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"Creating" a larger problem


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Did a large outdoor event a couple of weeks ago on a football field. A/C was about 150' from me across part of the field. Past experience showed that this same area would see considerable foot traffic so I marked the cable with numerous orange cones along it's route.

As the event unfolded through the night, those orange cones attracted kids like moths to lightbulbs. Instead of parents keeping the kids away, I actually watched parents "supervising" their kids while they ran around the cones, moved them, threw them at each other, etc........

I had one paticular cone that marked the location where I had tied two 10ga. cables together. The cone sat directly upon the connectors to protect them from foot traffic. I watched one 4-5 year old kid  remove this cone and start playing with the connectors while his mother was standing there watching!!!! I left the board and hustled over to this kid to stop him from going any further. I explained to his mom that she needed to find somewhere else for him to play.

I ask myself, would this woman have permitted her child to play with an active extention cord in her own home? (maybe?) I'm working on a locking box as an answer to this issue as it seems to come up repeatedly. I really thought an average adult could see the potential danger here and do what parents should do. Darwin wasn't wrong.

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Never count on the intelligence of others. Stupidity of the masses constantly amazes me. The cones are an attractice nusiance, like owning a swimming pool. You would think having one with a fence around it would be enough, but if some kid climbs the fence when you aren't there, and drowns in your pool, it is still your liability.

A lock box might work if you can build one right. My cords have all been made with twistlocks. It won't keep an adult from getting killed if they insist on trying to die, but it is too hard a connection for most kids to get apart easily. 

As tools evolve, so does stupidity. I don't think anything can be made that keeps people bent on dieing from being successful. 

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One would think that an orange safety cone would have a universal meaning in the culture, but some people with kids lose IQ points for the duration, I guess.

At wedding gigs, it's not just kids you have to watch out for, but drunks and the elderly (and sometimes elderly drunks). We carry some cable mats, but not enough for a 150 foot run. If I knew in advance I'd have to be that far from an outlet, I'd rent a generator. 

 

 

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There are devices designed to surround an Edison to Edison connection, that prevent pull-apart disconnection. One of those per connection, secured with a nylon cable tie, should keep all but the most detemined hands away. After that, lockout/tagout type devices are probably the next step. Mark C.

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agedhorse wrote:

 

Cable mats or yellow jackets are not suitable over grass, they will cause a trip hazard because the ends will not remain flat with relative movement.

 

I had not thought of that. Good point! What would be good to use on grass?

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Tomm Williams wrote:

 

 

I ask myself, would this woman have permitted her child to play with an active extention cord in her own home? (maybe?)

 

there's no qualification exam to have children, and idiots breed at a tremendous pace. it's no wonder the world is full of idiots because they just won't stop having kids.

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agedhorse wrote:

 

Cable mats or yellow jackets are not suitable over grass, they will cause a trip hazard because the ends will not remain flat with relative movement.

 

What is suitable?  Get there early in the morning when the sprinklers are just shutting down and stomp your cabling into the pliable ground?

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agedhorse wrote:

Cable mats or yellow jackets are not suitable over grass, they will cause a trip hazard because the ends will not remain flat with relative movement.

I've been thinking about this (while spending most of the day on a skidsteer loader yesterday).

For the most part, I use cable covers (Yellow Jackets) in high traffic areas where the ground is fairly firm... basically those places where the ground isn't pliable.  But, it comes up over and over that a fire marshall or similar will require I also cover the cables that will likely get promptly stomped into the muddy grass :smileyfrustrated:

And yes, on soft ground, the joints of the cable covers is a problem... I've been gaff taping the joints to keep them from shifting.  An idea I came up with is backing (underlaying) the cable covers with 3/8" plywood.  My cable covers are only approx. 10" wide... so a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood would yield 32ft. of underlay.  I could pin it down with fencing spikes... drill through the trough of the cable cover and plywood... stagger the joints of the plywood underlayment so those joints are off-set from the cable cover joints.

Of-course, the ideal solution is to bury a run of 8" (or so) PVC pipe underground running from the stage to the mix position and fish the snake through the PVC with a rope... but..

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