LIVE WIRES.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18415, 23 June 1925, Page 11

LIVE WIRES.

I PROTECTION FOB WORKMEN. The City Council had before it last night a report from the EiectoJeßjr Committee, stating' that the Cbnntittco had considered correspondeooo oa the subject of building trade workers and electric wires from the Mmisier of Public Works, the Government's Chid Electrical Engineer, and from th* local branch of the New- Zealand Institute of Architects. The Mxmster** letter issued a warning that outdoor wires, though covered,- (should ahraja be considered dangerous, and recommended that where building trade employees had to work near them, the wires should be protected or temporarily disconnected. The Chief • Electrical Engineer's letter stated that Nelson City had made an arrangement with the builders that where ft iraa necessary to erect scaffolding close to wires, the builder would pay the cost of tesaporarily removing the wires and' bobsoquently replacing them, and he suggested that a • similar •arrangement he made for Christchurch. The Arda*» tects' Institute recommended that the Council should frame a by-law making it necessary to protect ay electric ww» dangerous to workmen, during bmkfing operations. The type and quaKty of insulating covering to do used od oatdoor wires was determined 'byta© Government regulations under the Pabfts Works Act. All wires in-tlie/Cisy were erected in accordance with- these regulatiocs, but the matter, now raised was one of special temporary protection periodically, needed, under special circumstances. Experience in Canstchurch indicated that in comparativelT few cases did the scaffolding' come near the street mains, bat where ja vary real danger and difficulty did Ke was in the treatment often given to wiring erected for the lighting on the hoarding in front of a building wider ; (instruction, or en the wiring now frequently used in buildings for motor driven hoists, concrete mixers, or other portable apparatus. Wiring of vfigt kind was installed safely in the first place, but was often altered and palled about as the work proceeded, in a way that constituted a serious risk. The difficulty was to get, the men handting i such wires to realise the risks. It was most desirable that the hands of the Department's officers should - he strengthened in dealing with both those matters, and the co-operation of the Builders' Association, as weS as that of tho Architects' Institute,'secured in support. A regulation covering the matter had been framed, and wotiKt bo included in the revised regulatiofMl submitted, for the OninHrV approval I wlien tho revision was completed. The report was adopted.