Scary thing happened to my buddy at work today.
I wasnt there but I heard this story from the 3 guys that were there. As some of you know, I do billboards here in LA, it's a dangerous job, have to be really alert all the time. We are working at hieghts that will kill you. Well, there are other things we have to be aware of other than our step, power lines, high voltage power lines.
Jeff started over a month ago so he has alot to learn. Today he had his first experience at the top of a billboard, normally the guys who are in the company the longest have that duty (3-4 guys to a billboard).
There are METAL bars that slide into pockets of the vinyl where we tighten everything down with motorcycle style ratchet tie downs.
Well Jeff and Jason were working and noticed a really bad smell, they couldnt figure it out. Jeff then notices our crane operator on the ground yelling something at him. Jeff was pulling out the bar from the vinyl and let it touch the power line. :ah:
Well lucky azz Jeff happened to be holding a FIBERGLASS bar! They dont contuct electricity. Some boards use fiberglass instead of steel.
If Jeff had been holding a steel bar, he would have been fried and then probably had fallen to his death from about 60' up.
So they continue working and then the smell suddenly went away. Jason is convinced that the smell was the smell of death. I really believe that someone was watching out for Jeff today. He would have met his maker if he was any other billboard.
These guys were not themselves when they found us and told us what happened. They were scared crapless. This is not a halloween story, it really did happen this morning.