharing, and be careful!

 

[justigator]

DNO changed the service head, at their request, in my old house. Live, of course (no way to isolate without cutting power to the whole street). It was above head height. Mr DNO-man wore full overalls, full-face helmet, rubber boots, thick insulated gloves and stood on a wooden stepstool. I watched - from the opposite corner of the room. Not a job I would ever want to do.

 

[plugwash]

Live, of course (no way to isolate without cutting power to the whole street).

IIRC if the situation with the cutout is deemed unsuitable for live-working they will usually dig up the service cable and cut it to isolate the cutout.

 

[Laurieo]

Taking out a hot water cylinder with an immersion heater. Switched of and pulled fuse from spur .
Cut through wire and bang ,hole in cutters . The tenants had wired the immersion heater into the landlords hallway supply .

 

[IJWS15]

Long time ago worked in York Carriage Works, electrician came back from lunch and forgot the power was on and reached in to an electrical connection box with a spanner. Probably 1000V DC, he just had a nice burn on his hand from the spanner.
Any guesses to the brand of the spanner?

 

[Mottie]

I've mentioned this before but it suits this thread.

The worse bit of diy wiring I’ve ever seen was when we moved into a new council house with a garden in the early seventies. I was about 14 at the time. My dad went out and bought a secondhand 'home made' electric lawnmower from someone who lived in a block of flats. It was basically a cylinder push lawnmower that the bloke had mounted an electric motor on to, welded a couple of pulleys on it and connected them with a fan belt. However, the cable coming out of the motor (no switch, just connect up and go) went to a single socket outlet bolted to a piece of wood on the handle. Consequently, the extension lead had a three pin plug at either end! My dad was excitedly setting it up when he got it home and told me to plug it in indoors when I noticed that and told him it was dangerous. He told me not to be silly and touched the pins at his end and promptly got an electric shock. He still used it after that but plugged the lawnmower end of the cable in first!