So what are these Covid 19 Protection Plan signs in Construction Zones?

If you travel thru any Construction zone lately you will see an orange sign like the one below which is outside a rented 2nd floor office for a contractor doing work on Boulevard of Allies project in Pittsburgh

They say Covid 19 protection plan in Effect

Which is a good thing.

NIOSH and OSHA have developed plans to protect our worksites
 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/construction-workers.html?deliveryName=FCP_2_USCDC_10_4-DM29003

First the sign lets the public know that roadside workers are taking precautions to protect themselves and public from Covid 19 but it also tells any potential employee ,supplier or contractor coming on site  that the site is safe and they need to take precautions which includes seeing the  Covid Safety Officer upon arriving so they are aware of what precautions they must take under the covid 19 plan .

As our workforce is getting older and grayer they must take precautions to protect their health  and proudly I can say from personnel experience many are taking better care to keep work sites sanitary than the have in the past.

Rethinking Magnetically Held Open Fire Doors are they a Solution or a Problem ? Take a look at a recent situation I witnessed when the power went out.

Magnetically or Mechanically held open doors have been around almost as long or in some cases longer than fire protection systems have been around.

They can be a very good way to prevent Fire doors from being blocked open with objects  and preventing there closing when there is a fire .

There is either a very simple magnet  or solenoid set up behind door to hold it and then release it when fire alarm or power goes out door drops closed

https://www.beaconcdl.com/basics-of-commercial-door-holders/

 A Mechanical door holder uses a Thermal Link  which went it melts drops the door closed or similar arrangement either arrangement works well and does it job  

with mechanical links being used mainly on big Roll up and Sliding doors in commercial and Industrial Buildings but I have seen them used on single man doors .

So ran across an interesting situation which could be catastrophic  if emergency lighting is not properly maintained in a building  and fails to come on when there is a fire. 

A customer of mine has a 3 story Office Building I maintain for him and power had been  out all day 

and at that point battery's in emergency lights which are designed for 90 minutes had drained .

the hall ways have no windows so there is little to no light available .

I took a flashlight with me as I went in to check building but unknown to me a mailman had come in front door was delivering mail to offices and got himself trapped in the 2nd floor hall when exit door inadvertently closed behind him and he was in total blackness. He could not find the door.  luckily he did not panic and yelled for help and found him. 

OK so here we have the door with magnet holding it to the left

OK here is the door now closed if your where in this building and power went off or Fire Alarm  and Emergency Lights failed to come on for what ever reason could you find your way out even if you knew this building ?

I could because i do not panic easily and would feel around till I found the door but precious minutes would be lost especially a hall filling with smoke.

This code section has never ever really been looked at or addressed by code since first ut in code  and thou doors could be held by battery for small time if code is properly meet  if battery's in lights have not been changed guarantee door battery's are dead too.

The other answer is Melting link but by time fire gets that hot it usually too late to save building and big issue is stopping smoke spread.

There has got to be a better answer

How Safe are Homemade Masks ? Ask your self these questions befoe you make or use one

For those putting forth the effort to make homemade mask  I commend you for your true American spirit of we can do it.

But are you putting your self Your Family and Neighbors at Risk  trying to be a Good Citizen ?

I ask you to look at and answer these very serious questions because it is well known the dangers of improperly wearing and using a mask as far as causing a host of lung diseases and illness

.Because of the bacteria that builds on the mask from all the moisture  and warmth your mouth produces .

That's why OSHA the Occupational Safety and Heath Administration has very strict rules and guidance on what is to be used in approved masks and face coverings for employees who wear them all day, and how they are to be worn  and handled  and cleaned  and disposed of.

IF YOU ARE AN EMPLOYER OR AND EMPLOYEE HOMEMADE MASKS ARE A VIOLATION OF OSHA RULES EVEN PAPER MASKS MUST BE OSHA APPROVED  ALL FACE COVERINGS COME UNDER OSHA 

If you own a business and have employees  I strongly advise contacting a Labor Attorney to make sure you are not getting into bigger issues following some governors emergency mandate . State laws normally do not supersede or override OSHA .

Could you be contributing  to harm to those you make mask for ?

1- is the material you are using 100% natural fiber or synthetic you are breathing thru

Its one thing to wear synthetic against your skin and sweat and not absorb chemicals from it easily thru your skin .
But when your breathing thru mask and making moisture and warmth  you release chemicals in the fibers  as a vapor directly into your lungs  almost all materials off gas in one way or another .

2- What kind of dyes are being used in material your making mask of could they be dangerous when moist and inhaled  this goes for natural fiber as well.

A lot of material comes from China and other 3rd world country's we know all about issues of cheating and clothing being recalled and kids toys and dog food etc.

Remember the Cheap Crocks burning peoples feet.

 Remember the Heavy metals they warned about in dyes used in Tattoos and what about all the chemicals in Vaping

Its one thing to throw a bandana on temporarily cutting the grass  making dust
its a whole different story wearing daily for long periods of time and now washing which every time releases more chemicals from the dye .

Plus what are you washing it in plenty of bad chemicals in some detergents which cause rashes and bad reactions due to off gassing and chemical bleed    .

So has government even looked into this issue and done any study's before recommending people make them and use them at home ?   and what type of material to use

Not that I can find  for home made and i see all kind of stuff being used

But I know there are all kind of standards have to be meet to supply cloth face masks to surgeons and dust masks for construction workers  why would they not want same rules followed for public?

 Because those homemade masks will not be used at hospitals because there not allowed by law because they do not meet OSHA and NIOSH  standards  the National Institute of Safety and Health .

So now your donating and or selling to recoup cost you just did a legal sale and are  liable for providing a safe product under Consumer Safety Protection Act  if  90 a 120 or more days from now people do get sick with lung issues they trace it back to your mask has the Government given you any immunity protections during this pandemic emergency .


Absolutely not you can and will be sued for everything you own.

It one thing to make for family but give to a neighbor or stranger 

The argument government recommended it well not a good argument in court especially if there was a cash transaction.

I wont make them I wont sell them I wont promote them till I have assurances from Government they are safe.

I'm a stage 4 Colon Cancer Survivor and an asthmatic I take this kind of stuff very seriously as I see cancer exploding  and all the chemicals we use daily in our lives which could be contributing .

I am not saying not do it  and I don't want to scare you but if you are ask yourself am I doing it right am I protected?

And yes I have been sued  and I know what im talking about just dealt with a fraudulent case against my business where some one claimed they where hurt. but facts say otherwise .

A Good Ideal A program to let Firefighters know where Children are sleeping that ended up a Bad Ideal Just again proving fire Service is its own worse enemy

Back in late 70s early 80s  some one in the Fire Community came up with a great ideal .

To help firefighters locate children when a home catches fire why don't we have home owners put a sticker on their child's bedroom window thereby telling us where the child is located.  Like this old faded  Child Finder one in a bedroom window in Penn Hills Pa.

At First it seemed like a good idea  . The stickers gave children a safer feeling firefighters would find them
which was fantastic and during a fire firefighters knew which windows to go to first to rescue the children

But like all good ideas problems slowly developed.

When home owners moved they did not remove stickers and children may no longer be in bedroom

The other issue children grew up and moved away but stickers where still on windows.
and like the home above its sat empty now for almost a decade 

Also the problem was with children knowing the sticker told them where Firefighters could find them and gave them ease knowing they would be safe if a fire broke out brought much discern  when a fire did break out fireman are not there and children panicked.
So thou the program was launched and seen as a good thing the consequences proved anything but.

When launching a new safety program Fire Service really needs to think thru all ramifications and then ask should we proceed with it. Too many times they dont and it comes back to bite them.

Replacing Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs and Regular Bulbs with LED Bulbs be careful or you could cause a Fire

LED bulbs are all the new fad over what was the most energy efficient bulbs at the time CFL  Compact Fluorescent now old technology but with new technology comes new problems .

Just like when we went from Incandescent to CFL going from Incandescent or CFL to LED has its issues and can result in an Electrical Shock and or  Fire.

 Now the LED bulbs look just like an Incandescent bulb same shape and size  but you have to read the label on them before you replica a incandescence bulb or CFL

  Not all LED bulbs can be used with screw in base up their only designed for socket base down like use in a table lamp.

Also not all LED bulbs can be used sideways in a fixture and they also may not be used in an enclosed fixture unless its says so on the box.

They may look like  a standard bulb you can use anywhere but they are not

Also many LED bulbs have exclusion  and not to be used  hot and Cold temperature areas.

also Many old houses with Knob and tube wiring where Neutrals are shared and old Carter 3 way sockets are in use LED may not work properly.

Also not all LED Bulbs are Dimmable and some require special Dimmers  to lesson the light output.

So as you can see you can not just walk in local hardware store and pick up any LED  bulb off the shelf

Choose wisely and follow instructions or expect problems.

Honeywell / Resideo fails again with New Vista Turbo panels . Nothing but problems dealing with ground faults

Its a dam shame the Vista 32,128 and 250 FB panels where Bullet Proof when it came to performance and before UL mandates came in where fairly resistant to Ground Fault signals always going off.

Well let UL and NFPA get their hands on them with all the new revisions and now you can not use the new panels because all they due is cause False Ground Fault troubles .Especially if you have a vista key system tied into it nothing but constant ground faults and no way to get rid of them.

Worse thing also is you could temporarily turn off ground fault while looking for it.
Not with the new Turbo panels you can bypass but panels keep beeping. It was so bad at one customer I had to separate the vista panels burg components including the vista key and put it into a separate burg turbo panel which does not have ground loop detection.
To get rid of the constant ground faults going off.
I love these panels but since the changes I will no longer be installing them.
In fact I will no longer be installing any new Honeywell FBPT Panels on new installs and I will be switching out to a new manufacturer.

Why would a manufacturer allow such a mistake  to happen. When they see their sales plummet from me and other dealers not buying them maybe they will get the message .
They did not get the message on Cellular communicators either Napco Star Link is a far superior product and may Honeywell dealers like me have switched to them

New NEC Code requiring Disconnects on Outside Residential Services safer for Firefighter? Not really can be dangerous

Yes NFPA really did not think this one thru when they passed in the 2020 code cycle that all new 100 and 200 amp residential service must now include an outside disconnect.

On its surface its a good code designed to protect Firefighters so they do not have to wait for the power company to  shut off power which can take 15 to 45 or more minutes to arrive.

But are we setting Firefighters up for failure and accidents with this new code ? Absolutely and are we putting public at risk ? again Absolutely.

As you dive further into this new code the outside disconnect can be a breaker rated for switch duty or a pull handle type disconnect.

1st its going to drive up cost of Job by several hundred dollars and they are already going near $2000 mark as it is with all the new requirements for AFCI and GFCI Breakers etc. more money home owner has to spend and less they can contribute to local charities and VFD

2nd it will encourage home owners to change there own breaker panels and do work they previously would not of tried because they could not shut off the meter . This will ultimately result in more fires due to home owner and handyman wiring negligence .Putting Firefighters at risk who repond to these fires.

3rd it will lead to Firefighters accidents because those outside disconnects age they deteriorate especially breakers and 20-30 or more years down line breaker may not shut off properly or can arc and cause explosion hurting Firefighter turning it off .
Also only one side of 220 service could shut off other 120 leg could still be hot and unless Firefighters check with a Hot Stick they could still have power on in home when they think it is off.

Yes another fine example of NFPA passing a code and not thinking it fully thru. and in 20-30-40 years my predictions will come true as usual.

A Light Ballast is a Light Ballast they are all the Same ? Wrong . It almost caused a fire at one of my customers because the wrong ballast was used.

A Fluorescent Light ballast is a Light ballast wrong. and if you use the wrong one you can cause a fire .
Tke the below sample do you see a Difference ?

Well there is very slight but not knowing this difference can cause major issues.


A customer of mine was blowing out replacement ballasts a couple weeks after they where replacd and I found out he had a unique situation going on .

most Fluorescent lighting fixtures are rigged up for either 120 or 277 VAC

But in my customers case his warehouse lighting was being run at 230VAC  so a conventional ballast would not work.

the ballast on Left is  marked 120 VAC To 277 VAC  this means it can be used on 120,208,230 and 277 VAC 

The Ballast on right is marked 120-277  Normally this can only be used on 120 or 277 not 230 VAC

which was what was happening at my customers warehouse wrong voltage meant ballast burt up in short time usage.

But here is an even more interesting twist  take another close look at this ballast its marked 12-277VAC  OK cant use on 230VAC   wrong this one you can  you will also see a UV mark this means universal input so it can be used on 230VAC

Confused?  your not the only one .

The best way to be safe when replacing a ballast in a fixture is to replace with an exact match if unsure check with manufactuer.

Also remember there are ballasts on market which have a built in  rechargeable back up battery in them so light works during a power outage. So if you have to replace one of those it gets even more critical you get exact replacement and wore correctly.

Light Fixtures manufactured today are much more complicated than in days past repair them incorrectly you can injure yourself and or have a fire develop because the work is improper.