Posted 7/20/00
I am a Top Operator in an oil refinery. We have never had a Safety Program, to speak of, for the Electrical Department. Yesterday, an Outside Operator was starting a motor and it involved having to energize a 2300 volt breaker. When he pushed the start button for the pump the breaker exploded and a small fire erupted shutting down all of the MCC that breaker was on. Of course, this upset the unit severely, shutting down a lot of pumps and compressors, but no one was injured, only because no one was in the sub station.

Frequently, when starting motors that have been worked on and the breakers de-energized, two operators will be involved. One at the breaker and one at the pump outside. If this had been the case this time, the operator in the substation would have probably been injured and burned. We were very fortunate.

This incident brought our awareness up regarding the energizing and de-energizing of electrical breakers and the safety procedures we need to follow. Never stand in front of a breaker when closing it and only go into sub stations when necessary. Definitely go out of the substation when a pump is being started and be aware of motors that start and stop automatically.