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Title: REPORT: DANGER FROM ELECTRICAL WORK IN IRAQ SEVERE
Source: MY WAY NEWS.COM
URL Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080718/D9207H280.html
Published: Jul 18, 2008
Author: AP
Post Date: 2008-07-18 11:15:45 by rowdee
Keywords: KBR, ELECTRICAL CONTRACTS, IRAQ
Views: 112
Comments: 6

NEW YORK (AP) - Inferior electrical work by private contractors on U.S. military bases in Iraq is more widespread than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to a published report.

A Senate panel investigating the electrocutions of Americans on bases in Iraq was told last week by former KBR Inc. (KBR) electricians that the contractor used employees with little electrical expertise to supervise subcontractors in Iraq and hired foreigners who couldn't speak English. The Pentagon has said 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq since September 2003. It has ordered Houston-based KBR to inspect all the facilities it maintains in Iraq for electrical hazards.

The New York Times reported on its Web site Thursday night that many more people have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to internal Army documents. A log compiled this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters almost daily, the paper reported.

During just one six-month period - August 2006 through January 2007 - at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military's largest dining hall in the country, according to the documents obtained by the Times.

An Army survey issued in February 2007 said electrical problems were the most urgent noncombat safety hazard for soldiers in Iraq.

KBR, which is responsible for providing basic services, including housing, for American troops in Iraq, said last week that its investigation had not turned up evidence of a link between its work and the electrocutions. The Army report, however, said KBR did its own study and found a "systemic problem" with electrical work, according to the Times.

Ho, ho, ho............I have the perfect solution for this sort of shoddy shit. Right in the contracts, it should be written that the top 5 officers, or the complete board of directors, would be responsible for PERSONALLY INSPECTING ALL WORK THEY ARE TO GET PAID FOR. If it passes this 'fryability' test, then pay the bastards; otherwise, 'next inspector, please' should be the word of the day.

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#1. To: HOUNDDAWG (#0)

As an electrician, I'd appreciate your comments to the article as well as my suggested performance criteria.

rowdee  posted on  2008-07-18   11:16:59 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

As an electrician, I'd appreciate your comments to the article as well as my suggested performance criteria.

Thank you for asking, and your recommended performance criteria would most definitely have the desired effect.

This is why contractors are now required to go on the shakedown runs of all new submarines. "If a valve is installed backwards and the boat cannot blow ballast then we'll all be together as she sinks below crush depth.", the navy tells the contractors.

The primary problem in Iraq is this: It is a fundamental rule of the NEC (which is a subsection of the National Fire Protection Code) that "It's against the code to energize the circuits in any occupied dwelling if that electrical supply is not grounded."

This includes Quonset huts and even semi permanent tents that are supplied by mobile generators.

Unfortunately, these contractors hate the nasty job of driving 20 ft (or longer) electrodes into sand in the desert heat. Not only are the tools and the ground rods hotter than blazes in direct sunlight, but, no one is low enough on the pole to be permanently assigned the shitty job. (The guy who is probably quits)

Also, many of the dwellings are subject to relocation after a mortar crew successfully targets them, and the one thing that kills the otherwise ease of mobility are the ground electrodes which cannot be pulled but must be cut off flush and abandoned.

Showering and cooking in electrified buildings where the pipes, appliances, building steel and other metals are not grounded is a disaster waiting to happen. We take it for granted in our homes and workplaces that if a hot wire burns off or slips from a loose terminal and contacts metal, the breaker, fuse or other overcurrent device will pop and open the circuit thereby removing the shock hazard. THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF GROUNDING EVERYTHING IS TO POP THE BREAKER IF IT ACCIDENTALLY BECOMES ELECTRIFIED!

When metal parts aren't grounded they simply become electrified and act as part of the circuit and then they burn, maim or kill the unsuspecting persons who next contact them.

Hastily wired circuits for big cookers, transformers, communications equipment, etc,. may also result in terminals that allow the wires to slip off because they aren't properly torqued. And when circuits heat up and cool down the expansion and contraction of the wires will cause the connections to get loose, and loose connections arc and burn.

I'm guessing that the fires are the result of improper derating of current carrying conductors. In short, the more wires you bundle into a conduit or raceway the less max current each is allowed to conduct. Otherwise the heat builds up and fires result. Contractors are probably jamming as many circuits as possible into conduits and raceways and running them the length of the camps, and then pulling maximum loads on each in already scorching desert heat.

This may be because they have to trench and bury the wires which is more of that nasty outside work that no electrician with any seniority will do. So, they jam as much of the load into a minimum of circuits to minimize the horror of digging trenches in the desert, and when the circuits eventually catch fire they ignite any combustibles in proximity.

In short all of these problems are avoidable and the solutions are in The National Electrical Code. The military is exempt from the code. If a colonel says "Get me some power in there in one hour!" He'll have it, minus a ground electrode because installing is always a pain in the ass. Imagine having to start high above ground level (on a ladder or in a bucket truck or backhoe) and sledge hammer a rod into the ground. The rod moves only inches with every solid hit and by the time one is installed every man on the crew is so exhausted that his piss won't foam. Now, imagine having to install one at every occupied dwelling and with every portable generator in the desert heat.

Can you see why 125k per yr contractors would rather be inside wiring up AC units so they can flip them on and cool off? And, the soldiers will say "Screw that ground rod! Thanks for making your magic and cooling this place down!"

Summary:

Lack of derating of conductors and lack of ground is killing people over there.

The old saying is "Military justice is to justice what military music is to music." The same can be said for military electrical installations in war zones. This is not the case stateside at NSA at FT Meade, however. Even skinny fiber optic cables are encased in 6" rigid pipe and each 10' length of pipe weighs about 125 lbs. And, in military and VA hospitals the code is followed and the installations made safe.

But, in Iraq? I suspect that they're slamming the shit in to A) get out of mortar range, and B) to get out of the heat and C) to get the AC up and running to get the military off their asses.

HOUNDDAWG  posted on  2008-07-18   12:28:59 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

But, in Iraq? I suspect that they're slamming the shit in to A) get out of mortar range, and B) to get out of the heat and C) to get the AC up and running to get the military off their asses.

I believe you are much too kind regarding 'in Iraq'.

It's my opinion that Federal government paying through the nose for anything produces shoddy work, or work that costs __x (or more) as much as what was initially bid/suggested.

Just like the liar in chief and his backers, it is not 'their' asses that are on the line (these executives of companies doin' gubmint bidness); therefore, they could care less--just grab the money and run.......to the next job where it doesn't matter whether you do a good job or not.

I believe the submarine contractors should be the shining example for all gubmint contractors. So how many subs have been lost due to bad valves? Hmmmmm......

Sure makes a difference when it is 'your' ass that is on the line. Suddenly, almost overnight, you either get a new line of work, or you suddenbly become SuperWorker! LOL.........

rowdee  posted on  2008-07-18   12:44:53 ET  Reply   Untrace   Trace   Private Reply  

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